Performance evaluation and analysis of layer 3 tunneling between OpenSSH and OpenVPN in a wide area network environment

Abstract

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide a secure encrypted communication between remote networks worldwide by using Internet Protocol(IP) tunnels and a shared medium like the Internet. End-to-end connectivity is established by tunneling. OpenVPN and OpenSSH are cross-platform, secure, highly configurable VPN solutions. The performance comparison however between OpenVPN and OpenSSH VPN has not yet been undertaken. This paper focuses on such comparison and evaluates the efficiency of these VPNs over Wide Area Network (WAN) connections. The same conditions are maintained for a fair comparison. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first reported test results of these two commonly used VPN technologies. Three parameters, namely speed, latency and jitter are evaluated. Using a real life scenario with deployment over the Linux Operating System, a comprehensive in-depth comparative analysis of the VPN mechanisms is provided. Results of the analysis between OpenSSH and OpenVPN show that OpenSSH utilizes better the link and significantly improves transfer times.