Which Cisco VPN Client to Download?

Besides Cisco AnyConnect Client, There are Many Download Choices

Nov 6, 2009

With two different Cisco provided VPN clients and an open source VPN client, users find it confusing to figure out which VPN solution to download for their Cisco VPN.

A VPN (virtual private network) allows one computer to access a private network such as a corporate or university network. VPNs use the internet instead of a physical connection to the correct network. Cisco has released many VPN solutions over the years, which makes choosing the right Cisco VPN client an overly complicated process.

Cisco VPN Client 4.x and 5.x

Version 4 and 5 Cisco VPN clients have been used for a number of years. If the user is accessing an older Cisco VPN solution, this client may be the one and only VPN client solution available.

It's best to download the most recent version available for the correct operating system. Do not confuse the Cisco VPN Client with the Cisco AnyConnect client, which only works with Cisco's AnyConnect SSL VPN products.

Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client

The Cisco AnyConnect VPN client looks and functions similarly to the older Cisco VPN clients, except that nearly all of the configuration information is provided by the AnyConnect VPN server. AnyConnect is the next generation of Cisco VPN solution.

With AnyConnect, the client end user cannot change the configuration, which is hard coded by the VPN server. It uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) instead of IPSec. Cisco VPN hardware compatible with the AnyConnect client include Cisco SR500, 870, 880, 1800, 2800, 3800, 7200 series, and 7301. The security administrator responsible for the VPN should know whether or not the VPN can or should use the Cisco AnyConnect client.

The biggest reason for users to choose Cisco AnyConnect is because this client is the first release to support nearly all 64 bit Windows operating systems. This reason alone is causing the move to the AnyConnect VPN platform.

AnyConnect client available for Sun Solaris Sparc. However, Solaris users as well as those with other Unix versions should look at installing OpenConnect instead.

Cisco VPN Client Download Information

Cisco VPN client software is not publicly available. To download any Cisco VPN client, a user account on Cisco.com is needed that is associated with a valid service contract. Once logged in to Cisco.com, go to the Cisco's Software Center and download the desired client. Those that do not have a Cisco service contract need to contact the administrator of their VPN solution to get access to the software.

OpenConnect - Open Source Alternative for AnyConnect

OpenConnect is an open source VPN client software effort started by users of the official Cisco AnyConnect client who considered it to be seriously deficient for many reasons. Some are security related reasons (eg. requiring root to run) and some have to do with lack of support for non-i386 Linux systems. OpenConnect is specifically designed to connect to Cisco AnyConnect VPNs.

Fedora and Debian users can install OpenConnect via their OS software repository using yum or apt. Others should download the source code and compile.

Although it can be difficult to choose which Cisco VPN client to download, the best advice is to follow whatever the VPN administrator suggests. However, if a Unix OS not supported by Cisco is used, consider trying OpenConnect before using a different OS for VPN.

The copyright of the article Which Cisco VPN Client to Download? in Security/Antivirus Software is owned by John Wu. Permission to republish Which Cisco VPN Client to Download? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.