SBS 2008 VPN Connection causes blue screen
We recently installed a new HP SBS 2008 server as a single domain controller. During installation DHCP address range was picked automatically from the router (10.0.0.1 - 10.0.0.255) and the server itself was assigned 10.0.0.2.
All was working well except when I connected my iPhone using VPN. After two or three connections and disconnections the server consistently failed with a blue screen. The memory dump indicated issues with the network driver. Other devices and PCs did not cause this issue.
After extensive investigation by HP, where no hardware fault could be found, the cause was found by ourselves to be the allocation of IP addresses to the WAN Miniports used by VPN. In this case DHCP was allocating the server IP itself (10.0.0.2) to the VPN connection and it was this conflict that caused the blue screen
Our solution was to change the IP address of the server to one much higher up the range (.222). The WAN Miniports always seem to be allocated low available numbers such as .2.3.4.5 etc.
Thought this information might be useful to others and would appreciate any comments from those of you who understand these things as to why it happened.
All was working well except when I connected my iPhone using VPN. After two or three connections and disconnections the server consistently failed with a blue screen. The memory dump indicated issues with the network driver. Other devices and PCs did not cause this issue.
After extensive investigation by HP, where no hardware fault could be found, the cause was found by ourselves to be the allocation of IP addresses to the WAN Miniports used by VPN. In this case DHCP was allocating the server IP itself (10.0.0.2) to the VPN connection and it was this conflict that caused the blue screen
Our solution was to change the IP address of the server to one much higher up the range (.222). The WAN Miniports always seem to be allocated low available numbers such as .2.3.4.5 etc.
Thought this information might be useful to others and would appreciate any comments from those of you who understand these things as to why it happened.
ASKER
Thanks for the comment. The SBS server is the DHCP server and we did use the connect wizard when setting up the server. Should we now add the new server IP as an exclusion?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Problem had largely been resolved prior to post
Just to add to that:
SBS has numerous requirements. The most important being the wizards are used, and although it is not compulsory, the SBS should be the DHCP server. If the latter is not going to be the case see the following:
http://sbs.seandaniel.com/2008/10/do-i-absolutely-have-to-run-dhcp-on-sbs.html
When you run the Connect to the Internet address wizard it will set up DHCP on the server and also create an exclusion for the server IP so that what you are experienced cannot happen.
To further avoid a conflict it is important to use the VPN wizard from the SBS console and not the RRAS wizard.
Following SBS Best practices, which can be confirmed by the Best Practices Wizard below, should avoid such problems.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=86a1aa32-9814-484e-bd43-3e42aec7f731&displaylang=en