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With so many businesses currently operating on a remote scale, IT admins have their work cut out for them. As our business has also been affected by the change to remote working over the last year, we wanted to make it easier for admins to manage groups of remote users and get them set up with a secure and functioning VPN connection.
In this guide, we show you how to use the brand new Enterprise Installer Package to easily get your whole team set up with VPN Tracker 365 in just a few simple steps.
VPN Tracker team managers can now easily get team members set up with VPN Tracker 365 thanks to our new Enterprise Installer Package for a more simplified rollout process.
Use Remote Desktop (or similar software) to remotely install VPN Tracker 365 on your team’s Macs. This will install all required components, including those that need an administrator password (see note on System Extensions in the next step.)
VPN Tracker 365 uses a System Extension to create a secure VPN tunnel and manage network traffic. A System Extension needs to be explicitly “Allowed” by a user in System Preferences.
For Enterprise rollouts on MDM (Mobile-Device-Management) Macs, you can pre-approve VPN Tracker’s System Extension using a special profile.
For information on how to create a profile to pre-authorize System Extensions, please consult your MDM vendor’s documentation.
Our Team IDs are CPXNXN488S and MJMRT6WJ8S
Starting with macOS 11 Big Sur, a System Extension is used: com.vpntracker.365mac.SysExt
On macOS 10.15 Catalina and lower, VPN Tracker 365 uses a Kernel Extension (KEXT) . The following bundle identifiers can be used to pre-authorize the KEXT:
Please see Apple’s Support Document for more details.
Once you have successfully installed VPN Tracker 365 and pre-authorized the system extension, users can simply click and launch the app, without needing an admin password. For licensing, each team member needs their own equinux ID and plan. Find out how to set this up in the next step.
Team Management makes it easier for admins to manage user groups, including new user onboarding, assigning and revoking licenses, and managing billing preferences.
You can set up and manage your VPN Tracker 365 team at my.vpntracker.com.
The Team Management Guide explains this in more detail.
As well as the Enterprise Installer Package, VPN Tracker 365 offers several other features to simplify the onboarding process and get new users set up in no time.
New colleague joining the team? Invite individual team members to join your team via the Team Management tab at my.vpntracker.com. Here you can also reserve plans in advance so they are ready to go as soon as they’ve signed in.
Whether you’re switching your whole team over to a remote work setting or onboarding a large group of users, VPN Tracker 365 has a range of access options you can use to invite new users to your team.
Join via link: Each team has a personalized invite link. Post this in your secure chat channel or intranet to allow colleagues to request access.
NEW: Join via email address. Team Discovery allows new users to enter their company email address to automatically be shown associated team domains and request access.
Once team members have successfully joined your team and been assigned a plan you can use the export and deploy feature to share and distribute a company VPN connection via email.
Click on your company connection in VPN Tracker 365, choose “File > Export” from the top menu bar, then set an export location and enter an import password for maximum security:
Users can simply double click the attached connection file and enter the import password (if you have one.) The connection is then available in VPN Tracker 365 and ready to use.
For enterprises and larger organizations wanting to get started with VPN Tracker, a VPN Tracker 365 Biz plan is the best way forward.
As well as all the advanced features included in an individual plan, VPN Tracker 365 Biz users have exclusive access to a Key Account Manager and priority support.
Check out our Buyer’s Guide for more information and to generate a personalised quote for your business.
Until next time!
Your VPN Tracker 365 Team
VPN Tracker securely connects thousands of Macs worldwide with VPNs every day. VPN Tracker was developed from the ground up in our head office in Munich. You can trust in our long experience working with advanced VPN technology.
From OS X 10.11 including macOS 11 Big Sur
The post NEW: VPN Tracker Installer Package – Rollout VPN Tracker 365 for Your Whole Team appeared first on equinux Blog.
VPN Tracker 365 version 21.1.1 is now live and welcomes full support for PPTP VPN connections on Big Sur – exclusively available in Pro and VIP plans.
This new update also brings even better compatibility for IPSec and OpenVPN protocols and a couple of important Connection Safe improvements.
We are pleased to announce that VPN Tracker 365 now supports PPTP connections on Big Sur.
