SNS Cloud VPN provides a quickly configured, fully supported solution for providing remote users access to your EVO, equipped with straightforward administrative controls for monitoring and management.
Getting Started
After starting your SNS Cloud VPN subscription, you will receive an email containing your registration details. Click on the link provided in the email to register as the account owner and complete the registration process.
- Authenticate using a Google or Microsoft account, or an email address that is linked to a Microsoft or Google account.
- Click Register New VPN Subscription.
- Enter your Order number (see the subject line for the associated ticket).
- Click on Enter Payment Method, which will redirect you to enter your payment information.
- After entering payment information you will then be redirected to the Dispatch page. Once that occurs, the registration is completed and you may log out.
- When you've completed the steps above, please reply to the email with confirmation of registration. This step is essential for provisioning your VPN service.
- Once the system is provisioned, you should receive an additional email with further details, including the URL of your SNS Cloud VPN Dashboard.
- Make a note of the URL, and/or bookmark it for administrative needs (for example 123456.snsevo.com).
SNS VPN Dashboard
Log in to your new SNS Cloud VPN Dashboard using the URL provided in the final email. Remember to keep this address for future administration purposes and be sure to use the same email account used during registration. This account will be the VPN service owner by default.
After logging in, visit the Status page to confirm that the VPN service has started and the subscription is active. This process might take a couple of minutes or require a page refresh. Look for the messages 'VPN server is running' and 'Subscription Status: active'.
If there are security updates available, you can apply them by clicking the Reboot button. Keep in mind that it may take a few minutes for the system to come back online, and this action will interrupt any active VPN traffic.
VPN Users
EVO Credentials
At the bottom of the VPN Users page, you'll see two columns: Add VPN User and Create EVO VPN Credentials File. Under the EVO column on the right, enter a unique name for the EVO connection and click Add EVO.
Download the configuration file (for example: client10-EVO-12345.gpg) by clicking the download icon in the Get Creds column and note the assigned IP address in the ‘IP’ column, which will be the EVO's VPN address.
Tip: Later, when connecting EVO to the VPN, you’ll upload this same file in EVO Administration on the Cloud VPN page (Import saved VPN configuration).
The above EVO Credentials process should be repeated, using unique names and credentials, for any additional EVOs you wish to connect to the VPN.
User Credentials
Under the Add VPN User column on the left of the page, you can create as many users as needed by entering their first and last names and then clicking Add VPN User.
Each user requires a unique configuration file since addresses are assigned to individual VPN identities.
Download the user’s unique configuration file by clicking the download icon in the Get Creds column.
Note: Ensure each connecting device uses its own unique VPN credentials only. Sharing a configuration file on multiple workstations is not supported, and will cause problems.
Security Tip: Safeguard these configuration files, and only share them with the authorized user. Avoid sharing these files with anyone you don't want to grant access to the VPN.
Connect EVO to SNS Cloud VPN
Log in to EVO Administration and navigate to the Cloud VPN page (#/vpn).
Click + ADD CONNECTION on the Connections card.
Import the Cloud VPN Configuration file you previously downloaded (for example: client10-EVO-12345.gpg).
The SNS Cloud VPN connection should now be shown as Online.
This EVO should now appear as active on your SNS Cloud VPN dashboard (near the bottom of the Status page) and be able to communicate with other users that are also connected to the VPN.
Now you’re ready to connect your user’s workstations remotely to EVO: just import the configuration using Nomad with VPN accelerator.
Manage Data Cap
Typically, 10 TB of monthly data is adequate for most of our customers' needs. To prevent additional charges resulting from exceeding this limit, there are various options available to you.
You can set a soft limit based on the percentage of data used, which will trigger one of the following options:
- Do Nothing (default setting)
- Shut down the VPN server (until the end of the billing cycle)
- Throttle the VPN’s bandwidth to a lower data transfer speed
Dashboard Users
Important: This page should not be mistaken for the VPN Users page.
Be extremely cautious when adding or changing users or user roles on this page!
The Dashboard Users page is intended for managing additional administrators to your web-based VPN dashboard. If desired, users can also be added here to allow them access to download their credentials/configuration file from the VPN Users page, rather than having an administrator provide it through an alternative method.
In the Add/Change/Remove a Dashboard User section there is a drop down box with several options. In this example, a user is added to the Dashboard so that they can login to the web interface and download their VPN access configuration file.
First enter an email address and in the drop down box verify that ‘user’ is selected. Then click Add.
A new window appears, assign only the VPN ID corresponding to the user required to download their associated configuration file:
In this example, John Smith's ID is 11 (displayed in the first column). The checkbox corresponding for ID 11 is checked before saving changes.
An email is then sent to the user, and once they click on the link and accept access, they will be able to login to the VPN dashboard to download their configuration file.
Allowing users to log in to retrieve their own credentials may be preferred as a more secure delivery method than email.