Editing Virtual private network (section)

== VPN native and third-party support ==
[[Operating system]]s vendors and developers do typically offer native support to a selection of VPN protocols. These are subject to change over the years, as some have been proven to be unsecure with respect to modern requirements and expectations, and others have emerged.

=== VPN support in consumer operating systems ===
Desktop, smartphone and other end-user device operating systems usually support configuring remote access VPN from their [[Graphical user interface|graphical]] or [[Command-line interface|command-line]] tools.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Connect to a VPN in Windows - Microsoft Support |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/connect-to-a-vpn-in-windows-3d29aeb1-f497-f6b7-7633-115722c1009c |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=support.microsoft.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Connect to a virtual private network (VPN) on Android |url=https://support.google.com/android/answer/9089766?hl=en |access-date=11 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=VPN settings overview for Apple devices |url=https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/vpn-settings-overview-dep2d2adb35d/web |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=Apple Support |language=en}}</ref> However, due to the variety of, often non standard, VPN protocols there exists many third-party applications that implement additional protocols not yet or no longer natively supported by the OS.

For instance, [[Android (operating system)|Android]] lacked native [[IPsec IKEv2]] support until version 11,<ref>{{Cite web |title=IPsec/IKEv2 Library |url=https://source.android.com/docs/core/ota/modular-system/ipsec |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=Android Open Source Project |language=en}}</ref> and users needed to install third-party apps in order to connect that kind of VPN. Conversely, Windows does not natively support plain IPsec IKEv1 remote access native VPN configuration (commonly used by [[Cisco Systems VPN Client|Cisco]] and [[Fritz!Box]] VPN solutions).<!--[[User:Kvng/RTH]]-->

=== VPN support in network devices ===
Network appliances, such as firewalls, do often include VPN gateway functionality for either remote access or site-to-site configurations. Their administration interfaces do often facilitate setting up virtual private networks with a selection of supported protocols which have been integrated for an easy out-of-box setup.

In some cases, like in the open source operating systems devoted to firewalls and network devices (like [[OpenWrt]], [[IPFire]], [[PfSense]] or [[OPNsense]]) it is possible to add support for additional VPN protocols by installing missing software components or third-party apps.

Similarly, it is possible to get additional VPN configurations working, even if the OS does not facilitate the setup of that particular configuration, by manually editing internal configurations of by modifying the open source code of the OS itself. For instance, pfSense does not support remote access VPN configurations through its user interface where the OS runs on the remote host, while provides comprehensive support for configuring it as the central VPN gateway of such remote-access configuration scenario. 

Otherwise, commercial appliances with VPN features based on proprietary hardware/software platforms, usually support a consistent VPN protocol across their products but do not open up for customizations outside the use cases they intended to implement. This is often the case for appliances that rely on hardware acceleration of VPNs to provide higher throughput or support a larger amount of simultaneously connected users.