VPN Client Support

From what I read on the Junos website, Junos does not yet support IE11/win 8.1 and a new release is imminent.  Why they wouldn't be ready for 8.1 and why 8.1 has the client but Junos hasn't shipped it yet I don't know but that's what I saw in an article and I have yet to hear of anyone successfully connecting on these forums.

This is exactly why I haven't marked this as answered yet and I ended up buying a 2 Pro instead of a 2.

It seems if you want a 'slightly better than iPad/Android tablet for most things' you can get a RT/Surface 2. If you want flexibility and no worries about application support, you have to go Pro.

I loved the battery and portability of the RT, but ultimately I'm a Chrome guy for the Chromecast plugin and synchronized bookmarks. Browser choice is important, and SSL connectivity is equally important.

If just a few tweaks were made to RT it would be a near perfect platform.

I am still awaiting an answer to my inquiry from the Surface marketing folks. If I hear back I will post here and mark this topic (finally) as answered.

Stay tuned and keep contributing - and if anyone does successfully get it working, please share that experience.

From what I read on the Junos website, Junos does not yet support IE11/win 8.1 and a new release is imminent.  Why they wouldn't be ready for 8.1 and why 8.1 has the client but Junos hasn't shipped it yet I don't know but that's what I saw in an article and I have yet to hear of anyone successfully connecting on these forums.

Can you make a howto?  I'm not a programmer or a network administrator.  The VPN in Windows 8.1 work differently from what i'm use to.  I'm lost

In RT 8.1, you pull settings, change pc settings, network, add vpn connection.  You select the type of VPN manager you are using as Juniper Networks Junos Pulse and enter your company's server address and any credentials.  You also have options for SonicWALL, Microsoft, F5 and Checkpoint.

Otherwise, your options are to get with your network admin and show them the settings available when you go advanced and sort it that way if options are available.

Thanks for the info.

However I have the same problems have others with Juniper login.

Add connection, select Juniper, server address, login, select realm, and get "IO incomplete"

Authentication is apparently working fine though since entering different credentials generates a different error.

Did you run into this? ANyone else? How did you get past it? Thanks.

Can you make a howto?  I'm not a programmer or a network administrator.  The VPN in Windows 8.1 work differently from what i'm use to.  I'm lost

In RT 8.1, you pull settings, change pc settings, network, add vpn connection.  You select the type of VPN manager you are using as Juniper Networks Junos Pulse and enter your company's server address and any credentials.  You also have options for SonicWALL, Microsoft, F5 and Checkpoint.

Otherwise, your options are to get with your network admin and show them the settings available when you go advanced and sort it that way if options are available.

Hmmm I try this, but the username and password fields seem to be inaccessible?

When I try and connect the VPN I get the message "Verifying credentials" and then it fails with "Invalid parameter"...

I have the same problem.  Junos Pulse for iOS and Android both allow inputting the credentials that it then uses to authenticate but I do not see a field for this in 8.1.

Where I am is that I can go create the VPN connection.  I select "Juniper Networks Junos Pulse", then type in whatever name I wish.  Then I put in the server that I connect to (same server that I would navigate to in the browser in order to login to vpn

• just the hostname, no https:// or anything).  Then I save it, then go to the "settings" charm, networks, select my newly created vpn and click connect.  I am prompted for username & password then, which I provide.  Then I select a session.  Then it tells me there is an error and the "connection is not configured for Junos Pulse".  I find this strange, because I am able to use junos pulse client on an android tablet just fine.

If it matters, I am actually using my old intel netbook with windows 8.1 pro.  I am interested in the surface 2, but wanted to ensure my work VPN will work properly before I buy it.  Anybody have any advise?  This is my first exposure to vpn stuff really, so I am hoping I am just missing something simple.

Well, already knew Windows RT supported basic VPN functionality (IPSec etc) out of the box with 8.0. What it didn't, and in Cisco's case still doesn't, support is SSL VPN client functionality because the vendors all implement it differently from my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong). It sounds to me that additional capabilities have been added to the built-in Microsoft VPN client in 8.1 for Juniper etc, as opposed to a third party VPN client. Cisco may not be able to do the same with their client due to whatever may differ, or they may not be interested in exposing how their AnyConnect VPN works (the competitor drama you describe) to add that functionality to the built-in VPN client, but at the same time may still not be able to write a client using just the WinRT API. If this is the case it still may very well still be about the APIs on Windows RT. Once again I wish Microsoft would reconsider their insistence on blocking third party use of any API other than WinRT in Windows RT.

You highlight my contradiction - Cisco could write an SSL connection for Cisco to sit within RT but they didn't. Checkpoint, F5, Juniper, etc did take that initiative.

MS could open up their APIs for a Cisco client, but they haven't, and no other vendor is really complaining.

SSL is a standard: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6101 and has been for a while.

That said, it is possible that Cisco wrote proprietary code they claim will make it better - they are notorious for that, and have done it with discovery protocols, routing protocols, and SIP just to name three. This doesn't really make it MS's obligation to support it.

I hope whatever the block is, the Cisco community out there get an acceptable answer for their connectivity. We will see...