[plug] Getting around firewalls (Outgoing)

[Tim]

Yesterday I was doing some work offsite, and tried to connect back to
my VPN here to retrieve some files. I quickly discovered that the
modem firewall was blocking a lot of outgoing requests on almost every
port except a few.
Is it common for people to come up against firewalls that block most
outgoing ports except DNS, HTTP and HTTPS? On these "tough" firewalls,
what do most people find open for outgoing? I'm thinking I might move
my VPN to the HTTPS port, and move SSH back to it's standard port.
Obviously for most clients I can probably ask them to open up the
firewall a little to allow the VPN, but I know some clients wouldn't
know how to and I'm not flying to south africa to change settings for
them.

Also, are there any members on the list who are interested in testing
some hotspot software later this month. It requires you have a dual
NIC machine, with a hard drive that you are willing to have wiped
(it's a totally automated install). I will need it tested on a
varierty of older hardware, and behind a variety of firewalls. If you
are a PLUG member, and you wish to run a captive portal hotspot at
home, I'm sure as long as you aren't making lots of money off it, that
I'd have no problem you using the software after testing! I do how
ever ask that you assist me in choosing a license for the source code.
:-P

Tim

-- 
Timothy White - Somewhere in Australia