Version 21.1.1 boasts a new, advanced PPTP VPN engine specially optimized for macOS 11 Big Sur and Apple Silicon, with full support for all new system security architecture.
Another great bonus of this major new update is the inclusion of custom MTU calculations, ensuring optimal reliability on difficult internet connections.
Important: PPTP support on Big Sur is exclusively available for Pro and VIP plan holders. Existing customers requiring PPTP VPN support can get a pro-rated upgrade at my.vpntracker to unlock access to this must-have feature.
P.S. Thinking of upgrading to Big Sur or switching to a new M1 Mac? As a Universal App, VPN Tracker 365 is the best choice when it comes to setting up a PPTP VPN connection on your new Mac. Learn more.
Setting up a PPTP VPN connection on Big Sur is easy:
Your PPTP connection is now ready to use! You can find more detailed information about setting up a PPTP VPN connection to use on macOS 11 in this guide.
Version 21.1.1 also brings the following improvements to VPN Tracker 365:
VPN Tracker 365 version 21.1.1 is available to download now. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on the new version.
Until next time,
Your VPN Tracker 365 Team
VPN Tracker securely connects thousands of Macs worldwide with VPNs every day. VPN Tracker was developed from the ground up in our head office in Munich. You can trust in our long experience working with advanced VPN technology.
From OS X 10.11 including macOS 11 Big Sur
The post NEW: VPN Tracker 365 now supports PPTP VPN Connections on Big Sur appeared first on equinux Blog.
macOS Big Sur brings some major changes to the Mac – both design-wise as well as under the hood.
This means that VPN clients such as Shimo, WatchGuard IPSec Mobile VPN Client for Mac, Pulse Secure, NCP and others are not supported by the new macOS release.
So if macOS Big Sur breaks your VPN client and it has stopped working, check out VPN Tracker 365. It works with most major VPN standards and supports over 300+ different VPN devices out of the box, with detailed setup guides.
Download VPN Tracker 365 for free and get your VPN connection up and running with macOS Big Sur.
The post VPN client for macOS Big Sur appeared first on equinux Blog.
Today we’re releasing VPN Tracker 365 version 21, better known as ‘the Big Sur release’.
It’s been a busy few months re-building VPN Tracker to get things ready for today, so we wanted to share some of the behind the scenes with you. Let’s dive in…
For a few years now, Apple has been encouraging developers to stop using so-called Kernel Extensions (KEXT) – bits of code that can run at the lowest levels of the OS.
VPN Tracker used a KEXT to receive, decrypt and send network packets at a low level, in order to be able to do more advanced routing and create non-standard packets required to work with certain VPN gateways.
At WWDC 2020, Apple announced macOS Big Sur – along with several new and updated APIs – and without support for Kernel Extensions.
But did Big Sur have the new APIs we needed to build a KEXT-less version of VPN Tracker?
VPN Tracker 365 supports 5 different VPN protocols: IPsec, L2TP, SonicWALL SSL, OpenVPN and PPTP. Unlike some VPN apps that repackage 3rd party libraries, VPN Tracker 365 is the only VPN client that has custom protocol implementations. This allows VPN Tracker to fully manage your VPN connection and makes multiple connections work together seamlessly.
To get VPN Tracker 365 ready for Big Sur, we needed to re-architect the entire app using the new APIs – kind of like ripping the engine out of a car and replacing it with an entirely new motor.
Our team has been working on the new update since June and after a long beta period, we’ve successfully got most VPN protocols working perfectly with macOS Big Sur – we’re still putting the final touches on PPTP support, which we hope to have ready shortly.
Sign up to email updates and get informed when PPTP support for Big Sur is available in VPN Tracker:
Apple will announce Macs using Apple processors today… and VPN Tracker 365 is ready. We’ve built the new version to run natively on Apple Silicon, so you’ll get the full performance of your VPN from day one.
The new version will be rolled out to existing customers via an in-app update over the next week and can be downloaded immediately.
And that wraps up our major new version – we’re excited to get this version out in time for macOS Big Sur and look forward to your feedback!
