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Monday 14 June 2010

ConnectVPN 1.0.0.1

I wrote a new tool:.

http://www.pretentiousname.com/miscsoft/index.html#ConnectVPN

ConnectVPN is a tiny command-line tool which checks if a specified RAS or VPN connection is established and, if it isn't, displays the standard connection GUI and waits for the connection to finish (or fail). If the RAS/VPN is already connected then the program exits immediately.

(ConnectVPN is designed for standard Windows RAS and VPN connections. If you are using another type of VPN then it might not work.)

You can use ConnectVPN to ensure you are connected to your VPN before continuing with something else. For example, you can use ConnectVPN to make TortoiseSVN ensure you are connected to your VPN, prompting for password etc. in the usual way if not, before doing a commit or update. (To do that, create a .bat file which calls ConnectVPN with the name of your VPN and then tell TortoiseSVN to run it via the pre-commit and pre-update hook scripts.)

Using ConnectVPN is different to scripting RasDial.exe in a couple of ways: First, if you are not connected then you will see the standard Windows connection prompts and progress dialogs instead of command-line messages. Second, you will not be prompted or bothered at all if the VPN is already connected, even if the VPN configuration does not store credentials; that is, if you don't store the VPN login & password on your computer then you'll be asked for them when required to connect but not if already connected.

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