12/21/2020 Vpn For Mac High Sierra
High Sierra is an update of MacOS which focuses mostly on back-end developments and a higher level of user security. As such, this operating system lays a foundation for future upgrades.
Stay safe
Jun 24, 2020 This continued in Mountain Lion and Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and remains the case in Sierra. By default, Sierra Server VPN will distribute IP addresses in the same range the Mac itself uses. This doesn’t work well in a facility like MacStadium where each Mac mini has a static WAN IP address.
In essence, High Sierra took what was good with Sierra and developed it into a more comprehensive software.
High Sierra emphasizes the already-existing benefits of MacOS previous system, Sierra. There are few bells and whistles, but the changes are noticeable and positive. The Apple file system is the most significant feature it brought. It enables the storage and encryption of a large number of files. Thus, it boosts performance and helps manage device memory issues.
Apple also introduced new formats for video and photos in this version. These formats compress data - that’s a benefit as files can get huge with ever-rising resolutions. They added support for virtual reality headsets as well.
Besides that, when it comes to Safari, Mac search engine, there are some notable improvements with the update. The users can now control annoying auto-play videos, prevent tracking, and more. There are also notification controls, and you will experience a boost in performance, too.
The most noticeable changes took place in Apple’s Photo App, though. It went through a total revamp both visually in its interface and terms of tools and functions available. Many other discreet changes happened all over the system.
Where can you run this program?
If you’re running Sierra on your Mac, you will be able to run this one as well.
Is there a better alternative?
Yes. Mojave, the newest version of MacOS, brought even more improved features to the table. However, if you can’t run it on your device, this is the second best.
Our take
High Sierra is not the shiniest upgrade Apple brought, but it’s one that sets the stage for new upgrades to come. Even out of that context, it’s a great operating system.
Should you download it?
Yes, if your device can support it. The new options and better security settings are worth getting.
10.13
We have a lot of customers who use their Mac mini as a VPN server. This works great when you need an IP address in the US, or a secure internet connection on the road, or a number of other reasons. When Apple released Lion, they changed the setup a bit so we wrote a tutorial. This continued in Mountain Lion and Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and remains the case in Sierra. By default, Sierra Server VPN will distribute IP addresses in the same range the Mac itself uses. This doesn’t work well in a facility like MacStadium where each Mac mini has a static WAN IP address.
We asked Rusty Ross to help us put together a tutorial that will help MacStadium customers setup their Mac minis to serve as VPNs. He’s broken it down in a few parts so be sure to take the steps that are best for your situation:
PART I: VLAN and DNS
PART II: Internet Routing (OPTIONAL)
PART III: VPN
PART IV: Client Setup
If you are simply looking to enable VPN service on your macOS Server for secure connection(s) between your server and client(s), you can skip PART II. That’s right: you can jump straight from PART I to PART III. The procedures discussed in PART II are intended for those who are looking to route internet traffic from their VPN clients over the VPN and out to the internet via their server’s public internet connection at Macminicolo.
Also, it should be mentioned that server administration (particularly at the command line level) can be tricky. If you do proceed beyond this point, which shall be exclusively at your own risk, then please proceed carefully, and as always, don’t ever proceed without a backup of your server and other irreplaceable data.
Still here? Okay, let’s get started.
PART I: VLAN and DNS
First, let’s set up a VLAN.
In System Preferences, go to Network, and choose “Manage Virtual Interfaces…”
![]()
Then choose “New VLAN…”
Let’s just name our VLAN something like “LAN”, and all other defaults here should be fine:
After pressing “Create”, you’ll see this:
Vpn For Mac High Sierra Download
After pressing “Done”, you’ll be able to enter network info for your new VLAN. Make sure to choose “Manually” for “Configure IPv4”, and set the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Router as shown below.
(Advanced: We’ll be using a 10.0.0.1 private IP for the server and 10.0.0.0/24 private network in this walkthrough, but note that the technique documented here will work with any private IP addressing scheme. To accomplish that, you’d substitute that alternate network info here, as well as a few other places further along in this walkthrough.)
After pressing “Apply”, you should see an something like this, indicating that your newly-created VLAN is active:
Nice work. Now, let’s get basic DNS up and running. Launch Server.app, and click on the “DNS” section of the sidebar, under “Advanced”:
All DNS defaults in Server.app should be fine, so let’s switch DNS service on:
Great. Now, once again, if you are NOT interested in routing public internet traffic from your VPN client(s) over the VPN and out to the internet via your server’s public internet connection at Macminicolo, you should SKIP from here to PART III.
PART II: Internet Routing (OPTIONAL)
So far, so good. Now things get a little trickier, as we need to dive into the command line a bit to get NAT and routing set up. First, we’ll need to edit two privileged text files, so we are going use a command line text editor called nano. Breathe easy, we've got each other's backs here, and we will take this step by step.
As we proceed, it is important to remember that in the command line, typos aren't the least bit welcome, and also, uppercase/lowercase needs to match exactly, so it is extremely important to enter text into Terminal.app exactly as it is described here.
One additional (but important!) point: The quotation marks used here in terminal commands are 'straight' quotes. Some web browsers and text editors may automatically convert these marks to smart (curly) quotes, particularly when copying and pasting. It's important to use straight quotes when entering the commands from this tutorial in Terminal.app.
Okay? Let's forge ahead.
Launch Terminal.app:
Inside the terminal window that appears, enter the following command (as a single line), and press return:
sudo nano /etc/pf.anchors/com.apple
You’ll be prompted for your password, and if you’ve not used sudo on this Mac in the past, you may see a warning about using sudo, which is fine. Enter your password (you wont see the cursor move while you type your password) and press return:
Upon doing this, you should expect to see the following text file open inside of nano, our friendly command line text editor:
Okay, we are now going to add three custom lines to this document. Red arrows in the picture below indicate where these lines should go. To move the cursor into the correct place to add these lines, simply use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
The three lines you’ll be adding are:
nat-anchor '100.customNATRules/*'
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |