PPTP vs. SSL

[Kurt Granroth]

jordi laforge wrote:
> Which would you use? Can you transfer files over SSL? Just looking for
> opinions.

I would guess that since you mention PPTP that you are looking for a VPN
solution... but that doesn't jibe with your comment about transferring
files.  Can you give a bit more detail on what you are trying to do?

I'll give a scattershot of comments though and maybe one or two will hit
the mark.

PPTP is a VPN solution and SSL is a (streaming?) encryption standard.
You can use SSL as the encryption layer of a VPN, though, which is
exactly what OpenVPN uses.  I recommend OpenVPN as a VPN solution if you
have the opportunity.

If you just want to transfer files over a non-secure network in a secure
manner, then you have a few choices.  If it's just file upload and
download, then I typically use ssh either directly with 'scp' or 'sftp'
or 'rsync'.

If you are downloading only from a static source that you control and
you have no SSH access, then you can use SSL via HTTPS.

If you want to use an unencrypted network protocol in an encrypted
manner, then you can create a tunnel either with ssh or stunnel.

Did any of those come close to what you're looking for?

Kurt