What is the use of certificates ?

[johanvermeij]

I have a RV042 router and it generates certificates which I issue to vpn users

But even without a certificate these users can still access the vpn, they simply igore the missing certificate

So the only thing that secures the vpn is the password

Is there a way to enforce certificates meaning no certificate, no access ?

[mpyhala]

Johan,

The purpose of the certificate is to provide a warning to the end user that they may be connecting to the wrong VPN server. If the end user has the certificate they do not see the warning which confirms that they connected to the right device. There is no way to force a certificate to be used.

[johanvermeij]

Is this the same for all vpn router models or does it ony affect small business routers ?

I don't mind to buy a professional Cisco vpn router if it gives me this kind of security

[Te-Kai Liu]

Cisco IOS based routers or ASA5500 security appliances can enforce the clients to use a certificate for IPsec.