connection refused by remote host

[caley]

Hello

i would like to use your WingateVPN trial to set up my very first VPN. So far in my experiment i keep getting "connection refused by remote host" when i try to connect from my remote client.

To begin i will explain how each end of my "network" is setup.

We have a VERY simple network at our business. We have 1 Office Computer (running XP Home) where all our everyday office documents are stored and 1 Reception Computer (running XP Home) that is used by the reception to access these office documents.

Internet access and the Networking at my business is handled by a Microsoft Broadband Router. Our DSL modem connects to the Router via RJ cable as does the Office Computer. The Reception Computer connects to the Router wirelessly.

The other end of the "network" is my laptop (running W2K) that i take with me to different locations... ie... my home.... my girlfriend's home etc... usually this laptop accesses the internet through a residential DSL modem or 56k modem without using a router (although eventually i would like to learn how to set up this end with a router as well... but not immediately).

So far i have installed WingateVPN on both my Office Computer (which will host the VPN) and my Laptop (which will join the VPN). i have also called Microsoft to find out how to do the port forwarding on the Router.

My laptop uses Zone Alarm Firewall... i have given full permissions to WingateVPN. And i have also tried to connect with Zone Alarm completely disabled.

My Office Computer does not use a firewall. Windows Firewall is turned off.

For right now i'm using http://www.whatismyip.com so i know the IP address assigned to me by my ISP.

i found this in the forum:
2. To telnet into the Host:
On the "Joiner" (client), open a command prompt and test via telnet whether the ports are opened correctly on the "Host".

(windows) Start menu --> Run --> cmd --> telnet -->
open vpn.myserver.com 809

But i don't know what: "open vpn.myserver.com 809" stands for.... i'm assuming i need to replace "myserver.com" with something, but i don't know what.

Can you please help me with this test and offer any other steps i should try?

Thanks a lot,
caley.

[caley]

so i figured out 2 things by searching in the forum...

1. Zone Alarm might be a problem with WingateVPN... i have unistalled and completely removed all Zone Alarm files and drivers from my system.

2. i've also figured out how to use:

(windows) Start menu --> Run --> cmd --> telnet -->
open vpn.myserver.com 809

where "vpn.myserver.com" is my IP address... as found at www.whatismyip.com


Unfortunately when i try to use telnet i get the "Could not open a connection to host on port 809 : Connect failed"

however i can ping the IP with success.

So what does this mean? Is my port forwarding not configured properly or could it be something else?

Please let me know if you have any ideas!
thanks,
caley.

[MattP]

Hi Caley,

Have you set up a VPN to host at the office? When you do this WinGate will automatically open ports in the WinGate firewall to allow incoming connections on port 809. Can you check the firewall and see if there are any hits on this port?

You are welcome to connect to our VPN test server that we run here, this will tell you if your client is setup correctly, although it won't help you set up the server. You can download the VPN configuration file here, please use the username test, password 1234.

You can also connect to our test server from your office server, just to make sure that you can connect out properly.

If you try to connect from your laptop to the office machines using the WinGate VPN what happens? If you look in the log file you should get an explanation of the problem. You'll find the log file in the WinGate\logs\VPN directory.

[caley]

Thank you for your suggestions!

In the end i re-configured my port forwarding on my router and i have made my Office computer (which hosts the VPN) a DMZ through the management tool of my router. Having done this i can now connect to the VPN host from my remote client using WingateVPN!

However.... i can't figure out how to access the files on my Office Network.... i can "see" the Office Network but the computer i would like to access is labeled "Not accessible". (no other computers are listed...but that's ok for now) Furthermore when i select "explore" on the computer i wish to access i can "see" the shared folders but cannot open them. When i try i get an error message that says:

Blissoffice\My Documents is not accessible.

The specified network name is no longer available.

How do i actually access my files now that i've connected to the network?

by the way... i have used http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm to properly configure my port forwarding on my Microsoft Router. You may wish to review this site to see if it's worth recommending to others who have port forwarding issues. It has helped me!

[caley]

Again upon reviewing the Forum i found that my current issue (posted above) may have something to do with my MTU size. i read your knowledge base article about this.

http://support.qbik.com/index.php?_a=kn ... ils&_i=102

The strange thing is i couldn't ping the IP address of my VPN server from my remote client! i got "Request timed out" even with a packet size of 1 byte.... Eventhough i can still connect via the VPN. What do you think about this?

However, i could ping other sites such as google.com and wingatevpn.com with packet sizes of 1450.

i've just now realized i don't have the latest version of WingateVPN. i will install the latest versions on both the host and the joiner and adjust my MTU size to 1450 to see if that changes anything.

[caley]

"Check Version" under the help menu in GateKeeper still opens a browser that tells me i'm not using the latest version.

"Auto Update" then "Check Now" also under the help menu in GateKeeper shows that i am using the latest version.

i've re-downloaded (twice) and installed (twice) latest version found at http://www.wingate.com/download.php but i still get the same contradiction.

My guess is that i've always had the latest version but the "Check Version" feature is not working properly.

Unfortunately i cannot change the MTU size as instructed here:
http://support.qbik.com/index.php?_a=kn ... ils&_i=102

when i double click the appropriate network interface (Type = Dial-up) there is no "advanced" tab. There is an "advanced" tab when i double click the Local Area Connection (Type = LAN or High-Speed Internet) but i can't use that connection right now anyway.

So it seems WingateVPN version 2.0.4 doesn't provide a way to override the MTU for Dial-up type connections.... Is that true?

Still having the same problem when trying to access files:

Blissoffice\My Documents is not accessible.

The specified network name is no longer available.

(see thread)

[caley]

i've changed my internet connection on my remote client to highspeed dial-up (residential DSL) which lets me use DrTCP to adjust my MTU settings on my Ethernet Adapter...

*i picked up DrTCP here: http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp in case there's anyone following this thread...

i changed my MTU to 1450 based on the ping test you've prescribed... still my files are unaccessible :( Do i need to tweak the other settings via DrTCP also?

i tried connecting to your VPN test server which worked, but your server "Walrus" is also showing as unaccessible... is that because my settings are wrong?

also... when i try the telnet test to my IP port 809 i get "could not open a connection..." but when i do the same telnet test to your server's IP port 809 my window goes black for about 30 seconds then "connection to host lost." What does this tell us?

...help! i'm running out of ideas...

[MattP]

Not accessible errors are usually to routing errors, or a firewall blocking the connection somwhere (which I suppose is a routing error too), rather than an MTU problem. MTU problems usually show themselves when you can see the shares but can't open them, or can't open large folders.

Would you like to send me your VPN configuration file and I'll connect in to your server and see if I can see a problem? If you'd like to create a support ticket then I can get your number and give you a call.

You should check that you are using a different IP subnet at each end of the VPN. It probably wouldn't hurt to uninstall ZoneAlarm to see if that is causing problems, sometimes you will still get driver conflicts even with the firewall disabled.