vpnd [-d | -n | -x] [-i server_id]
     vpnd [-h]

DESCRIPTION

     vpnd allows external hosts to tunnel via L2TP over IPSec or via PPTP from
     an insecure external network (such as the Internet) into a "secure"
     internal network, such as a corporate network.  All traffic through the
     tunnel is encrypted to provide secure communications, with L2TP/IPSec
     providing a higher level of security than PPTP.

     vpnd listens for incoming connections, pairs each one with an available
     internal IP address, and passes the connection to pppd(8) with appropri-
     ate parameters.  Parameters for vpnd are specified in a system configura-
     tion (plist) file in XML format.  This file contains a dictionary of con-
     figurations each identified by a key referred to as a server_id.  Parame-
     ters include the tunneling protocol, IP addresses to be assigned to
     clients, PPP parameters etc.

     vpnd is launched for a particular configuration by using the -i option
     which takes the server_id to be run as an argument.  vpnd can also be run
     without the -i option.  In this case it will check the configuration file
     for a special array which contains a list of configurations to be run and
     will fork and exec a copy of vpnd for each server_id to be run.  Running
     multiple vpnd processes simultaneously for a particular protocol is not
     allowed.

     vpnd will be launched during the boot process by a startup item if the
     field VPNSERVER is defined in /etc/hostconfig with the value -YES-.  Typ-
     ically, in this case it will be launched without the -i option and will
     check the configuration file to determine which configuration(s) are to
     be run.

     vpnd logs items of interest to the system log.  A different log path can
     be specified in the configuration file.

OPTIONS

     The following options are available:

     -d    Do not move to background and print log strings to the terminal.

     -h    Print usage summary and exit.

     -i    Server_id in the plist file that defines the configuration to be
           run.

     -n    Do not move to background, print log information to the terminal,
           and quit after validating the argument list.

     -x    Do not move to background.

FILES & FOLDERS

     /usr/sbin/vpnd
     /etc/hostconfig
     /System/Library/StartupItems/NetworkExtensions

SEE ALSO

     pppd(8)

Mac OS X                        21 August 2003                        Mac OS X