EFW Support

I'm trying to find a solution for connecting gamers over the Net via a game's LAN option.  Many games don't have game servers anymore and quite frankly, I prefer to play with people I have some association with.

Here is what I'm hoping to achieve:

• A server/client style system where I can make user accounts with passwords.
• Ability to NOT have any access to anyone's folders, files, printers, etc.
• A system that can share a Windows 7 web server, or be run on a Linux firewall/router box.
• A VPN client for users that isn't difficult to set up.

Hardware I have available:

• A Windows 7 webserver running Apache, PHP, MySQL, TeamSpeak 3, and an FTP server.
• A dedicated Linux box running IPCop (hope that's not a bad word here :)
• My IP address is dynamic and a static IP doesn't seem to be an option.
• I have a domain name but I have to use URL Forwarding, I guess because of the dynamic IP.

I've run IPCop for some time and I'm comfortable with the operation.  I've seen tutorials of EFW and the install seems nearly identical.  I would not be opposed to switching if the VPN aspect is a real possibility.  Most of the documentation I've seen isn't real clear for non-Linux pros.

I have tried other VPN solutions: Hamachi, EasyVPN, NeoRouter.  Hamachi has so far proven to be the best but it limits networks to 16 users unless you're willing to pay $199/year.  It also seems to have quite high latency.  EasyVPN would not work on the main game I need support for: Nexus - The Jupiter Incident.  I've not been able to test NeoRouter with a game but it seems to allow access to everyone's shared folders, which I'm not too keen on.  You have to pay to have the ability to turn that off.

So, what are my options, oh gurus of Endian?

Hi TE5LA,

Wow :)  Thats some pretty serious  gaming going on with that kind of set up.

Personally (and this is just me mind), I'd be tempted to do the following:

Set up the dynamic IP address with a DYNDNS service thing
Tie down the port redirection only from my  machines (from IP address) thus controlling who is playing etc

A VPN would probably give you some additional latency dependant on the speed of the connection and speed of hardware either side, plus there's no set up required, all you need is peoples IP addresses on the firewall.

Thats my thoughts, but I don't tend to use VPNs unless completely necessary lol :D

Gyp