VPN Options

[dougcoulter]

Hello all - I am looking into various VPN solutions for our small office to enable home users to gain access to our office network resources. Currently, we have two Windows Server 2003 machines, and several Win2K and WinXP clients. Our internet connection is provided by a company called Allegiance, which provided us with a rented router (for voice and data) that they manage. According to their website, it appears that they offer VPN services, but I am more inclined to manage the VPN internally if at all possible. Can anyone provide me with some options? One of the server machines is a DC, while the other is primarily used for testing purposes, but could easily be converted into a VPN server. If this is a reasonable solution, would I have to work together with my ISP to have them configure their router appropriately? Or would it be better to buy a separate VPN appliance?

 

[PaulGillespie]

I would buy a seperate VPN appliance but you have to have a public IP address for it for the clients to connect up to.

Speak to your ISP and ask what services they offer etc.

 

[dougcoulter]

Thanks Paul. The only thing that has a routable address currently is the router that we are renting from them. With this in mind, would a Windows Server 2003 solution even work? I guess it might if the router is configured to forward specific IP traffic to it...?

 

[PaulGillespie]

Yes it would work, just get your ISP to set up port forwarding on the router and all should be fine. I take it you have a static ip? if not, use dyndns.org.

I've had similar situations work for a w2k server, i set up a VPN icon on the desktop that the user dbl clicked to connect them and aslong as thay have mapped drives in my computer they can access files fine. I sometimes create a batch file on the desktop to remap drives if they become disconnected, this reduces support calls. One word of advice though, the client may not be able to access the internet while connected to the VPN!

 

[dougcoulter]

Paul - when you ask if I have a static IP - do you mean does the rented router have a static IP?

Within our office, we all use IPs that are DHCP-assigned in the nonroutable subnet or 192.168.100.0. Our default gateway (for the rented router) is 192.168.100.1 (which is static).

 

[dougcoulter]

Also, I spoke with our ISP today and they indicated that they do not block any ports on their routers and that I should have no trouble setting up the VPN (i.e.: I shouldn't need them to configure/change the router in any way) - does this sound right (because it surprised me)?

 

[PaulGillespie]

Yes Doug, do you have a static ip on the rented router? you probably do.

Your ISP may not block any ports but you will need to configure the router to forward ports.

Sounds like you have a NAT router and therefor all ports stop with the router acting as a basic firewall. either you or your ISP will need to log into the router, go to the ports or NAT section of the router and forward the vpn ports onto your VPN server (W2K).

I dont think your ISP understood your question.

Paul

 

[dougcoulter]

Thanks again Paul.