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RDP losing session when Cisco VPN client loses connection

RDP losing session when Cisco VPN client loses connection
This is the scenario, when users are connected VIA Cisco VPN client to our ASA VPN server and they are using Windows XP Remote Desktop. If the connection dies or disconnects on the VPN side they lose the XP RDP Session.
Say I have my VPN tunnel and RDP connection Established. If I kill the VPN tunnel the RDP session disconnects and logs out the session. Is there any way around this on either end?
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batry_boy
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If the user is using the VPN connection as their means of communicating with the machine they are RDP'ing into, then this most definitely will cause them to lose their RDP session.  This is like unplugging your network cable as far as connecting to the RDP machine.  Am I missing something here?
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XP Machine (RDP Client)<--------> VPN Client <======================>VPN Server <--------><XP Machine (RDP Server)

So the RDP works through the VPN tunnel.  Follow?
Yep, that's what I thought...so you're saying this is what is happening:

XP Machine (RDP Client)<--------> VPN Client <====|        x          |====>VPN Server <--------><XP Machine (RDP Server)

So, whenever your VPN session is disconnected (for whatever reason), it makes sense that your RDP session would be terminated as well since the RDP traffic is traversing the VPN tunnel for it to work in the first place.

You ask if there is any way around this...you should troubleshoot the cause of your VPN disconnects.  Have you noticed any pattern of consistency with the VPN disconnections?
No pattern. Some users have crappy connections. For instance i have had a user on for 8 hours with no problems. I have another guy calling me every 2 min with a disconnect. Its either their ISP or something on their network. Maybe there kid is using bittorent and killing their connection. I am not sure but you would think RDP would save a session if the connection Disconnects.
Windows XP only supports one login session at a time...that session can either be a local user using the workstation or it can be a remote user using RDP.  This is why the local user is logged off when a remote user establishes an RDP session to it.  I don't know if XP works the same as Windows 2K/2K3 server about terminal service sessions, but I know the server OS'es would save the session.  You can test this by simulating the disconnect from an XP RDP session.

As for troubleshooting the VPN connections, what connection protocol are your VPN users using...tcp or udp?  For the users who are having the disconnect problems, have them change over to the other procotol, whichever one they are not currently using.  You'll have to enable IPSEC over TCP on the ASA first if you haven't already.
Also what is the vpn client you are running, from what I remember 4.8 of vpn client version was good.

Also just reset the tcp/ip stack on the problem machine once to save that problems which could happen quite.

Open a command prompt and do this;

netsh int ip reset reset.log
netsh winsock reset

then REBOOT.

Cheers,
Rajesh
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bawzeus

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Bawzeus, let me look in to those options.