Can ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) and VPN work together? Thanks!

[evayuki]

I got 2 PCs at home (one is Win2000 Sever and the other is WinXP client). I use cable modem and ICS technology to let both of them to have internet access.
I also got VPN which makes me able to connect to the servers in my school. However, whenever I activate the VPN, the ICS can't function (ie. Only the server PC can connect to the internet, and the client PC will lose internet connection).
Does anyone know how to keep VPN and ICS work together? Thanks a lot.

 

[shaferbus]

To the best of my knowledge, you can't use ICS during a VPN session. That info comes from the documentation for some VPN clients, so I don't know for sure if it applies to ALL clients.

Of course, the simplest way around this is to buy a router! Costs money of course, but they aren't out of sight. Just make sure you get one with IPSec pass-through, and make sure that your client is NAT-T capable. (Most are, unless you're using that AWFUL XP client... and you'd be one of the few who ever got it to work LOL)

Good Luck!

 

[evayuki]

To Shaferbus,
HI, Thank u very much for the reply. Based on your answer, do u mean that Windows XP is not NAT-T capable? Pls advise. Thanks again. --evayuki

 

[shaferbus]

You got it! It's NOT NAT-T capable at this time to the best of my knowledge.

At one time, Microsoft released a NAT-T capable VPN client for Win2k and XP available by free download, but they removed the XP client because they had problems with it. Somewhere (and you really have to LOOK!) there is a KB document that says they "plan to re-release it soon", but I wouldn't hold my breath or tell a business to wait for it.

All NAT-T capability really consists of is the ability of the client to lie to the VPN server about what it's IP address is, since the server only sees the WAN IP address of the router.

If your VPN connection is working OK, I'd think twice about messing with it, but if it doesn't meet your needs it's no good anyway LOL. If you're just using it once in a while, I'd suffer with losing ICS for a short time. If you're telecommuting or something like that, it's probably time to investigate another solution. A lot depends on how you connect to the net and what kind of VPN server is on the other end. Whatever your configuration, there are plenty of people at Tek-Tips to help.

Good Luck!