Set up a VPN connection on Mac
To connect your Mac to a virtual private network (VPN), you need to enter its configuration settings.
Before you begin
Contact the network administrator for your organization or your VPN service provider for information about the settings you need to enter to connect to their VPN. These settings include the type of VPN connection; the VPN server address; the account name; and any authentication settings, such as a password or a certificate.
If you received a VPN settings file from your network administrator or VPN service provider, you can just double-click it to set up your connection. If you didn’t receive a file, follow the steps in the task below to manually enter the settings you received.
Enter VPN settings manually
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)Click the Action pop-up menu
, choose Add VPN Configuration, then choose the type of VPN connection you want to set up.L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) is an extension of PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) used by internet service providers to enable a VPN over the internet.
IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) is a set of security protocols.
IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange version 2) is a protocol that sets up a security association in IPSec.
Enter a name for the new VPN service in the Display Name field.
If you’re setting up an L2TP over IPSec VPN, click the Configuration pop-up menu, then select a configuration.
If you don’t need multiple configurations, just use the Default configuration.
Enter settings for the new VPN service.
Required settings vary by the type of VPN and may include settings such as server address, account name, password, and authentication method.
If needed, enter additional settings.
L2TP over IPSec: You can enter settings for Options, TCP/IP, DNS, and Proxies.
Cisco IPSec or IKEv2: You can enter settings for DNS and Proxies.
Click Create.
You can use the VPN status menu in the menu bar to connect to the VPN and switch between VPN services.