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Hamachi

Virtual private network application

LogMeIn Hamachi is a virtual private network (VPN) application developed and released in 2004 by Alex Pankratov. It is capable of establishing direct links between computers that are behind network address translation (NAT) firewalls without requiring reconfiguration (when the user's PC can be accessed directly without relays from the Internet/WAN side). Like other layer 2 VPNs, it establishes a connection over the Internet that emulates the connection that would exist if the computers were connected over a local area network (LAN).2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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Hamachisoftware
Photo: Logmein, BSD, via Wikimedia Commons4

LogMeIn Hamachi is a virtual private network (VPN) application developed and released in 2004 by Alex Pankratov. It is capable of establishing direct links between computers that are behind network address translation (NAT) firewalls without requiring reconfiguration (when the user's PC can be accessed directly without relays from the Internet/WAN side). Like other layer 2 VPNs, it establishes a connection over the Internet that emulates the connection that would exist if the computers were connected over a local area network (LAN).2

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Hamachi is a proprietary centrally-managed VPN system, consisting of the server cluster managed by the vendor of the system and the client software, which is installed on end-user devices.

Client software adds a virtual network interface to a computer, and it is used for intercepting outbound as well as injecting inbound VPN traffic. Outbound traffic sent by the operating system to this interface is delivered to the client software, which encrypts and authenticates it and then sends it to the destination VPN peer over a specially initiated UDP connection. Hamachi currently handles tunneling of IP traffic including broadcasts and multicast. The Windows version also recognizes and tunnels IPX traffic.

Each client establishes and maintains a control

connection to the server cluster. When the connection is established, the client goes through a login sequence, followed by the discovery process and state synchronization. The login step authenticates the client to the server and vice versa. The discovery is used to determine the topology of the client's Internet connection, specifically to detect the presence of NAT and firewall devices on its route to the Internet. The synchronization step brings a client's view of its private networks in sync with other members of these networks.

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When a member of a network goes online or offline, the server instructs other network peers to either establish or tear down tunnels to the former. When establishing tunnels between the peers, Hamachi uses a server-assisted NAT traversal technique, similar to UDP hole punching.

Hamachi is frequently used for gaming and remote administration.

From Wikipedia’s article on LogMeIn Hamachi, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

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