Your VPN Tracker Team
VPN Tracker securely connects thousands of Macs worldwide with VPNs every day. VPN Tracker was developed from the ground up in our head office in Munich. You can trust in our long experience working with advanced VPN technology.
From OS X 10.11 including macOS 11 Big Sur
The post The new VPN Tracker 365 is here – VPN for macOS Big Sur appeared first on equinux Blog.
With so many of us now working from home, we’ve been getting a lot of input from our customers and have focused on improvements for remote work situations in VPN Tracker 19.6.6.
We’ve focused on three core areas: Remote DNS, Connection Checker and general connection improvements.
To briefly recap: when using Remote DNS, you can ask your company’s DNS servers to resolve addresses for you. This is required if you have internal pages that are only known to your internal DNS servers, e.g. “internal.corp.example.com”
Instead of sending all requests to your company DNS server, you can also only send requests for certain domains – this is usually referred to as “Split DNS”.In VPN Tracker 365 19.6.6, we have added split DNS support for lower-level tools and libraries: anything that relies on etc/resolv.conf will now get the correct split DNS settings you have configured in VPN Tracker.
We’ve also fixed a few issues, one of which is worth mentioning in particular: when using split DNS with a host-to-everywhere connection, in some circumstances all DNS queries would also be sent through the tunnel; This has now been corrected. So if your internal domains can no longer be found with the new update, check your DNS settings and make sure all the necessary search domains have been added.
Another big area of focus for this release is Connection Checker. If you’re working from home, it’s important to figure out the best settings for your home internet connection.
Connection Checker can tell you which VPN protocols your router and ISP support and will give you advice on what settings you may need to change to get things working.
Thanks to customer feedback, we’ve been able to improve the in-app suggestions and hints and have also fixed a few bugs.
As always, we’ve also made a number of improvements to the VPN Tracker engine, for more reliable VPN connections.
Check the full release notes for all the nitty gritty details, here are a few highlights:
Go to VPN Tracker 365 → Check for Updates… to get the update right away. You can manage your update settings under VPN Tracker 365 → Preferences:
If you’re the VPN admin for your company, a reseller or just like getting the cutting edge, you can also enable Nightly or Beta updates under VPN Tracker 365 → Preferences.
You’ll be able to get early access to new features and will be able to test any upcoming changes with your connections before they are rolled out to all users.
If you ever run into any issues with a beta or regular update and want to try an earlier release, here’s what to do:
New to VPN Tracker? Learn more on our website, or contact us directly for a quote or if you have any questions.
Protect your data with VPN Tracker 365 – the #1 VPN client for OS X and macOS:
Start now! Requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later
The post VPN Tracker 19.6.6: Connection Improvements for Remote Work appeared first on equinux Blog.
With remote work becoming increasingly more important, it’s critical that you have the equipment you need. Alongside other factors, a good VPN gateway for remote work is essential in enabling your team to securely connect to the office network and work from home productively.
This guide takes you through everything you need to know about choosing a VPN gateway for remote work, as well as how to set up your VPN on your chosen device…
Before we begin, let’s quickly review what you’ll need to get your team working from home:
While there is no “one size fits all” solution, here are some key factors to think about when weighing up your options:
You can typically find two types of VPN gateways: All-in-one routers with VPN support, or dedicated VPN firewalls.
Dedicated VPN Firewalls typically offer more advanced security features and are designed for larger offices. For a smaller office, an all-in-one router with VPN support is easier to configure but will mean replacing your existing equiment.
Action: Decide whether a router or firewall is better suited to your current network setup.
VPN gateways tend to vary between business- and consumer-level and offer different features respectively. If you’re a small team with 1-3 people connecting, a consumer-level router with VPN support may be enough for your needs. For larger teams, you’ll want to look for a business-level product that has more processing power to support more VPN users simultaneously.
Action: Weigh up your business’ needs and determine which type of VPN device you are going to search for.
Many businesses will have to configure more than one VPN connection to suit different users and their specific use-cases. If this is the case for your business, it is important that you check whether the VPN gateway offers support for multiple connections.
