informal VPN connection

[TheBuzzSaw]

Hi. I am trying to connect a friend's Windows 98 machine to my Windows
2000 VPN host. I have configured my end to allow his login
name/password and everything. Mine is ready for his connection. We have
also configured his Win98 machine to make VPN connections. However, we
suddenly realized that we don't know the name of my VPN. I am not part
of a web site or corporation of sorts. Do I need to tell him my IP
address? If so, what source should I use in determining that? (For
instance, I can see one IP in my "ipconfig" and a different one using
www.whatismyip.com or other sites.)

Also, I suppose I should make it known that I am connected to the
Internet using a router which splits one DSL connection for use by two
computers. I hope that doesn't make things too much more complicated.

 

[Robert L [MS-MVP]]

If you haven't setup DDNS, you should use IP. this page will display the public IP, http://www.chicagotech.net/reference/whatisip.asp

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
Hi. I am trying to connect a friend's Windows 98 machine to my Windows
2000 VPN host. I have configured my end to allow his login
name/password and everything. Mine is ready for his connection. We have
also configured his Win98 machine to make VPN connections. However, we
suddenly realized that we don't know the name of my VPN. I am not part
of a web site or corporation of sorts. Do I need to tell him my IP
address? If so, what source should I use in determining that? (For
instance, I can see one IP in my "ipconfig" and a different one using
www.whatismyip.com or other sites.)

Also, I suppose I should make it known that I am connected to the
Internet using a router which splits one DSL connection for use by two
computers. I hope that doesn't make things too much more complicated.

 

[Kurt]

You'll need to use your public (Internet) IP address, the one from
whatismyip.com. You'll need to access the router and forward port 1723 (I
think) to the IP address from "ipconfig".

....kurt

 

[TheBuzzSaw]

Do you think you could elaborate at all? Do I need to open the original
router software to do port forwarding? And why is that necessary? (Is
it to cause the VPN to connect into one PC and not the other or what?)

 

[Kurt]

The router (NAT Routers in general) do not allow connections to be made from
the outside in. In fact, they can't because there can be many computers on
the private side all using the same public IP address, so the router would
have no idea which computer on the LAN to send an inbound connection to.
That is what port forwarding is about. It tells the router that when an
inbound connection is attempted on the public side on a particular port,
that connection should be directed to a specific computer on the private
side. MS uses port 1723 for PPTP VPNs, so on the "server" end you'll need to
forward from the router that port to your computer. The client end doesn't
matter, although sometimes on either end you may have to enable GRE protocol
47 (VPN Pass-thru). For this to work consistantly without intervention, both
the router's public IP address and the computer's private IP address should
be static. I don't know what you mean by "The original router software".
Most router's have a web page for configuration. You just connect to it and
find the port-forwarding screen and fill in the blanks, hit apply and reboot
the router.

....kurt