What are the major differences between using OpenVPN and using VPN over OpenSSH?

Question

What are the major differences between using OpenVPN and using VPN over OpenSSH?

Does adding a virtual tunnel interface to a SSH connection offer the same benefits of OpenVPN? Can PuTTY be used on Windows to use the "layer-3 IP-in-SSH tunnelling" protocol described in the article? The article states there are no Windows clients that use this protocol.

Motivation: I'm looking into remotely connecting to a home server and attempting to learn about the necessary security measures. Within the LAN, I'm used to logging into the server from my laptop via SSH. Outside the LAN, however, I would like to connect to my server and have my traffic be encrypted.

Thanks!

Explanation / Answer

I don't see any security issue there. SSH is supposed to be secure and all the data are passed thru the SSH tunnel. So, yes, I believe it is secure enough. The only issue I see is efficiency. SSH is TCP protocol. TCP traffic is passed through an another TCP protocol. The packets are double "acknowledged" by the 2-layer of TCPs. Better protocols are built on UDP or even IP.

I've never used SSH tunnel like this. I have only experience with SOCK V5 protocol (ssh -D), and I haven't realised any significant network speed degradation issue.

Sorry for trolling, but I can't help myself... Unsupported windows platform isn't an issue for me, since I don't use any window :-)

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