Two Way Connection to/from Remote Office

[VPN_Virgin]

Okay, please bear in mind that I am very much a newbie with this stuff, so please be gentle with me.

We are running an SBS 2000 network and have a couple of laptop/home users who log in using a VPN to the server to access files, emails etc. This works fine with very little trouble. We also have a remote office, this can connect in the same way. Again, no problem.

What we would like to enable is a two way connection to the remote office, so that people here can access their files, and they can still access ours.

I've spent much of the day reading whitepapers, how to's and other stuff but cannot seem to get a definitive answer as to how to go about this. I found this site, and you seem like a friendly bunch (I hope), so I thought I would ask a question here.

From what I have read so far, we are going to have to run some form of VPN server at the remote office, something like WinGateVPN. We would then need to not only connect from remote office to H/O, but also from H/O to remote office, is that correct? Or would we be able to have access to their files when they connect to H/O?

There would be 2, possibly 3, users at H/O who would need access, can this be done from their own PC's, or do we have to create a connection from the server?

The PC's at the remote office are running Windows XP Pro SP2.
Both office have broadband/adsl internet connections, Head Office has a static IP, remote office is dynamic.

Any help or advice would be most appreciated, even if it's telling me to forget it.

Thank you in anticipation

Steve.

[MattP]

Hi Steve,

I'll try and be gentle.

When you make a connection with WinGate VPN you are basically extending the LAN to the remote location. So if the remote office connects in to head office they should be able to see all of the machines at the H/O location. H/O should also be able to see all machines at R/O. So this sounds like it will cover what you're trying to do quite nicely.

Ideally you would put the WinGate VPN software on a gateway machine at each location, so that all LAN connections pass through this machine to get to the ADSL router. That way there is nothing to configure on the clients.

If you can't put the VPN software on a gateway machine don't worry, you will just have to install the RIPv2 client on the LAN machines so that they can learn the route to the VPN. The RIPv2 client is a free download available from our website.

There are a couple of things to watch out for. The XP firewalls on the VPN server machines will need to be stopped. The LAN clients at the remote location also need to be on a different IP subnet to the H/O location to avoid a routing conflict. So if you're using the range 192.168.1.* at H/O you should use 192.168.2.* at the remote location.

It sounds like you will need a gateway license at each location, the size of the license depends on the number of users you wish to give access to. WinGate licensing works on a concurrent user basis, so you only need licenses for the number of users who will access the VPN at the same time.

I hope this helps, just let us know if you have any more questions.

Regards,

Matt

[VPN_Virgin]

Hi Matt, thank you for the reply which was clear and concise. However, it has raised another question or two.

Do we need to install Wingate VPN at both offices, or can we use the Windows RRA service at our H/O?

At the moment, the RO connects when they want to check emails and access files. Who would have to initiate the connection for there to be mutual file sharing? Do we have to wait for the RO to connect before we can gain access to their files, or can we initiate a connection from here? I know this will depend on them having the PC switched on and connected to the internet.

As they do not have a static IP address, how would this be resolved so we can gain access without having to reconfigure multiple PC's - or even just a VPN server?

Cheers

Steve

[MattP]

Hi Steve,

WinGate VPN needs to be installed at both ends, we can only accept or make connections from/to another WinGate VPN. However, a WinGate VPN connection gives you a secure tunnel which allows two way traffic between the locations, so your remote office can connect to the H/O location whenever they need to and you'll be able to access their LAN.

You can set WinGate VPN to connect at engine startup if you need to, so they will be connected to you whenever the VPN server is running. This neatly side-steps the problem of the dynamic IP address and almost permanently extends your LAN.

Matt