OpenDNS and VPNs

I have been using OpenDNS for some time. I am pleased with its performance and take comfort in its ability to mitigate some of the security risks of Internet browsing.

If you missed my blog explaining the benefits of using OpenDNS (Family Shield) and how to configure your router/PC to use it, click HERE to read that post. OpenDNS is free, and although few people know how to program their router, anyone can carefully follow the steps required to enable it (should take less than 10 minutes).

However, if you use a VPN connection to work from home, the default settings of OpenDNS need to be tweaked before your VPN connection will work with OpenDNS. This incompatibility occurs because the servers at your workplace are behind a firewall, and the routing information for them is not publically available on the Internet by design. In other words, your Intranet is not exposed to the Internet.

A VPN connection can be made to work with OpenDNS by instructing OpenDNS to ignore communications that need to be routed through your VPN. Specifically, you must create an exception to the default actions of OpenDNS servers. To do that, you must have a user account with OpenDNS (otherwise, anyone could alter the routing of your Internet traffic!).

This is all fairly simple to do. It is just a matter of taking a few minutes to go through the steps of creating a user account and then adding the exception (which OpenDNS treats like a typo). Click HERE for the step-by-step instructions. You will have to enter the IP address of your home router (which will be displayed) and the main portion of the URL for your internal workplace servers (for example, http://InsideIntranet.MyCompany.com/).