Action: If it is likely that you will be setting up more than one VPN connection, make sure to look exclusively at VPN devices which support multiple connections.
VPN gateways differ massively in terms of their technical specification. Depending on the size and nature of your business, many of the more advanced features offered may not even be relevant.
Action: List the features which are most important for your company and cross-reference these with the gateways’s spec.
As well as multiple connection support, some other important features to look out for may include:
VPN gateways vary in price, costing anything from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on how many users they support, their performance and other features.
Action: Be sure to shop around and compare prices of multiple retailers.
Finally, your VPN gateway is a crucial part of your company’s network infrastructure. Should you encounter any issues, it’s important that you are able to quickly get the guidance you need from the manufacturer so you can get things up and running again.
Action: Check the support options on the manufacturer’s website and try to research customer reviews before making your final decision.
When it comes to finding the best VPN gateway for remote work, there are many options to choose from. Below we’ve listed some of the most popular choices among our customers, but of course it’s down to you to find the gateway which is right for your business.
NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 R7000
A solid all-in-one choice that offers OpenVPN support, good WiFi coverage and decent performance. Only supports one VPN connection, so suited for individuals wishing to connect to their office.
Key features:
TP Link Safestream TL-R600VPN
A solid, affordable choice for small businesses. This device supports a range of VPN protocols and up to 20 users simultaneously.
Key features:
ZyXEL USG40W Unified Security Gateway
With support for WiFi and up to 20 VPN users, this is a great all in one VPN solution for small business users able to spend a little extra.
Key features:
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine (UDM)
Also an all-in-one device, this prosumer gateway solution is another solid choice for smaller businesses.
ZyXEL ZyWALL 110 Business Firewall
ZyXEL’s ZyWALL series offers great performance, robust VPN support and can be easily extended with ZyXEL wireless AP solutions for WiFi coverage.
Key features:
SonicWALL TZ400
As one of the most popular choices amongst VPN Tracker customers, SonicWALL’s TZ-series is a great choice offering excellent performance and advanced security features.
Thanks to SonicWALL Simple Client Provisioning support in VPN Tracker, your VPN will be set up in no time.
Key features:
Juniper SRX550 Enterprise Firewall
The Juniper SRX550 is a high end, business-level gateway aimed at mid to large branch locations. The impressive spec of this model means it doesn’t come cheap, but there are other lower-spec models available in the SRX series.
Key features:
Now you’ve chosen your VPN gateway, it’s time for you to configure your VPN connection. With step-by-step configuration guides for 300+ VPN routers, VPN Tracker makes this easy. You can find configuration guides for all leading gateway manufacturers here.
To get set up:
Learn more about VPN Tracker on our website, or contact us directly for a quote or if you have any questions.
Protect your data with VPN Tracker 365 – the #1 VPN client for OS X and macOS:
Start now! Requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later
Disclaimer: Some of the links included in this blog post are affiliate links.
The post Choosing the Best VPN Gateway for Remote Work appeared first on equinux Blog.
With countries all over the world requiring people to stay at home, the VPN Tracker 365 Team is committed to helping all customers successfully move to remote work.
You can rest assured that we continue to offer full support to our customers and have taken key steps to increase our support capacity during this difficult time.
Support Information
Upcoming updates
We’re continuing to work on improving VPN Tracker 365 and will be shipping an update in the next few weeks with improved logs and troubleshooting tips for common connection issues we’ve seen over the last few weeks.
Getting Started with Work from Home
We’ve written some posts to highlight VPN Tracker 365 features that help improve work from home productivity:
How to Move Your Team to a Remote Work Setup
How to Work from Home Productively
Working from Home with VPN – Your FAQs answered
Stay safe & stay home!
Your VPN Tracker 365 Team
The post VPN Tracker 365: Full Support Availability during the Coronavirus Crisis appeared first on equinux Blog.
The Coronavirus has you working from home? For many people, this change will take some getting used to. Especially when using complex tools like a VPN for the first time, learning how to work from home productively can be a challenge at first.
Try these simple tips in VPN Tracker 365 to improve your productivity while working from home…
When using multiple VPN connections for different purposes, it is easy to get confused. VPN Tracker 365 lists all of your connections in the sidebar and allows you to rename connections and give them a personalised icon.
