Lifting the "1 GM at-a-time" restriction
Last updated
Last updated
What if you have multiple GMs that need the VPN to host games ? For example, you may belong to a community of Fantasy Grounds players and GMs mostly based in "pure IPv6" countries.
There are several ways to manage such situations, that we'll explore below :
1-at-a-time /N : Time-sharing a single VPN Server + single GM connection/certificate
Nx 1-at-a-time : Each GM creates his own VPN server following this guide
N-at-a-time : Single VPN Server + Nx GM-dedicated connections/certificates
Shared installations will preferably run 24x7, to avoid requiring the server owner availability (for start/stop or launch/terminate actions)
Remember that each GM has to check his/her own machine for "Barriers 1 to 3"
You share with other GMs the hard work you have already done following this guide :
you distribute the same set of OpenVPN parameters and credentials to all you GM friends
each of them installs OpenVPN client NB: They do NOT need to install EasyRSA2 or setup a PKI, only OpenVPN itself is required
each of them installs the set of parameters that you supplied
Pros :
lightweight solution
no technical skills required for other GMs
STILL 1-AT-A-TIME !
replacing the certificate requires installing the new set of parameters for all GMs
your own availability, required to start/launch the server and communicate the new Public IP if it only runs on-demand, as opposed to 24x7
time-sharing organization, usage planning and timezone errors, colliding time slots - 2 GMs connected at the same time => broken FG sessions - one day or another you'll encounter issues like those :
This option is self-explanatory...
maximum flexibility
maximum setup work
technical skills required for GMs
This option is quite neat as it enables several GMs to run multiple simultaneous FG games (N at a time) through the one and only VPN Server you already created, but :
It requires additional work to setup
It is not 100% transparent for players.
It is mostly suitable for a community with several GMs, running mid- to long-term FGC games (campaigns) since the extra complexity is managed up-front, once and for all.
To support multiple concurrent games going through our small VPN server, which has only ONE Public IP, we'll use a different communication port for each GM.
This solution extends our current setup by :
creating individual GM certificates in our PKI
transparently forwarding FG traffic to and from each specific GM for a specific FG port
removes the burden of time-sharing organization The GMs with dedicated connections can host FGC games at any time (while the VPN server is running) without fear of collision with other games. They can even forget to close their VPN connection...
compatible with the original "1-at-a-time" setup, which remains 100% transparent for players You can have both : GM-dedicated specific connections and time-shared setup you already created
gives more control over security by having specific connections/certificates per GM
it needs you to dive deeper into the OpenVPN server configuration We'll detail this with step-by-step instructions in next pages
it requires GMs and Players to create and use a customized shortcut to FGC (for ease of use) to run Fantasy Grounds Classic on a specific TCP port, different than the standard TCP 1802 Creating a specific shortcut to the FG program should not be an issue to play with a specific GM for multiple sessions in an on-going campaign; but it could be awkward for 1-shot games
This solution became possible when I finally understood how to run FG Classic on a custom TCP port... It only took me a bit more than 2 years after starting using the program, to find this info !...
Cons :
The main issue here is that some (most ?) of the other GMs may not be as geeky as you are (since you made it this far...), and may be daunted by this solution.
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