While there currently isn't any BES-like point of entry for an iPhone to gain access to a corporate network, it's trivial to establish a Cisco IPsec VPN connection.

Getting Started

You'll need the following information:

• VPN Server
• User account name
• User password
• Group name
• Group password

You should know your user account name and password and you can obtain the VPN Server, Group name and Group password from your .pcf file. A PCF file typically contains an encrypted password which you can decrypt using my Cisco VPN Password Decryption page. You can also ask your VPN administrator for the plain text password.

Sample PCF File

The VPN server can be found after Host= in the pcf file. Group Name is after GroupName=, Group Password is after enc_GroupPwd= or GroupPwd=. Asterisks added below for emphasis.

[main]
Description=Connect to Company VPN
****Host=your-vpn-server.coreygilmore.com
AuthType=1
****GroupName=accounting
GroupPwd=
****enc_GroupPwd=9196FE0075E359E6A2486905A1EFAE9A11D652B2C588EF3FBA15574237302B74C194EC7D0DD16645CB534D94CE85FEC4
EnableISPConnect=0
ISPConnectType=0
ISPConnect=
ISPCommand=
Username=
SaveUserPassword=0
UserPassword=
enc_UserPassword=
NTDomain=CorpDomain
EnableBackup=0
BackupServer=
EnableMSLogon=1
MSLogonType=1
EnableNat=1
CertStore=0
CertName=
CertPath=
CertSubjectName=
CertSerialHash=00000000000000000000000000000000
DHGroup=2
ForceKeepAlives=0
PeerTimeout=90

Adding the Connection

From the Home screen on the iPhone open the Settings application. Navigate through General > Network > VPN. Tap Add VPN Configuration and choose IPSec.

Using the information provided to you by your VPN administrator or gleaned from the PCF file, fill out the fields. If you use a SecurID for authentication leave the Password field empty and you will be prompted for it each time you connect. Below is a sample VPN connection configuration:

Connecting

Once the fields are populated and the connection is saved you can connect to your VPN server by opening
Settings > VPN and sliding the toggle into the On position.

Tags: Cisco, iPhone, VPN

Posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm | Filed under Technology, iPhone
You can follow any responses to this entry through the Comments feed.
Post a Comment | Trackback URL | Permalink URL