This is a practical way to help you quickly and easily identify the connection you need for the service you require. Simply right click on a VPN connection to rename it or change the default icon:
“Why doesn’t the network drive show up in the Finder sidebar?” This handy auto-discovery feature that makes network shares appaear automatically on your Mac unfortunately doesn’t work over VPN. So it can be difficult to access the resources and services you need when working from home. VPN shortcuts are the best way for you to find and access what you need at the click of a mouse.
Taking a few minutes to set up VPN Shortcuts to your most important internal services (i.e file server, intranet, internal chat etc.) in VPN Tracker 365 will save you a lot more time in the future and help you work from home more productively.
How it works:
Open VPN Tracker 365. Click on the “+” in the bottom left corner and select “New VPN Shortcuts.” Then, drag out the icon of the service you want to use (e.g. Mail, FileServer, web browser) to configure your shortcut:
Select the VPN connection you want to use this shortcut with and then enter the relevant server/browser address:
Now you have instant access to your most important services in the VPN Tracker 365 app.
VPN Tracker 365 also gives you the option to configure specific connection actions which will help you save time when using the VPN connection.
Some useful examples include:
These are just some examples of what you can do to save time. To configure connection actions for your VPN connection, click on the connection and go to “Configure” > “Actions”:
Now your VPN connection is tailored exactly to your needs – which makes working productively from home much easier.
We hope these tips will be useful to you and you will consider trying them out in VPN Tracker 365. Download VPN Tracker 365 today for free to see how it can improve your work from home routine.
Learn more about VPN Tracker on our website, or contact us directly for a quote or if you have any questions.
Protect your data with VPN Tracker 365 – the #1 VPN client for OS X and macOS:
Start now! Requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later
The post How to Work from Home Productively – With VPN appeared first on equinux Blog.
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, thousands of offices around the world are following government guidelines and moving their staff to work from home.
This is a big change for everyone involved. Here are some of our best tips on how to quickly move your entire team to a remote work setup and keep everyone working productively from home.
Before you move your team to a remote work setup, the first thing you will need to do is to set up a VPN client and connection to give your new remote workers secure access to your internal network.
VPN Tracker is the #1 VPN client for the Mac and is specifically designed with business users in mind. With configuration guides for 300+ VPN gateways and dedicated business features for professionals, setting up a VPN connection for your team to use while working from home is easy.
Once you’ve downloaded VPN Tracker 365, you can follow these tips to make the change to a remote work setup faster and more productive for everyone in your team.
VPNs can be complicated to configure. The good news is, as an admin you can take care of all the setup and configuration ahead of time and export a connection file for your team that is ready-to-go.
VPN Tracker 365 Pro and VIP offer connection export and you can also specify additional security options, including embedding the pre-shared key without making it user-accessible and hiding sensitive configuration details.
Some of the most frequent support requests we get are from users asking how to access services over VPN. This is because the auto-discovery magic that makes network shares auto-appear in the Finder’s sidebar doesn’t work over VPN.
VPN Tracker 365 makes it easy: Give your team access to frequently used resources by creating VPN Shortcuts and sharing them with your team.
Create shortcuts for your company intranet, file servers, internal chat etc. and give your staff simple one-click icons to connect their VPN and launch the service they need.
Setting up shortcuts in VPN Tracker 365 is easy. Click on the “+” in the bottom left corner and select “New VPN Shortcuts.” Then, drag your chosen service from the bottom menu:
Now you can configure the shortcut and select the VPN connection you want staff to use.
When you’ve finished your VPN shortcuts, you can export them along with the VPN connection your team will use.
Use the Export features in VPN Tracker 365 Pro to export your configured connection and VPN shortcuts for everyone in your team to use.
To do this, open VPN Tracker 365, select the connection you want to share with your team and then go to “File” > “Export.” Here you can specify the export details and create an import password:
Your VPN connection will then be exported as simple file that you can send via email to your team members. They can simply double click to import the connection and shortcuts into the VPN Tracker 365 app.
