RE: windows network browsing through VPN

Here's some food for thought...

Not all VPN clients are alike.  The two "main" types are "shim" and "virtual
adapter".  If a VPN client can be installed and obtain it's own IP, DNS,
WINS, etc from the gateway and/or a DHCP server behind the gateway, then
this is the best approach.  

However, the problem arises when VPN clients are installed in a shim mode
and "bind" to existing Internet connections.  Clients that bind to existing
connections will use the DNS, IP, WINS, etc from that connection.  So if you
connected to the Internet via some remote ISP (via modem, ISDN, DSL, WiFi,
Ethernet broadband, etc, you'll get an IP address which your VPN gateway
doesn't know about and you'll get DNS entries from that ISP which may only
be able to resolve your external interface resources (i.e. the VPN gateway
address, a web address, nothing internal).  In just about all the cases I've
seen, a connection to the Internet with a remote ISP never hands down WINS
addresses.  For that matter "shim" type VPN clients will fail to allow to to
resolve NetBIOS hostnames.   Even if you use Active Directory DDNS, you
still can't resolve as the AD DDNS servers would be behing the VPN gateway
and the external DNS servers from the ISP don't contain name resolution
records for your internal servers (they better not!).

Here's a small list of the VPN's that I've worked extensively with which
will let you get whatever the ISP gives you and then ALSO let you have an
IP, DNS, and/or WINS from the VPN:

- Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrator Series and VPN Client
- Nortel Convitivity Extranet
- Check Point (NG FP1 or later with "Office Mode")
- Microsoft PPTP or L2TP/IPSec
- Shiva LAN Rover VPN (formerly Intel Netstructure...Shiva bought it back)

There are PLENTY more, but these are the ones I've worked extensively with
and have had no problems with name resolution (WINS or D/DNS).

Hope this helps.
________________________________

Basim S. Jaber
Senior Systems Engineer
Field Sales - North America
iPass, Inc.    [email protected]

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tina Bird [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 12:59 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [VPN] windows network browsing through VPN

anyone have decent documentation (or willing to write such a thing for the
VPN web site) on the ever-present and annoying question of getting windows
systems to be able to browse networks of windows file servers/network drives
over a VPN?

i haven't had to do it in ages and am hopeful that someone's got good
references....

thanks in advance -- tbird
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