Is a VPN what I need?

[Jonathan]

I have a small network at home behind a router which
connects to a cable modem. Small network consists of a
laptop, desktop and database server.

I want to enable someone to a) access certain files on my
desktop and b) access the network so they can hookup to
the database server. Basically similar access as if that
person came over and plugged their laptop into my router.

I know an FTP server will do a) but I think for both a)
and b) I need a VPN. Is this correct? If so how on
earth do you set it up from windows? Especially since I
don't have a static IP.

Both myself and the person I want to connect with have xp
pro and routers which support IPSec.

any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Leythos]

I have a small network at home behind a router which
connects to a cable modem. Small network consists of a
laptop, desktop and database server.

I want to enable someone to a) access certain files on my
desktop and b) access the network so they can hookup to
the database server. Basically similar access as if that
person came over and plugged their laptop into my router.

I know an FTP server will do a) but I think for both a)
and b) I need a VPN. Is this correct? If so how on
earth do you set it up from windows? Especially since I
don't have a static IP.

Both myself and the person I want to connect with have xp
pro and routers which support IPSec.

any help would be greatly appreciated

Yes, VPN is the secure way to go. You don't need IPSEC, you can
configure the routers to FORWARD the PPTP ports to the internal IP
address of the server and then setup remote access (or start a VPN
connection if not running a server).

 

[Jonathan]

Thanks for your response. Next question is how do i set
this up? Seems like XP allows you to connect to a vpn
connection but no mention of the other way around. Do I
need 3rd party software for this?

-----Original Message-----

 

[Sooner Al]

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn.htm

If your behind a firewall/NAT/router then you would also need to forward/open TCP Port 1723 and
enable GRE Protocol 47 traffic. Some firewalls call the later issue "PPTP Pass Through" or "VPN Pass
Through" or do that automagically when you forward TCP Port 1723 (like the XP ICF does).

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309524
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;241251

--
Al

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the mutual
benefit of all of us...Unsolicited personal emails are *NOT* answered.

Thanks for your response. Next question is how do i set
this up? Seems like XP allows you to connect to a vpn
connection but no mention of the other way around. Do I
need 3rd party software for this?

 

[gg]

Alternative to VPN if one only allows one or two connection: at a time.
This will be more responsive than VPN and less tuning required than VPN. No
third party software required. One can choose level of security (encryption)

Setup remote desktop connection with specific user ID(s) for your
"authorized person" to access what you allow them to access..

How? start menu, Help and support, Search with "allow other users to connect
to your computer" (without quotes). I said one or two because RD connection
on Windows XP Pro allow only one user at time and you seem to have one or
two XP PC.

Windows 2003 does allow more than one


Maybe, we don't know how to tune properly, so far our experience with VPN
( Microsoft or other third party like Symantec VPN) has been slow and
unresponsive. the office staff of my clients prefer use RDC over VPN for
speed and responsiveness. I heard similar stores with another consultant.
We tried speed up the process by a few registry tweaks for Word, Excel, but
still slow, especially for power users. Even worse for explorer. Over
ADSL, it takes at least 6 seconds to open a document, typically over 10 for
anything more than 200KB. even within 7 miles.

If any one find how to tune VPN network better to approach that of RDC at
the XP and server side, please let us know

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn.htm

If your behind a firewall/NAT/router then you would also need to forward/open TCP Port 1723 and
enable GRE Protocol 47 traffic. Some firewalls call the later issue "PPTP Pass Through" or "VPN Pass
Through" or do that automagically when you forward TCP Port 1723 (like the XP ICF does).

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309524
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;241251

 

[Jeffrey Randow (MVP)]

For the most part, the main problem with VPN has been in name
resolution. In general VPN's are much more efficient than a RDP for
file transfers. It just takes much longer to START a file transfer...

Jeffrey Randow (Windows MVP - Networking & Smart Display)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
be answered depending on time availability....

Remote Networking Technology Wiki -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Smart Display Support - http://www.smartdisplays.net
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

[gg]

Thanks for pointing that out about the name resolution.. By any chance that
you have workaround for the name resolution?

Also curious about secured shell performance relative to vpn and RDP

Yes file transfer can be a bit of problem but for most of our clients RDP
give them access to everything as if they were working on one of the XP in
the office and not too far off in performance.

 

[Charles May]

I couldn't agree with you more on this. Right now I'm using XP Pro. But, I'm
wondering... I know if I have users connect via a VPN
I can have more than one user on the machine at one time if I purchase
Server 2003 along with VPN Licenses.

Can I though, using Server 2003 have more than one user in the system via
remote desktop? If so, does anyone have a link


Thanks

Charles May

 

[gg]

Yes, you can have more than one users connected to windows 2003 through RDP.
I experience so far has shown 2003 more responsive than W2K server on the
same PC.


But then my server load is light and has only a small user base, with 1 GB
of Ram. I have not loaded the XP office Pro suite yet. It is still in
pilot stage.

If you don't .net then Windows 2003 server can be a bit of problem for you
as it is supposed designed for .net server application server and
development. as well.

 

[Jeffrey Randow (MVP)]

The solution is to make a WINS server available.. Unfortunately,
there is no such thing for a XP-based network (only on the server
implementations)...

Jeffrey Randow (Windows MVP - Networking & Smart Display)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
be answered depending on time availability....

Remote Networking Technology Wiki -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Smart Display Support - http://www.smartdisplays.net
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

[gg]

Can one configure an old Pc at home using NT server to be wins server and
without the PC joining the NT domain? Can the PC using VPN be connected to
the NT as peer or a member of a workgroup?

If possible, can you point me to some reference material on how to set that
up?

 

[gg]

BTW wouldn't DNS service work in place of Wins for name resolution? I am
asking because I do have a test Windows 2003 server around.

 

[Jeffrey Randow (MVP)]

Yep... You can also use Samba w/ Linux/BSD/etc (www.samba.org)

Jeffrey Randow (Windows MVP - Networking & Smart Display)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
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Remote Networking Technology Wiki -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Smart Display Support - http://www.smartdisplays.net
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

[Jeffrey Randow (MVP)]

Yes, a DNS service should also work... Beware of paths and name
completion, though....

Jeffrey Randow (Windows MVP - Networking & Smart Display)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
be answered depending on time availability....

Remote Networking Technology Wiki -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Smart Display Support - http://www.smartdisplays.net
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone