Snow Leopard has more than its fair share of improvements. If you work in the corporate world then Cisco IPsec VPN is a great addition.

Before Apple added this feature, you had to use Cisco’s client to connect up to its VPN. With Snow Leopard and the iPhone OS, this support is built in. You may need to get together with your Network Admin to get all the correct passwords, group name and such but anything that can be done in the OS versus a third-party app is good by me.

1. Open up Network in System Preferences.
   
2. Click the + sign to create a new connection. Select VPN as the interface, Cisco IPSec as the VPN Type and name it what you want.
   
3. The VPN connection will now be in your list. Fill in your Server Address and Account Name. Our VPN checks authentication against Active Directory so my Account name is domainusername. Also be sure to check the Show VPN Status box so you can easily start and stop your VPN connection.
   
4. Click Authentication Settings and enter your Shared Secret and Group Name. Once again, your Network Admin should have this information for you.
   
5. Go ahead and apply your settings and close System Preferences. You should see a new VPN status icon in the menu bar that when you click, gives a drop-down menu to start your VPN connection.
   
6. Click Connect and you should receive a Password prompt.
   
7. After you are connected, notice the menu bar icon indicates how long you have been connected. This can be a nice reminder to disconnect if you aren’t using the VPN anymore.
   

Setting up your iPhone or iPod touch is just as easy.

1. Launch Settings and then click on General.
   
2. Click Network.
   
3. Click VPN.
   
4. Click Add VPN Configuration.
   
5. Click on the IPSec button and fill in all your information just as you did in Snow Leopard. Click Save when you are done.
   
6. Try it out by flipping the VPN switch to On.
   
7. If all is good, you’ll see you are now connected.
   

Things to remember when accessing shares over a VPN are that you may need to use fully qualified domain names or IP addresses. Every network is different so get friendly with your Network Admin and he/she will hopefully help you out. It’s nice to see Apple developing things like this on the business side of the market. It does it so simple and to the point, that it puts everyone else to shame.

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AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield for computers installs a client on your desktop or notebook that sets up a virtual private network, helping to ensure that you stay anonymous and secure while browsing. Hotspot Shield for iPhone employs the same concept, minus the client, allowing you to browse securely from your mobile device.

I’ve used Hotspot Shield with my MacBook before, and found little cause for complaint. There are some hiccups when streaming large media, and an ad is displayed at the top of your window, though Hotspot Shield itself is free.

Hotspot Shield for iPhone is also a free service, although it does require registering an account with AnchorFree. Registering is incredibly painless, however, you just click a button and receive your account name and password.

You also have to change your VPN settings on the iPhone. Make sure your Wi-Fi is off, and go to Settings > General > Network > VPN, and then click Add VPN Configuration. At this screen, you’ll have to enter the following information:

• Select the L2TP tab/pane (selected by default)
• Description: HotspotShield
• Server: 64.55.144.10
• Account: <your account name>
• RSA SecurID: OFF
• Password: <your password>
• Secret: password
• Send all traffic: ON

Save settings and turn Wi-Fi back on. According to AnchorFree, you may have to power cycle your device to get the settings to take effect if you experience connection errors.

Once set up, you will be shielded from prying eyes by a VPN connection between your device and the 3G or wireless network to which you are connected. AnchorFree claims that you are 100% secure behind Hotspot Shield, ensuring that no hackers can gain access to your emails, credit card or banking information, sensitive documents, or whatever else you may have stored on your device.

Hotspot Shield is clearly aimed at business users, but anyone who doesn’t relish the thought of strangers coveting their personal information will enjoy the peace of mind it brings.

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For instance, you may have an iMac at home with all your media, photos and family content, and also a MacBook which you use for business/travel. ShareTool allows you to connect to your home network from your MacBook when travelling, accessing the files on the iMac, sharing the screen and even printing to your home device.

Setup and Installation

The process of setting up ShareTool is remarkably simple. When launching, you are presented with the following window:

This allows you to select whether you’re wanting to share the content of this Mac, or connect to the shared content on a different network. This simple user interface design flows throughout the rest of the application, meaning that a fairly complicated network operation appears remarkably simple to the user.

ShareTool is able to automatically configure your network router, and had no problem altering the required settings on my Time Capsule. However, when tested on a different router it struggled to apply the port rules automatically, requiring them to be entered manually. I expect that most modern routers will work easily — if you own a fairly old device, you’ll need to be prepared to delve into settings a little deeper.

Once you’ve set up sharing, you’re presented with the following screen:

It is easy to copy the connection information to your clipboard or email it to yourself. You also have the option of selecting exactly which Bonjour services you are wanting to share:

Using ShareTool

Once you have set up sharing and decided exactly what you want to share, connecting to the network remotely is very straight forward. You type in the details provided when setting up sharing and, fingers crossed, everything goes to plan. I didn’t have any issues, but I can imagine that problems could occur centering around dynamic IP addresses, firewalls etc. ShareTool does support a few services (DynDNS.com, No-IP.com, and DNS-O-Matic.com) which would help to circumvent the problem of a regularly changing IP address.

Services appear as they would if you were plugged into the network and the software seems very reliable — everything worked well for me. There are a few preferences you can change relating to connecting/sharing.

ShareTool states that the software “works with all Internet connections (56k modem and all high speed connections)”. While this is technically true, most of the services in question would be unusable without a fast broadband connection at both ends. Those which involve greater data transfer (streaming audio for instance) would suffer the most.

If you use a VPN, you’ll know that Bonjour services aren’t automatically available when connecting remotely. ShareTool solves this by allowing you to enter your home machine’s internal IP address once you’re connected to the VPN. This performs the same function as normal, and will enable all the various services you have shared.

Security

If you’re transmitting data to and from your home network over the internet, it is important to consider the security aspect. Fortunately, ShareTool is extremely secure and encrypts all data with SSH. This uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), a universally accepted security standard. It also has a method in place for ensuring that it is your machine that is connecting to your network.

Conclusion

Whether I would recommend ShareTool depends heavily on what you’ll need it for, and whether you already have a MobileMe account. The Back to my Mac feature of MobileMe allows for File Sharing and Screen Sharing with relative ease, but ShareTool enables a host of additional services. Some, such as remote printing, can be achieved fairly easily through a combination of File and Screen Sharing, but others such as iTunes Sharing are only possible through ShareTool.

The price difference is important. MobileMe costs $99 for a year, whereas ShareTool is $30 on a one off basis. If you already own MobileMe and only require Screen/File Sharing, then ShareTool isn’t necessary. If you are not a MobileMe user, it’s a great way to stay connected to your home or office network from anywhere.

Pros

• It’s really easy to set up with most modern routers
• A wide range of services are supported – you can share almost anything
• Encryption is excellent
• It is fairly inexpensive compared to MobileMe

Cons

• It doesn’t differ dramatically from Back to my Mac
• It requires some network knowledge for those with older routers
• Speed is a limiting factor – it works much better with very fast broadband connections

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