vpn3.0.1 client on Win2kPro and DSL connection

[3gleister]

Installed vpn3.0.1 client on Win2kpro machine and now the DSL connection doesn't work. The error states that the dsl connection can't find the modem to use. Uninstalling the client makes the DSL connection work fine. As per TAC, I tried to install a universal RASPPPOE adapter, but with no luck. Dial up connection access to concentrator works fine on this machine. Any other suggestions?

[fmeetz]

That’s odd…..I had the same problem and RASPPPOE worked for me. I guess I would continue working with the TAC but be sure to come back and let us know what solves it.

[3gleister]

Perhaps I installed it wrong. When the instructions said to choose the lan connection associated with dsl connection, it only showed my work lan connection - the connection to the dsl looked like a modem connection. Do I uninstall the dsl client's connection first and then just install RASPPOE? When I tried this and went to install the protocol ,I selected one of the driver file and it said it couldn't find the driver. To what connection do I attach the RASPPPOE?

[3gcasper]

You could opt to skip the PPPOE software and get a DSL/Cable router that has PPPOE built into it. There's a bunch of these boxes that are in the $89 to $149 range (Linksys, SOHO, etc), funny Cisco doesn't make one that I'm aware of - at least that cheap. Just make sure that the one you get has IPSEC Passthru in the firmware or that you can download it as a firmware upgrade. They make them with a 4 port 10/100 hub,mini DHCP server along with NAT.

I always thought it was kind of silly to have to dial up my "always on" DSL connection. The Winpoet software I was running made my NT machine a bit unstable. No more problems now and it is truly always on.

[scott-king]

Some VPN clients will NOT work with a DSL router even though the router says it supports IPSec passthrough. One example is the Raptor VPN Firewall product from Symantec. One of the problems with PPPoE is that it has a max MTU size of 1492. Your VPN client will most likely use an MTU of 1500 and then set the "do not fragment" bit. Once a 1500 byte packet hits your PPPoE DSL router it must be fragmented but it can't ... so the DSL router just pitches it into the bit bucket. You can test this yourself because when you establish a tunnel it uses smaller packets, but when you try to ping with big packets you will get a timeout.

I recommend you ask many many questions and detail exactly what you want to do before buying any products.