Re: Windows XP Networking Question (with Linksys' Home VPN Router)
From: Ron McKinnon (youremail-unsubscribed_at_shaw.ca)
Date: 08/14/04
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Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 12:28:11 -0700
"James McCoughlin" <none@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:S9LBc.94906$V57.14773175@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I have two friends who work at a non-profit from their homes, and they
want
> to be able to share a windows file folder and printers at two different
> houses, like as if they were on a single LAN. We bought one (Linksys
> WRV-54G) VPN router
> (http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=565)
>
You bought one router. Does this mean that you're all close enough
to share this router in a wireless network? (You all have wireless cards
and you're physically close enough to use the same router?) If this is so,
you don't need to be thinking of VPN - you can be all on the same
(wireless) network.
If you're all otherwise connected to the Internet, then you don't need
the router. Then you can use VPN to connect through the
internet to your other computers. If you're using XP, you can
set up an 'incoming connection' on one computer (the VPN host),
and the other's set up 'outgoing connections' to connect to it.
If your VPN host is connected to the Internet behind a router/gateway,
you'll need to ensure that the requisite ports for VPN are
forwarded to the VPN Host machine. Set the VPN Host machine
up with a static (local) IP address (say 192.168.1.100 (and have your
router's DHCP start allocating addresses at 192.168.1.101), and
forward ports 1723 (TDP), 1701 (Both), and 500 (UDP) to it.
Make sure you have the latest firmware for the router. If you cannot
complete the login to the VPN host (it hangs on a 'Validating username
and password prompt") and you already have the latest Linksys
firmware then I suggest you try the third-party Linksys firmware from
svasoft (version Satori 4.0). The Satori firmware gives you a
PPTP server configuration, so you don't need to do the port
forwarding (but you can still do it that way).
I had considerable trouble configuring access to my VPN host
behind a WPT54GS router. The latest linksys firmware would not
work for this, and I found and installed the Satori firmware.
So far it is working great, but bear in mind that it is unsupported,
third-party software.
> I've set up simple home LANs before, but never Linksys
> VPN. Would anyone have any simple directions by any chance
> to get these computers talking to each other through the Linksys
> VPN router? The directions didn't really seem to get much into
> actually saying "how" they connect, but mostly about the
> security settings, PKI passwords, etc.
As above, if the computers are all connecting through the same
Linksys router, you're not dealing with a VPN requirement,
you're just using a router/gateway that happens to have some
VPN capability as well.
Security, PKI passwords etc. on the router relate to connecting
to the router wirelessly. These don't have anything to do with
your VPN, just connecting to the router with a wireless card.
Your wireless router can be used by anyone in your neighborhood,
to get on your networks, use your Internet connection, possibly
access your computers, etc. The security provisions allow
you to restrict and control who has access to your network.
> In short, 3 questions:
>
> 1) Is it possible to share drives/printers over the VPN network?
> **For example: "Only" Sue's printer and drive sharing would
> connect to Beth's VPN router and computer, while everything
> else (i.e.: Sue's internet web surfing) should not try to connect
> to the web via Beth's VPN [Exactly how would I set that up at
> Sue's house?]
Once you're connected, whether through a hard-wired, wireless,
or VPN, its pretty much the same.
> 2) Is it recommended to have a Second Linksys WRV-54G
> VPN router at the other house? ...or does Windows XP have
> something built-in that makes this not required?
The router is intended to allow multiple computers to
participate in a common network. As a gateway, it is
intended to allow computers participating in that given
network to connect to another network (i.e. the Internet).
You might want wireless cards in the other computers,
so that they can connect wirelessly to your network
through your router, but for your stated purposes,
you don't need any more routers.
If all the computers involved in this already have
connections to the Internet, then you don't really
need the router for this at all. Though depending
on their existing bandwith you might want a local
wireless network to give you better bandwidth.
Windows (XP etc.) does provide VPN support. VPN is
all about 'tunneling' through an existing network (such
as the Internet), to provide a 'virtual' -'Private' network
involving particular computers. Once you have all the
computers able to communicate through a more public
network, absent security provisions in the intervening
network, you can create a more-private 'virtual' network
between them.
See the note above about 'incoming' and 'outgoing'
connections. Set these up via 'My Network Places' --> 'View
Network Connections" --> 'Create a New Connection"
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