VPN Tracker 365 offers convenient Team Management features to help you add and assign plans to your team members.
As soon as a team member has been assigned a license, they can download the VPN Tracker 365 app to get started.
Once a team member has accepted your invitation and created an equinux ID, they will appear under the “Team Management” tab.
Tip: Here you can see how many team members you have and how many VPN Tracker licenses you need to purchase from the Team Store.
We hope these tips will help you with the change over to a remote work setup. Learn more about VPN Tracker on our website, or contact us directly for a quote or more information.
Protect your data with VPN Tracker 365 – the #1 VPN client for OS X and macOS:
Start now! Requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later
The post How to Move Your Team to a Remote Work Setup #stayathome appeared first on equinux Blog.
The current COVID 19 crisis has more and more professionals working from home with VPN. For many of you working remotely and using VPN for the first time, it may take a few days to adjust to this new workflow.
To help you get started and work more productively, here are our solutions for a few common working from home FAQs…
It depends. Each VPN gateway is totally unique and has its own requirements. The best way to find the specific configuration details for your device is by checking our configuration guides. We have setup guides for all leading VPN gateways including NETGEAR, SonicWALL, Synology Cisco, etc…
Get started: Download the VPN Tracker app free and use the guides to configure your VPN connection to connect to your office network from home.
A VPN connection allows you to access files and services located on your company’s network. For example, this may include shared folders, your office’s intranet, internal email services, databases, etc.
Basically, you can access almost anything on your office network over VPN that you can access when you’re at the office. Just note that some of the “auto discovery” features that make things automatically show up at the office won’t work, so you may need to use an IP address instead.
Tip: The Network Scanner in VPN Tracker 365 can help you easily find and access the services you need.
While scanning, VPN Tracker recognizes the type of device, detects the operating system it is running, and displays available services for direct access.
All you need on your end for VPN to work is a good internet connection. Your company’s network administrator will arrange the rest on the other end. As long as your Mac is connected to your home network, your VPN connection should work just fine.
Is my router at home VPN compatible?
You can use Connection Checker to check whether your router supports VPN connections and which protocols are compatible.
Connect your Mac to the internet, start VPN Tracker and go to “Tools” > “Connection Checker.”
Select the protocol you want to test for, or select all if you are unsure. Then, click “Start Connection Check” to discover your results.
When you try to start up your VPN connection for the first time, you may be asked to enter your XAUTH (Extended Authentication) credentials. This is your way of telling the VPN gateway that you are authorised to use the connection.
In most cases, this is likely to be your internal login for your workplace. However, if you are unsure, it’s best to check this with your network administrator first.
Tip: After you enter your credentials, make sure to save them in your Keychain so you don’t have to authorise yourself each time you connect.
Once you are up and running on VPN, you will most likely want to connect to your company’s server right away. Usually on a Mac, available server locations on your network will be displayed in the sidebar of the Finder window; however, when you connect via VPN, these are not always shown automatically.
To connect and get access to your server files, open Finder and use the shortcut “⌘ + k” to open the “Connect to Server” window. Here you can enter your server IP address to gain access. If you’re unsure of the IP address you need to enter, your network admin will be able to help you.
Tip: To get direct access to your server, you can create a VPN Shortcut in VPN Tracker.
Click on the plus in the bottom left corner and select “New VPN Shortcuts.” Then, drag out the FileServer icon to configure your shortcut:
Select the VPN connection you want to use this shortcut with and then enter your server address.
Now you have instant access to your server locations in the VPN Tracker 365 app.
Hopefully these FAQs have helped answer some of your questions about getting set up with a VPN for working from home.
VPN Tracker 365 is the best choice for professionals looking to use VPN to securely access their company network from their Mac. As the leading VPN client for OS X and macOS, VPN Tracker offers a huge range of features designed especially for business users.
Learn more about VPN Tracker on our website, or contact us directly for a quote or if you have any questions.
Protect your data with VPN Tracker 365 – the #1 VPN client for OS X and macOS:
Start now! Requires Mac OS X 10.9 or later
The post Working from Home with VPN – Your FAQs answered appeared first on equinux Blog.
