We had 2 Netgear VPN routers connected our production site and a remote site with a vpn connection. Both sites running Double-Take software, if production site went down the remote site would be available. The VPN connection was working fine and we had the servers mirrored for a short time, however we had other issues with the remote site and decided to move it to another location. The original remote site was in another state, at the owner's vacation house, among other issues there was no one there to restart equipment, etc. So we've moved it to the owner's house which is close to the production site. And yes, I did recommend against this, several times and strongly but this is what they want. Their house has Verizon FIOS for Internet, phone and HD TV. We had to convert to a business account in order to get a static ip, required a change to the modem. My intention was to configure the Verizon modem in bridging mode and assign the static ip to the Netgear VPN router, the connection to the vpn at the production site should then be no problem. Verizon insists their router cannot be in bridge mode, so I had to assign the static ip to the Verizon modem. The only way I can figure to get the vpn working is to port forward the ipsec port to the Netgear router. I have not been able to figure out the port forwarding on their modem (neither can they) but aside from that it seems an odd thing to do, so my question is it doable and is it really a good idea to port forward an ipsec connection?
Alternatively we can run an ethernet cable from outside the house to the Verizon modem (it's coax now) and that will allow the Netgear router to have the static ip assigned to it, we won't have to port forward. This is the way I prefer but they wanted me to try port forwarding first as the Verizon techs say this can be done they don't have anyone who's actually done it. I suspect some of the problem stems from the fact that this is a modem designed for a home installation, not business.
Anyway, my specific question is just what are the implications (if any) of port forwarding an ipsec connection and will it even work?
