RE: PPTP VPN connection problems

Hello Liu,

The problem is that the VPN does not disconnect. Both ends (client and
server) show the connection active.
However after some idle period I can not send packets across the connection.
A ping to the server would result in "Request timed out".

Suggestion 1: I checked and the idle time is set to "never"

Suggestion 2: Both internet connections are ADSL subscriptions for
residential, but the one for the server has a fix IP.
I've contacted the ISP and they see no stability issues on the ADSL
connection.

Suggestion 3: Yes I used the CEICW on the SBS and I checked the KB and
confirm that the VPN is configured properly.

Suggestion 4: If I connect with the VPN client locally to the internet
gateway (the SpeedTouch 608W) and setup a local VPN connection (the IP of the
external connection of the server) as you suggested I see no problems. The
VPN is stable for hours (I did not check more).

Conclusion:
- 1 - I am using SBS2003 standard (no ISA server).
- 2 - I have an fix IP address for the office internet connection.
- 3 - I use the OWA from multiple locations (PCs) and looks more stable.
However I saw that I need to logon again after a greater idle period (15-30
min); and I do not know if this is an internal timeout of OWA for security
reason (public PC access).
- 4 - I have this issue on multiple PC (all of them XP SP2).
- 5 - As I said the VPN does not disconnect. It is just that the
communication with the server blocks after some idle period. If I do a
continuous ping to the server (ping -t sbs001) the problem disappears.


I would like to contact the local MS support (Belgium) if posible.
I have this SBS2003 server (Dell PowerEdge 380) since last November; it
should be under support from MS.

Best regards,
Iulian


"Terence Liu [MSFT]" wrote:

Hello Iulian,

Thank you for posting here.

According to your description, I understand that your VPN connection to
your SBS 2003 will disconnect after a while of idle. If I have
misunderstood the problem, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Based on my research, I suggest we try the following steps to see if we can
resolve this issue:

Suggestion 1: Check the VPN client settings

1. On the XP client computer, open Network Connections

2. Right click the VPN connection, select properties,

3. Select Options tab, in the Idle time before hanging up box, select
never, and tick the option Redial if line is dropped (if you have this
option)

4. Click Ok to finish.

Suggestion 2: Check the Internet network connection stability

The instability Internet connection will relate to this issue. Please
contact your ISP of your office and home, to check the Internet connection
stability. You can also try to connect your SBS VPN from another client,
does it work fine?

Suggestion 3: I'd like to confirm how to setup the VPN settings on SBS and
client with you

1. Run CEICW on SBS

You have to rerun the CEICW to make sure your SBS 2003 server have right
network configuration. Go through the follow KB and Rerun CEICW again
carefully.

How to configure Internet access in Windows Small Business Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825763/en-us

2. Run Remote Access wizard

a) On the Small Business Server 2003-based server, click To Do List in the
left pane of the Server Management console.

b) Under Network Tasks, click Configure Remote Access.

c) Click Next, click Enable Remote Access, click to select the VPN Access
check box, and then click Next.

d) Type the fully qualified public domain name (your public DNS name) of
your server, click Next, and then click Finish.

e) When the wizard is completed, click Close.

3. Then you can access RWW to download Connection Manager or copy the file
from SBS server c:\ ClientApps\Connection Manager\SBSPackage.exe. Please
save the sbspackage.exe file in VPN client computer. Then double-click
SBSPackage.exe to run it. After this file run the "connect to small
business server" will be created and you can use it to connect VPN to your
SBS server.

Suggestion 4: If the issue persists, please do the following test to narrow
down this issue.

1. Test the VPN connection from inside of the SBS network, will the problem
be reproduced?

Manually create a VPN connection on the internal client through the
following KB article:
How to configure a VPN connection to your corporate network in Windows XP
Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305550

Note: The VPN server IP is the internal IP address of the SBS Server

2. If the disconnection issue doesn't occur internally, please plug a
simple hub to the external interface and plug a laptop to the hub, perform
the same test which bypasses the router. Will the problem be reproduced?

Note: The VPN server IP is the external IP address of the SBS Server

If we can not resolve the issue after we perform the above steps, please
kindly help me collect some information for further investigation:

1. Do you install ISA server 2004 on SBS? Please apply the hotfix KB904825
(http://support.microsoft.com/?id=904825), and then test this issue.

2. Do you have static IP on your office Internet connection?

3. Does the OWA connection from your home have the same instability issue?

4. Does the VPN connection issue happen on all VPN clients?

5. Do you get any error when the VPN connection disconnect? Please capture
screenshots on the error messages and send the pictures to me at
v-terliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hope these steps will give you some help.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Terence Liu(MSFT)

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--------------------
| Thread-Topic: PPTP VPN connection problems
| thread-index: AcekdN4sKIaBTJOzT5uDL+Fm/jMTcg==
| X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 207.46.192.207
| From: =?Utf-8?B?aXVsaWFu?= <iulian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| Subject: PPTP VPN connection problems
| Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 10:47:05 -0700
| Lines: 28
| Message-ID: <CB93746B-51C4-482E-8734-1E136BB0375B@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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| X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs
|
| I am connecting to the SBS 2003 R2 server (my office) using PPTP VPN from
Win
| XP (my home PC).
|
| I can connect without issues but after a while I cannot communicate with
the
| server although the connection is still alive on both ends.
| The problem I have is that after 1-2-10 min of idle I do not receive any
| packets over the VPN connection. I see packets going but nothing is
received.
|
| Here are the details over my configuration.
| - The server has 2 NICs; one connects to a SpeedTouch 608W DSL router
| (internet gateway) and the other one takes care of the office LAN
(additional
| workstations). The 608W is a business DSL router and has the correct port
| mappings and firewall disabled. The server has the basic firewall enabled
| with the necessary exceptions. All the setup of the server is done using
the
| built in wizards of SBS.
| - The client computer is a XP SP2 connected to the internet via another
| SpeedTouch 608W DSL router with firewall disabled and no port mappings.
|
| I am struggling with this problem for 3-4 mounts since I installed the
| server and I could not find any helpful information on the web.
| I’ve done some experiments and I saw that if I keep pinging
continuously the
| server from the client the connection is more stable.
|
| I appreciate any advice and tools to help investigate this problem.
|
| Thank you,
| Iulian
|
|


.

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