Cannot maintain a Remote Desktop Connection over VPN using Netgear ADSL router

[it]

Just looking for some pointers to see if I can resolve a small problem
we are having...

We have recently upgraded our out-of-date BT ADSL router to a Netgear
DG834 wireless ADSL router and are now having some interesting issues
with VPN connectivity to Windows servers.

If I have a VPN active, and then make a connection over that VPN using
Windows Terminal Server Client v5.0, VNC Viewer or XP's in-built
Remote Desktop Connection, everything works fine but after just two or
three minutes the session either disconnects (in the case of Windows
2000 servers) or simply hangs for several minutes (when connected to
Windows Server 2003 servers). In both cases this characteristic is
frustrating to say the least!

There are no errors it simply kicks me off and then leaves me to
either reconnect to the now disconnected session, or just wait for the
server to respond after it idles for several minutes.

Is this likely to be a configuration issue on the Netgear router?

This issue is affecting both XP Professional SP2 users, and Vista
Business users.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Robert L [MVP - Networking]]

It could be the MUT issue. this link may help,

VPN connection is disconnected after several minutesVPN connection is disconnected after several minutes. We have been seeing more and more cases like this one. We don't really know the causes, ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/VPN/vpn3minutes.htm


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
Just looking for some pointers to see if I can resolve a small problem
we are having...

We have recently upgraded our out-of-date BT ADSL router to a Netgear
DG834 wireless ADSL router and are now having some interesting issues
with VPN connectivity to Windows servers.

If I have a VPN active, and then make a connection over that VPN using
Windows Terminal Server Client v5.0, VNC Viewer or XP's in-built
Remote Desktop Connection, everything works fine but after just two or
three minutes the session either disconnects (in the case of Windows
2000 servers) or simply hangs for several minutes (when connected to
Windows Server 2003 servers). In both cases this characteristic is
frustrating to say the least!

There are no errors it simply kicks me off and then leaves me to
either reconnect to the now disconnected session, or just wait for the
server to respond after it idles for several minutes.

Is this likely to be a configuration issue on the Netgear router?

This issue is affecting both XP Professional SP2 users, and Vista
Business users.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[it]

It could be the MUT issue. this link may help,

VPN connection is disconnected after several minutesVPN connection is disconnected after several minutes. We have been seeing more and more cases like this one. We don't really know the causes, ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/VPN/vpn3minutes.htm

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting onhttp://www.ChicagoTech.net

Just looking for some pointers to see if I can resolve a small problem
we are having...

We have recently upgraded our out-of-date BT ADSL router to a Netgear
DG834 wireless ADSL router and are now having some interesting issues
with VPN connectivity to Windows servers.

If I have a VPN active, and then make a connection over that VPN using
Windows Terminal Server Client v5.0, VNC Viewer or XP's in-built
Remote Desktop Connection, everything works fine but after just two or
three minutes the session either disconnects (in the case of Windows
2000 servers) or simply hangs for several minutes (when connected to
Windows Server 2003 servers). In both cases this characteristic is
frustrating to say the least!

There are no errors it simply kicks me off and then leaves me to
either reconnect to the now disconnected session, or just wait for the
server to respond after it idles for several minutes.

Is this likely to be a configuration issue on the Netgear router?

This issue is affecting both XP Professional SP2 users, and Vista
Business users.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi Robert,

Perfect! Your advice is spot-on. Applying the new registry subkeys re
MTU size has fixed the issue on my XP machine and I have remained
logged in to a Windows 2000 Server via RDC for over 60 minutes without
being disconnected. I'm just awaiting one of my Vista-enabled
colleagues to apply the fix and test it for me...

Many thanks

Simon

 

[Robert L [MVP - Networking]]

Thank you for the feedback.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com

It could be the MUT issue. this link may help,

VPN connection is disconnected after several minutesVPN connection is disconnected after several minutes. We have been seeing more and more cases like this one. We don't really know the causes, ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/VPN/vpn3minutes.htm

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting onhttp://www.ChicagoTech.net

Just looking for some pointers to see if I can resolve a small problem
we are having...

We have recently upgraded our out-of-date BT ADSL router to a Netgear
DG834 wireless ADSL router and are now having some interesting issues
with VPN connectivity to Windows servers.

If I have a VPN active, and then make a connection over that VPN using
Windows Terminal Server Client v5.0, VNC Viewer or XP's in-built
Remote Desktop Connection, everything works fine but after just two or
three minutes the session either disconnects (in the case of Windows
2000 servers) or simply hangs for several minutes (when connected to
Windows Server 2003 servers). In both cases this characteristic is
frustrating to say the least!

There are no errors it simply kicks me off and then leaves me to
either reconnect to the now disconnected session, or just wait for the
server to respond after it idles for several minutes.

Is this likely to be a configuration issue on the Netgear router?

This issue is affecting both XP Professional SP2 users, and Vista
Business users.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi Robert,

Perfect! Your advice is spot-on. Applying the new registry subkeys re
MTU size has fixed the issue on my XP machine and I have remained
logged in to a Windows 2000 Server via RDC for over 60 minutes without
being disconnected. I'm just awaiting one of my Vista-enabled
colleagues to apply the fix and test it for me...

Many thanks

Simon

 

[it]

Thank you for the feedback.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting onhttp://www.ChicagoTech.net



Hi Robert,

Perfect! Your advice is spot-on. Applying the new registry subkeys re
MTU size has fixed the issue on my XP machine and I have remained
logged in to a Windows 2000 Server via RDC for over 60 minutes without
being disconnected. I'm just awaiting one of my Vista-enabled
colleagues to apply the fix and test it for me...

Many thanks

Simon

OK I think I may have been a little hasty in my belief that the issue
had been fixed... it worked for a while but now we have the same
problem again but now seems to be only on the Windows 2003 servers.

I'll have a look at the Microsoft Hotfix re the 2k3 servers but I
think I need to alter the TunnelMTU packet size in the registry on my
XP laptop. It is currently at 1472 (decimal). Can anyone provide a
more successful packet size value to apply? My best guess would be
that I need a smaller packet size?

Regards

Simon

 

[System Administrator]

Try the fix shown in
http://terminal.servebeer.com/php/flaky_connections.php, which was
provided to me by Coraleigh Miller in the server/general forum. It
seems to have resolved the issue I had with my 2003 server and RDP
into it.

 

[Bob Felton]

That fix along with reverting to the version 5 RDP client resolved my
connection issues. Even with the fixes shown, connection dropouts
still happened when using the version 6 RDP client.