VPN Noob

DogsBody

DogsBody

DogsBody

Permabanned
Joined
6 Aug 2010
Posts
941
Location
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
My setup is currently as follows.

Site 1
Server running windows XP home (soon to be upgraded to 2000 server edition)
simle file share
dynamic IP (using a dynamic DNS service to locate)
broadband speed 22000/448
router BT homehub 2, ports forwarded to network static IP for server

Site 2
Broadband speed 20000/1.2
Router I can't remember off the top of my head but was free from orange and as far as I can tell they have learnt from their past mistakes of giving out junk routers and actually given me a half decent one here

computer 1
Windows 7 ultimate

computer 2
windows xp home


Computer 1 can access everything on the network over vpn but horribly slow, we are talking 3 - 4 minutes to open a small excel file.

computer 2 When I initially setup the VPN could connect to the VPN but couldnt see any shares and since I have got computer 2 able to access haven't bother with computer 1 (and am not that bothered at all to be honest I only added it here in case it helped with troubleshooting more than anything.


I have just used the built in windows wizards to setup the VPN and nothing else.

Also if the VPN has been left connected for a while when I return to the machine I will have no internet access until I disconnect the VPN.



Can you guys help me ?
 
If budget is an issue I recommend Linux in the Centos or OpenSuse or Fedora variety. A client OS as a file server always has some sort of problem (I've worked with charities with this configuration). OpenVPN for the windows servers if it proves a problem. Doesn't need to be fancy but seriously recommend replacing the BT home hub and the Orange router too.

In all the reason you MIGHT not be able to get internet through the VPN - COULD be that you have not configured the VPN server with a router IP or DNS server as you are effectively using the Internet via the site you are connected to - unless you have specified it too otherwise.

Please tell us the software you are using to make the VPN connection - client and server. Also the specifics of how you have set this up. Sounds like a very interesting configuration. Interested to see how you have got this working as it stands.
 
What else do you need to know that I havent included in the OP.

I used the built in windows wizard to create a new VPN in windows XP home, then I went to site 2 and connected to the VPN using a computer running windows 7.

I used the existing internet connection at site 2 to access the VPN which cuts off after being left connected for a while.

Initially when connected to the VPN my PC would use the internet connection at the server side but I stopped it from doing that as internet speed doing it like this was very slow.

Can't get rid of the BT homehub as I was having problems with broadband speed and we had a tech on site who couldn't explain why no other oruter that he tried could connect at over 8mb apart from the homehub 2, I had 2 business routers on site and he brought one of those also as well as a homehub3 and none of them connect at anything over8mb whereas the homehub 2 sits happily at 24mb.


Oh and my 1U server arrived today complete with a full windows 2000 server edition installed, will this make things any better ?

Thanks
James
 
Could you elaborate on this please I know very little of VPNs
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A VPN between those sites is never going to be very fast due to the upload speeds (especially at site 1).

With the bandwidth you have available working on files directly over the VPN is never going to be much fun. You’d be better off copying the files across, working on them, and then copying them back. The other option would be to do everything remotely using RDP sessions.

If there’s money to spend then I’d be looking at getting some decent routers that support VPN endpoints and setup a fulltime IPSec connection between the two sites. From a VPN point-of-view only the upload speed really matters, so losing some download speed shouldn’t matter too much. You’d probably need to organise static IPs for both ends.

Another option would be a virtual VPN service such as logMeIn Hamachi. There’s a cost involved, but it isn’t very much.

There’s also the option of not bothering with a VPN at all an just use a remote access service (LogMeIn, GoToMyPc, etc).

It really depends on why you’re setting up the VPN in the first place.

Oh and my 1U server arrived today complete with a full windows 2000 server edition installed, will this make things any better ?
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It's unlikely to make anything much better. And Windows 2000 is now out of support with Microsoft (no more security updates).
 
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To be fair for what I use it for I think FTP would perhaps be a better solution.
Are there FTP options built into 2000 server edition as I haven’t had chance to have a play around with it yet.

And I would ideally like to run a daily backup/sync of certain files over the ftp as well if that is something that is easy to setup over ftp
 
DogsBody said:
To be fair for what I use it for I think FTP would perhaps be a better solution.
Are there FTP options built into 2000 server edition as I haven’t had chance to have a play around with it yet.

And I would ideally like to run a daily backup/sync of certain files over the ftp as well if that is something that is easy to setup over ftp
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You can configure it as a FTP server, but it doesn't have built-in support for secure FTP.
 
bremen1874 said:
You can configure it as a FTP server, but it doesn't have built-in support for secure FTP.
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+1

Plus take it from me the BT Home Hub was not designed for anything other than standard home use. I wouldn't recommend talking to BT Support teams to help get you onto another router. Look on the net on how to set it up :D

Is this for personal setup and use? If so it's more than suitable to just use an FTP program like filezilla server on win 2k with forwarded FTP (control + session) ports. IMHO of course - Plus logmein or some other RDP tool. You do not have to setup the in built FTP server in 2k.

Also you can take a look at sharing C:\ with filezilla server on one end, and setting up a batch job in filezilla client sitting on the other end to perform backups.
 
This is for business use.

I have no issue setting up and configuring a new router, the issue is that if I remove the homehub I only get 8mb down, the BT engineer couldn't explain it as he had never heard of this before, he tried both a brand new business hub and a homehub 3 and got the same result. So that kind of leaves me stuck with the homehub 2.
 
If you are copying AVI's and MPEG's from one site to the other (or any large files for that matter) I would stick to Filezilla. It does what you want (copies content over). If you are copying from site 1 to 2 then your upload at site 1 will be a hindrance. Site 2 to 1 you will go ok-ish speeds.

Router issue could be down to some obscure setting you need to change. Never came across it myself but chances are it could be some multiplex issue or speed negotiation sync issue. I would go for any option which improves your upload rate at site 1 to be honest. If you could try the other router again, and see if your upload speed picks up. Upload in this scenario would be better for you (trading off download speed for upload speed). Hope this helps you.
 
Hi Jake,

I contacted BT regarding the upload issue, multiple times in fact, and this is also the reason a BT engineer was called out, in the end they have told me that 448 up is all I am ever going to get. I don't believe them but I am done arguing with them now to be honest as it is just a massive waste of time. So I have basicly given up trying to get fast(er) uploads.

I will not be moving large files around on a regular basis, I do have some large files (service packs etc) that are at both sites but once these are sync'ed I see no reason to move these around. The files I will most commonly be using are the excel files I mentioned earlier on in this thread.
 
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