Mac OS X ’s built - in VPN ( virtual private internet ) client is a pretty beneficial one : it ’s easy to localise up ; its menu - stripe menu makes it commodious to connect to and unplug from your VPN(s ) ; and it give you reliable connections .
Unless you ’re plug into to a Cisco VPN , that is .
Search the Web , and you ’ll happen scads of ill from Mac users essay to use OS X ’s built - in VPN software to tie to Cisco VPNs . The result is to installCisco ’s own Mac OS X VPN guest . When I finally flip-flop — I’d put it off for quite a while because the Cisco client requires the installation of substance extensions and other system - level files — I was astonied by how much more reliable my VPN connecter were . I was able to link instantly , and my connection actuallystayedconnected for as long as I needed them . ( remark that you ca n’t download the Cisco client without a licence ; if you need it , you ’ll have to get it from your IT department . )
I missed my menu - measure connection menu , and I did n’t care having to keep another diligence opened just to link to the VPN . So I went looking for something that would give me the interface and comfort station of OS X ’s VPN client with the Cisco client ’s compatibility . NexUmoja’sShimo 1.0.3 (; defrayment request ) was exactly what I wanted .
Depending on your preferences , Shimo can show your connexion clip in the menu bar , and can notify you of link , disjunction , errors , and general entropy messages ; notifications can let in any combining of a visual dialog , a Growl alarum , an audible brisk sound , or a school text - to - speech version of the alert . you may also set up Shimo to run an AppleScript whenever one of these events occurs , a neat feature that enables near - endless possibility for customs duty functionality .
Each VPN profile can have dissimilar configurations , which include a turn of utile feature article . For example , Shimo can automatically reconnect whenever the VPN connection is lost — include after sleep and at startup . It can also connect to a specific VPN whenever you link up to a specific wireless web or swop to a particular connection Location .
Shimo also provides an optional Statistics display that show detailed selective information about your connexion , include IP addresses , dealings summaries , and route info .
My liberal ailment about Shimo is n’t with its functionality ; it ’s that the developer includes no software documentation , nor is detailed info about its feature and options available from the developer ’s WWW internet site . Some options are obvious , but others are n’t at all , so if you experience connexion problems — which , according to feedback on Version Tracker and MacUpdate , some people do — there ’s a practiced hazard that the problem is simply a untimely setting somewhere . My advice : if you do n’t understand a setting , do n’t touch it — and then drop the developer a line and involve for some corroboration . Even floating tooltips over each setting would be welcome .
deficiency of documentation aside , Shimo is a swell utility for those of us forced to use Cisco ’s inelegant — but functional — VPN node .
Shimo is a Universal binary and call for Mac OS X 10.4 or later on and Cisco VPN Client v4.9.00.0050 or by and by .
