Hamachi Virtual Private Networking Software

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Hamachi Virtual Private Networking Software

• By Kevin McCrumb

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Contents of Presentation

• What is a Virtual Private Network?
• What is Hamachi?
• Why Introduce Hamachi to students?
• Some Potential Uses of Hamachi.
• How does Hamachi Work?
• Screenshots of Hamachi.
• Any Weaknesses?

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What is a VPN?

• A virtual private network (VPN) is a private
  communications network often used by companies or
  organizations, to communicate confidentially over
  a public network.
• VPN traffic can be carried over a public
  networking infrastructure(e.g. the Internet), or
  over a service provider's private network with a
  defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the
  VPN customer and the VPN service provider.
• A VPN can send data e.g. voice, data or video, or
  a combination of these media, across secured and
  encrypted private channels between two points.

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What is Hamachi?

• LogMeIn Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual
  private networking(VPN) application.
• In other words, Hamachi is a program that allows
  for individuals to arrange multiple computers
  into their own secure network just as if they
  were connected by a physical network cable.
• In a sense, Hamachi gives you the power of a
  Local Area Network over the Internet.

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Why Introduce Hamachi?

• Hamachi simply put is a safe, easy, free way to
  allow students to experiment and learn lessons
  about the idea of a peer-to-peer network.
• You can use Hamachi to introduce the concept of a
  Local Area Network to students.
• Hamachi is also commonly used by many people for
  games as well, so you can instantly get the
  attention of that group of students!

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Some Benefits of Hamachi

• Once you have computers hooked up via Hamachi,
  the computers are tricked into thinking that they
  are on the same local area network, which lends
  itself to many very useful services and options.
• For example, any any applications that are
  designed to work over a LAN will work in the same
  way over Hamachi. Examples include ITunes,
  Windows File Sharing, etc..

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Some Benefits of Hamachi(ctd)

• Hamachi builds an analog of a local network,
  which means that all of the computers on the
  network can act as servers.
• This would be useful when using Windows Remote
  Desktop for example. Windows Remote Desktop
  allows you to control another computer from the
  computer that youre at now.

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Some Benefits of Hamachi (ctd)

• The Hamachi environment is also isolated from the
  Internet and all of its traffic is encrypted.
• The developers have also developed a large number
  of security provisions that help to make the
  software safe.
• For those who really want a challenge, the
  developers of Hamachi even explain how their
  provisions work.

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Some Benefits of Hamachi(ctd)

• You can also set up a private network for
  closed/restricted groups of people ranging from
  FTP or HTTP servers to other software such as
  TeamSpeak or Network Radio Stations.
• The possibilities are pretty endless as there are
  many dedicated users out there who are continuing
  to work on developing new things to do with
  Hamachi almost daily.

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How does Hamachi Work?

• When Hamachi is installed, it adds a network
  adapter to your computer. The adapter than is
  subject to the rules of any firewall that you
  have installed.

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How does Hamachi Work(ctd)

• Hamachi is a UDP-based virtual private networking
  system. Its peers utilize the help of a third
  node called a mediation server to locate each
  other and to bootstrap the connection between
  them. The connection itself is direct and once it
  is established no traffic flows through our
  servers.

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Hamachi Screenshots
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Hamachi Screenshots
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Some Downfalls..

• Despite the fact that Hamachi is free, it will
  only allow 16 connections to each individual
  server. So if you had 20-25 computers, you would
  have to purchase the premium package.
• Some other features in Hamachi are enhanced only
  by paying for it.
• http//www.hamachi.cc/compare.php.

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So In Summary..

• Hamachi allows you to create a private virtual
  network across the Internet, in the same way that
  you would physically hook up a group of computers
  in your own home.
• Hamachi has multiple applications that can be
  used for many different purposes.
• Hamachi can be used as a teaching tool about
  Networks and LANs.
• Hamachi is also easy to use and has a large group
  of dedicated developers who are continuously
  developing new tools for Hamachi.

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Some Websites To Check Out..

• http//www.hamachi.cc
• http//www.planethamachi.com