I work for a a small non-profit organization of about 70 employees. We have a Windows network. The file server is running Microsoft Server 2003. Our router is a Cisco RVS4000. This router is limited to just five VPN accounts, but we need about ten or so. Getting a new router is not an option. What's the best solution? Sharing accounts doesn't sound like a good idea.
I've been using a product called TeamViewer: http://www.teamviewer.com/
Any thoughts on this issue? If not TeamViewer, is there another product? I have no budget for this, so it would have to be free or almost-free.
My networking-tech level is pretty low, so please try to keep it simple. Thanks.
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Setup OpenVPN. It's a ssl based vpn software that's open source. http://www.openvpn.net/. You can set it up on a windows server or on a unix/linux server. Excellent documentation on how to get it setup and running. Let me know if you have any questions.
You can create a VPN using the 2003 server and set your router for PPTP/VPN pass-through. There would be n connection limitations, and no costs other than your time.
The basic server and client configurations can be found at the following sites with good detail:
-Server 2003 configuration:
http://www.lan-2-wan.com/v
-Windows XP client configuration:
http://www.lan-2-wan.com/v
-You will also have to configure the router to forward the VPN traffic to the server. This is done by enabling on your router VPN or PPTP pass-through, and also forwarding port 1723 traffic to the server's IP. For details as to how to configure the port forwarding, click on the link for your router (assuming it is present) on the following page:
http://www.portforward.com
-The users that are connecting to the VPN need to have allow access enabled under the dial-in tab of their profile in active directory
-The only other thing to remember is the subnet you use at the remote office needs to be different than the server end. For example if you are using 192.168.1.x at the office, the remote should be something like 192.168.2.x
-Once this is configured you can then use services similar to how you would on the local network. You will not be able to browse the network unless you have a WINS server installed. Also depending on your network configuration you may have problems connecting to devices by name, though this can usually be configured.. Using the IP address is less problematic such as \\192.168.1.111\SharenName
-Nome resolution can be dealt with in many ways. See:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/ro
However, the best method is to add the DNS suffix to the remote users VPN client configuration as described in the link above.
SCHUMI33: As far as I can tell, the router limits you to a total of five VPN accounts -- not five concurrent connections.
namol and RobWill: I will take a look at the information you posted, but it looks somewhat involved. I would still like to know about TeamViewer, as it is very simple to set up and use. Does anyone know if TeamViewer is secure? If it's reasonably secure, I'll just go with TeamViewer, as I already know how to use it.
Thanks.
I don't think teamviewer was intended for use as a full on vpn client. While you can view remote desktops etc you won't be able to have true vpn connectivity. IE they won't be able to take their laptop home and use the vpn with their home connection. They'll need to use teamviewer on the laptop, leave it running, access it from home etc.
Thanks for the answers, but I'm going to use TeamViewer, as it seems to suit our needs. I'm not a networking guy, and configuring servers, port-forwarding, subnets, etc. is not something I really want to get into. I'm afraid that I'll devote hours of time to the project, it won't work, and I won't know how to debug it.
Thanks anyway for the answers. I appreciate the help.
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by: SCHUMI33Posted on 2009-11-02 at 05:57:11ID: 25719262
You can enable VPN on all accounts. You are only limited to 5 concurrent connections. Will there be 10 people connecting in through the VPN at the same time? If not, you can set up a standard VPN network without using any free software.