VPN Server: I'm at a loss here...

mattfinch

mattfinch

mattfinch

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Right, I'm trying to set up a VPN server for two reasons, well one and a half...

Firstly, I want to be able to access all my files and computers from everywhere, OK yeah there are simpler solutions, but a VPN would be the best situation really.

The half a reason, It would be kinda cool to have friends connect and play games over LAN. This isn't required but would be nice...

I've already got two servers (HP ML370 and DL380) running Windows Server 2003, so, obviously, I'd like to use that, and because then I can use AD for authentication.

Every time I try to install Routing and Remote access I lose my network connection to the server, What I really need is for something to explain to me what is actually going on when I set up the VPN...

Any help is much appreciated!
 
If you want easy setup you should consider Logmein Hamachi otherwise have look at OpenVPN. It's easy to setup and it's what I use on my VMware ESXi server at home.
 
mattfinch said:
Every time I try to install Routing and Remote access I lose my network connection to the server, What I really need is for something to explain to me what is actually going on when I set up the VPN...

Any help is much appreciated!
Click to expand...


Never done this myself - but are you using 1 or 2 nics? I'd be tempted to have one nic for the LAN and another NIC for the incoming VPN connecitons.
 
Been a LONG time since i set this up but I think you are installing both the the NAT part of R&RA and the VPN part. Just tick the Remote access VPN bit in the wizard.
 
I'd do this from the console. RDP isn't a good idea when messing with network settings, you always risk cutting yourself off.
I usually use iLO if I'm doing stuff like that remotely.
 
I suggest using a dedicated IPSec VPN device. You can get a cheap Netscreen 5GT on ebay. For AD authentication you can use ISA (or similar) to do Radius<->AD.

Also consider looking for a SSL VPN solution which can work on more remote network types, as they can tunnel over proxies.
 
smargh said:
I suggest using a dedicated IPSec VPN device. You can get a cheap Netscreen 5GT on ebay. For AD authentication you can use ISA (or similar) to do Radius<->AD.

Also consider looking for a SSL VPN solution which can work on more remote network types, as they can tunnel over proxies.
Click to expand...

^ openVPN <3 :)
 
Skidilliplop said:
^ openVPN <3 :)
Click to expand...

Open VPN has some serious issues if you want to do anything remotely advanced on it - for example you can't have two classes of user and assign different IPs to each class (for security purposes, class A get admin access to servers, class B just get email and files). You have to run two instances of openVPN, so forget a unified VPN config file...

...point being, I hesitate recommending it as it has some glaring deficiencies hanging around even though it does the basic VPN stuff competently for free
 
bigredshark said:
Open VPN has some serious issues if you want to do anything remotely advanced on it - for example you can't have two classes of user and assign different IPs to each class (for security purposes, class A get admin access to servers, class B just get email and files). You have to run two instances of openVPN, so forget a unified VPN config file...

...point being, I hesitate recommending it as it has some glaring deficiencies hanging around even though it does the basic VPN stuff competently for free
Click to expand...

Indeed it's not an enterprise grade solution but for home use as per the OP it ought to suffice.
 
Thank you all for your responses. I definitely wanted to use Server 2003, and it turns out it was a lot simpler to do than I thought...

For those in a similar situation, you can configure a VPN only solution, no NAT, or anything else, by clicking custom on the first Remote Access and Routing install dialog. Then just select VPN only.


Another question, is there a simple way to connect windows clients to the VPN, via a shortcut on the desktop or something similar?
 
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bigredshark said:
Open VPN has some serious issues if you want to do anything remotely advanced on it - for example you can't have two classes of user and assign different IPs to each class (for security purposes, class A get admin access to servers, class B just get email and files). You have to run two instances of openVPN, so forget a unified VPN config file...

...point being, I hesitate recommending it as it has some glaring deficiencies hanging around even though it does the basic VPN stuff competently for free
Click to expand...

So you hesitate to recommend it even though it's perfectly suitable, because it doesn't allow for some advanced features to be configured within the same config file? :confused:

OpenVPN is the best software based VPN solution I've ever come across, including commercial solutions. What would you recommend in its place?
 
mattfinch said:
Every time I try to install Routing and Remote access I lose my network connection to the server, What I really need is for something to explain to me what is actually going on when I set up the VPN...
Click to expand...

Do you only have one NIC in the server? If so, you need to configure it as custom configuration or something like that in Routing and Remote Access. I had the same problem with a server I only had RDP access to and made it lose the network connection!

Check out this link..
Linky!
Explains what I mean a bit better than me!

Edit: Just actually read the thread through and realised you already got it sorted! :D
 
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