hooking up to office using router and vpn

[polaris600x]

Can anyone help. I often work from home with a friend, and we hook up to the office with cable modem, rsa secure id and vpn. I was wondering if we would be able to both hook up at the same time using a router, or is this not possible due to the vpn's....thanks

 

[John Lewis]

It probably can be done . . . if you can explain what you want to do a little better.

 

[polaris600x]

ok MHKWOOD,

What I want to be able to do is that 2 laptops can hook up to our office so we can access our server. At home I have a linksys router for my two home computers so they can both access the net. I was wondering using the same idea if the two laptops could access the office. The only thing is that to access the office we have a vpn and rsa secure id. When I am just alone I use the modem and everything works fine, but it would be handy if we could both hook up and be able to work on our own things....thanks for any insight

 

[John Lewis]

I have an idea what you want to do, but I haven't developed a firm opinion as to whether or not it will work. Few more questions first.

How are you sharing your internet connection? Is the router doing the sharing, or are you passing internet traffic through one of the laptops and sharing the connection from there?

What version of Windows are you running on each of the laptops? What version is on the VPN server you are connecing to?

Your statement 'When I am alone I use the modem and everything works fine . . ' leads me to believe that you are using the router to handle the internet sharing, and that when you are connected to the internet via the router the VPN does not work. Is this correct, and if so can you tell why it doesn't work? Do you get an error when you try to connect?

Do you know what protocol you are using for the VPN, does L2TP or PPTP sound familiar?

Sorry for more questions that answers, but maybe we can get there.

 

[polaris600x]

Sorry for not being very clear.
1. The internet connection is being shared via the router, a linksys befsr 41 etherfast cable/dsl router.
2. The laptops are running Windows 2000 professional nt.
3. The vpn is Intel Netstructure vpn client version 6.81p1
4. When I am alone I hook directly to the modem, bypassing the router. To be honest with you I never tried passing through the router because I thought it would not work. I will try however to see what happens. As for L2TP or PPTP I will look into what we are using.

Thanks a million for your time........
p.s. will try to hook up through router and give you an update.

 

[John Lewis]

Looks to me like you need at least 6.9p3 to be able to connect to your VPN through the router using address translation, which would allow two computers on your side to connect at the same time. Also, the Intel VPN servers can use IPsec protocol, which also would be a problem. Your connection may not be using that, looks like ESP and PPTP are available, but if the administrator has chosen IPSec, you don't have a choice.

If you are not able to get the software upgrade or if you are using IPSec, you might be able to route traffic from the second machine through the VPN connection on the first. I wouldn't be real happy with that solution, as it could allow internet traffic to pass through your machine as well.

Another solution would be to get a second public ip address from your ISP. That should be able to work 100% without any changes in software or hardware, just a different configuration for the router. Cost and availability will vary from one ISP to another, but I would at least check.

Hope that helps, post back if you have any further questions.