FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

VPN Gate will be a paying service in future?

VPN Gate will NEVER be a paying service in future.

We are operating VPN Gate Service in National University of Tsukuba. Japanese national universities have a general rule to prohibits any profit activities.

Moreover, the Japanese Telecommunication Law requires any 'paying network service' to be registered to the government, and to comply with the order of the minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. Thus if VPN Gate becomes a paying service we will be interfered by Japanese Government. To avoid it, we don't want to be a paying service. The factor that VPN Gate consists of a lot of volunteers around the world should make the situation more difficult to become a paying service.

The above reasons are why we will never become a paying service in future.

How many years will VPN Gate provide the service continuously for?

We launched the VPN Gate service on March 8, 2013.

We have a strong desire to keep the service stably for more than eight years if possible. However, if unavoidable reasons would occurs (for example technical problem, legal problem, or project-member problem), the service might end earlier. We think that we should continue the service, at least three years.

On the about page, Daiyuu Nobori is the responsible person to VPN Gate. If something happens on him, can VPN Gate continue running?

We have the redundant maintenance staffs at University of Tsukuba in order to keep VPN Gate continuously as possible, even if something will be happen on the chief of the VPN Gate project.

However, in the case of the crisis of VPN Gate service's continuation, we will disclose the entire source-codes of VPN Gate Project System for free of charge. (It means not only VPN Gate Server and Client, but also includes the full-source code which anyone can build alternative VPN Gate web site.)

The source codes are stored by a third person in safe. He will automatically disclose the VPN Gate source code even if all VPN Gate members will be unable to work. In the case of extinction of VPN Gate Project, please start another VPN Gate Project by yourself to inherit our activities.

How to take a support of using VPN Gate?

You can post a question on the forum.

Is VPN Gate a commercial service provided by a corporation?

No. VPN Gate Academic Experiment Project is an online service as an academic research at the Graduate School of University of Tsukuba, Japan. The purpose of this research is to expand the knowledge of "Global Distributed Public VPN Relay Servers" .

Is VPN Gate operated by SoftEther Corporation?

No. SoftEther Corporation doesn't operate this project.

Can I use VPN Gate for free of charge?

Yes. You can connect to any VPN servers which are listed as Public VPN Relay Servers. Because these relay servers are hosted by volunteers. You can also become a volunteer to support VPN Gate.

Do I have to register to use VPN Gate?

No user registration is required.

How to connect VPN Gate?

The method is different on each operating systems. Refer this page.

What protocols can be used to connect to VPN Gate?

SoftEther VPN protocol (SSL-VPN), L2TP/IPsec, OpenVPN and MS-SSTP are supported. Refer this page.

How to connect to VPN Gate by using Windows?

You can four ways. "Using SoftEther VPN Client + VPN Gate Client Plug-in" is most recommended. Other methods are to use L2TP/IPsec, OpenVPN Client or MS-SSTP VPN Client.

A lot of VPN Server on the list. Which server should I connect to?

You can connect to any of servers on the list. Line quality, uptime and cumulative users are for your reference to elect which to connect. The score is calculated automatically from quality parameters. You can try to connect, from the first to the last descending on the list.

I want to contact to the operator of a VPN Gate VPN Server.

If you can find a contact address of the volunteer operator in the line of VPN Gate VPN Server List, you may contact him directly. If there is no contact with the server entry on the list, it means that the volunteer hasn't supplied the contact address. You cannot make a contact to such an operator.

What is the advantage to use SoftEther VPN Client + VPN Gate Client Plug-in for Windows?

VPN Gate Client Plug-in for Windows is an external expansion module to expand the functions of SoftEther VPN Client. This plug-in adds a "VPN Gate" icon on the main screen of VPN Client Manager. If you click the icon, the list of running VPN Gate Public VPN Relay Server will be appeared on the client software. You can double-click one server on the list to initiate the VPN connection. It is very convenient.

Public VPN Relay Servers of VPN Gate seems to support a lot of VPN protocols. How did you implement them?

It is based on SoftEther VPN Server which is under research and development at University of Tsukuba, Japan. SoftEther VPN is freeware developed at University of Tsukuba, Japan. High-performance VPN with the ultimate compatibilities to many devices. Windows, Mac, smartphones, tablets (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows RT) and Cisco or other VPN routers are supported. SoftEther VPN also accepts OpenVPN and MS-SSTP VPN clients. For details, visit http://www.softether.org/.

