How do I set up a simple VPN on a Linksys RV042?

Question

The documentation on the internet has been less-than-helpful, and the management interface is not very straight-forward for people who don't know all the VPN jargon.

I just want to be able to open Cisco QuickVPN from any computer on the internet - provide username and password - and instantly have access to my internal network.

VPN users are set up as follows, and this appears to be fairly straight-forward:

So then I go to the VPN -> Summary page, and it looks like this:

Then I click "Add New Tunnel" and this displays:

So then I click the second option (Client to Gateway) and the configuration page displays:

I've tried to set this up based on what I know about networking, but the terms used on this page are so ambiguous that I don't really understand what it is I am configuring:
- Tunnel vs Group VPN - GroupVPN is what I've used with SonicWall to create this exact type of VPN, so I figured I go with what sounded familiar. Am I mistaken here?
- Local Security Group Type - IP Address vs IP Range vs Subnet - IP Range seems like the simplest option to me, so I entered a unused IP range that is outside of my DHCP range.
Remote Client - I have no idea what this means - Do I have to specify what FQDNs are allowed to connect to this VPN? What's the difference between "Domain Name" and "E-mail Address," and how would it change my confguration? And what does "Microsoft XP/2000 VPN Client" refer to, when I am using a Cisco VPN client to connect? I want it to be globally accessible, with nothing more than a username & password required.
- What bearing does IPSec have on this? I don't want to have to jump through hoops to connect. I have left the IPSec settings at default values (except the Preshared Key, which is required), but was not able to connect to the VPN - And the QuickVPN client doesn't appear to have any place to enter the Preshared Key:

How do I need to configure this to get the VPN to function? The fewer the client requirements, the better.

Answer 1

To start off, I found this pdf that explains how to setup the VPN using your router. It looks like it was done in MAC but the online interface is the same. I also found a guide from CISCO's website that explains in laman's terms what to do with setting it up. Here is the FAQ page that I found that on as well.

I'm not for sure on this, but common sense tells me that the Domain option give just that, a domain that the users log onto, the email address option is where the user's email is configured as a username? and the windows xp/2000 vpn is the built in vpn software that windows has (it's also found on windows vista and 7)

As far as IPsec I'm assuming that's a shortened IP security options. What each of those options do, I'm not sure but my guess is that leave it alone and that will be fine.

Finally, you may need to have a DNS service to setup the VPN if you are wanting to connect from outside the network via an html address: i.e. my.vpn.net. You can use DYNDNS which has free options and paid options or any other DNS service. Otherwise you'll have to enter your outside IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx which could be a security issue, but more importantly, will be more difficult for your clients to remember.

Hope that this all helps. I'll get back to you if I find more.

Answer 2

All you need to do is just setup a new user in VPN client Access. You then use QuickVPN client to connect. That's it. No more to do. (behind the scenes, QuickVPN setups a IPSEC rule in Windows Firewall Rules). You can support up to 50 users.

To support MAC users, you enable PPTP and then use the built in Microsoft OS or Mac OS VPN client to connect. Can only support 5 users.