PPTP Guide
Contents
How to Setup a PPTP VPN connection
Why use a VPN?
A VPN encrypts the traffic going across the network. The prevents prying eyes from seeing your details. Another great feature is that your external IP will appear to be in the country of the VPN. For example, if you live in Paris and have a VPN back to San Diego, CA, you're IP will be a stateside IP. This allows you to watch content that is normally blocked outside the United States, like Netflix.
Prerequisites
A VPN account - I suggest StrongVPN[1] for the WDTV because that is how b-rad made the PPTP app. pptp.app.bin - Located here. Thumbdrive
Installation/Setup
First copy the pptp.app.bin[2] to your USB drive and reboot. When the WDTV comes back up log into the WebEnd and click on WDLXTV Config. Open the Apps tab and you should seed the pptp configuration section.
Open a new window and go to StrongVPN's FAQ[3]. Scroll halfway down until you find their DNS addresses. Copy the first one and put it in the PPTP VPN DNS field of the pptp config.
Navigate to your StrongVPN account settings. To find this, log in to StrongVPN and click on VPN Accounts Summary and then click on View Greeting.
In the pptp settings enter the password in the PPTP VPN Password field, username in the PPTP VPN Username field, and Server IP (not Server Address) in the PPTP VPN DNS field.
Click Save.
Using the VPN
When you want to enable or disable the VPN open the WebEnd and click on the pptp button in Plugin Daemons.
Things to note
When you are using the PPTP VPN, by default all traffic is routed through the VPN. Yes, you can watch Netflix, but your bittorrent traffic will also go through the VPN.
Verifying the VPN is working.
Before turning on the VPN, run the following command in a command shell:
wget -O - http://automation.whatismyip.com/n09230945.asp 2>/dev/null
Enable the VPN and run the command again. Double check that the IP isn't the same as your external IP from a computer that is not using the VPN.