What is SoftEther VPN?

SoftEther VPN is VPN software which is under research and development at University of Tsukuba, Japan. It is planned to become an open source (GPL) in the middle of 2012. For details, visit http://www.softether.org/.

Let me understand the relations between SoftEther VPN and VPN Gate.

Client software and server software to implements VPN Gate was developed as a plug-in to expand the functions of SoftEther VPN. VPN Gate is not a part of SoftEther VPN. SoftEther VPN can be used alone itself. For details of SoftEther VPN, visit http://www.softether.org/.

VPN Gate Project is equivalent to SoftEther VPN Project?

No. These two projects are operated at University of Tsukuba, however the two projects are different. The purpose of SoftEther VPN Project is to implement a high-quality VPN server and VPN client. The purpose of VPN Gate Project is to research the good distributed VPN server system. For details of SoftEther VPN, visit http://www.softether.org/.

Communications via VPN Gate are recorded as log files?

It depends on the "Logging Policy" of each VPN Gate server. The Logging Policy is declared by the operator of each VPN Gate server. You can see them in the Public VPN Relay Severs List page.

A VPN server of VPN Gate which I used to connect every day suddenly went unreachable.

The volunteer who had provided the VPN server might stop hosting. Pick up another VPN server on the VPN Servers List page.

DDNS hostnames (.opengn.net) and IP addresses are listed on the VPN servers list. Which identify should I specify as a destination VPN server?

Usually you should use DDNS hostnames. A DDNS hostname is very convenient because when the corresponding IP address will be changed, the IP address of the DDNS hostname record will be changed automatically. However, from some countries or regions, DDNS service might be unreachable. In such environment, the domain ".opengw.net" cannot be resolved. You should specify IP address rather than DDNS hostnames to specify the destination VPN server.

In my country there is a government's firewall and it sometimes causes the unknown communication error to access to overseas web sites. At the present time, I can access to the www.vpngate.net web site. However, I am anxious if one day suddenly this web site will become unreachable. Any solution I can conduct as a preparation?

Yes. You can see the Mirror Sites List page and copy the URLs in the page. Memorize these URLs in your local computer for yourself. The copying operation should be executed periodically by yourself. In future when www.vpngate.net will become unreachable, you can try to access one of the Mirror Sites Lists URLs.

In future, if my government's firewall causes an unknown error and www.vpngate.net will become unreachable, can I connect VPN sessions to a VPN server of VPN Gate?

Yes, it is possible. Every VPN servers of VPN Gate are hosted by volunteers, and distributed over the Internet. If www.vpngate.net will become unreachable from your country, you can still continue to connect to a VPN server of the list.

In future, if my government's firewall causes an unknown error and www.vpngate.net will become unreachable, can I still continue to use "SoftEther VPN Client + VPN Gate Plug-in" in order to connect a VPN?

Yes, it is possible. SoftEther VPN Client + VPN Gate Plug-in are not depended on whether or not www.vpngate.net is reachable. So the client software can continue to be used even if www.vpngate.net will go unreachable.

I would like to provide my computer as a VPN server, and join the VPN Gate Academic Experiment.

Thank you for your contribution. Please see the instruction. Note you need a Windows computer.

Is it safe if my VPN server as a volunteer VPN host of VPN Gate is located in the corporate private network?

Yes, it is safe. Anyone who connects to a VPN Gate Service can access to any hosts on the Internet via the VPN Gate Service computer, however, any access towards the private address blocks (192.168.0.0./255.255.0.0, 172.16.0.0/255.240.0.0 and 10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0) are filtered. Therefore, if you plan to set up a VPN Gate Service on the computer which is physically located on your corporate network, it is safe because guest users are unable to access to any computers on your private network.

If I host my VPN server as a volunteer for VPN Gate, is there any risks that my computer will be abused as the source of SPAM e-mails with SMTP protocol?

Don't worry. VPN Gate Service blocks outbound TCP port 25. No one can conduct a SPAM by using SMTP protocol via your VPN Gate Service computer. Other some ports are also blocked for security. You can the blocking list on the "Access Lists" of the "VPNGATE" virtual hub.