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new to vpn have a question 1

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darrenrd

Technical User
Joined
Apr 10, 2002
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o.k. here comes probably the stupidist question posted here yet but bare with me because i have never tried to set-up or connect to a vpn. so here goes(try to hold back on the laughing) once you have a vpn set up on win2k how do the remote users get to it? i have dsl and i see you can still set it up for that or atleast thats the empression im getting. they will be using it via internet so what do they do just type the i.p. address in and bam there it is and what do they see a list of files on the server or a fancy screen??also i have the default web site and ftp server service stopped on the server do i need to enable this to work??thanks for any help to this clueless newbie.
 
"o.k. here comes probably the stupidist question posted here"
. . . sorry, you're not even close.

First, your 'VPN Server' needs to be configured to accept incoming connections. Sounds like you've already done that. If you have a firewall/router, the appropriate ports will need to be forwarded to the server on your end.

Each user will need to configure a network connection to connect to your VPN server. Settings --> Network and Dialup Connections --> Make a New Connection. Select 'Connect to a private network through the internet'. Answer the questions for the wizard and you should be set. User will need to manually start this connection.

If you have a fixed IP, you can simply type the IP address in the "host name or ip address" field. Even if you have a dynamic IP, some providers don't force a change too often, so you may be OK. Worst case would be that the users would need to find out what your current IP is and change it each time before connecting. Another solution would be to use a dynamic dns service to resolve a name to your dynamic IP. I've never used that route. Some people seem to have really good luck with that, others don't, so mileage will vary.

Hope that gives you some idea. If you need some further direction, would help to know what OS your client side will be using.
 
thanks for the info...what would be the case if i use a privet i.p. address setting on the pc..im guess i will still have to find out what the public i.p. is then right??the pc that will mainly be using it would be win98 and win xp pro ...xp pro was pretty good about setting that end up win98 about the same???thanks alot that was a bunch of help
 
If you use a private IP for the VPN server, you will need to use the public IP to make the connection. If you use a router that does NAT, you will need to forward a port to the computer that is acting as the server. Assuming you are using pptp (the generic/easy MS solution), you will need to forward tcp on port 1723. You will also need to have "pptp passthrough" enabled.

The process is similar for XP and 98, although 98 may not have the VPN client installed. This explains as well as anything I've seen
 
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