Ethernet Bridging with OpenVPN
On Linux, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 we can use our VPN tunnels as one big logical Ethernet network. By connecting (bridging) a virtual OpenVPN interface and a real Ethernet interface, we connect (bridge) the networks behind these interfaces and provide a virtual Ethernet between the hosts in the real networks, including exchange of Ethernet Frames. This feature can be useful for Windows users that will need to exchange broadcast packages through the tunnel, e.g. for network browsing, LAN parties, and more.
Setting up OpenVPN for bridging mode is simple and the same for all operating systems: We only have to make sure our OpenVPN setup is working and that we are using TAP devices. I recommend the use of TLS-server setup with clients that are automatically assigned addresses and configurations.
On Linux, you will need to install the bridge-utils package and follow the information on the website http://openvpn.net/bridge.html. Windows users can simply use the...
