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VPN - how to setup?

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7 replies

by kenlea1

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Will shortly attempt to set up a Virtual Private Network for my sister: one office PC running Windows 2000, on AOL Dial-up; one home XP Home PC also using AOL Dial-up. Can obtain VPN free/shareware programs (although any recommendations would be appreciated), but how do I go about setting up a static IP address on both PC's? Do I have to go through Win2000 DHCP server? And is it possible to reconfigure XP Home firewall to allow VPN? How should this be configured for AOL? Getting to a static IP address is obviously not a problem when online, but does VPN use a normal ISP Dial-up (or in AOL's case, portal)? Any advice would be appreciated.

7 replies

by cg it

To give possible solutions to most of your questions, need to know the following: Windows 2000? or Windows 2000 Server? if its Windows 2000 Server is the office setup using a domain? If it is using a domain, you've got a problem right off the bat with XP Home. XP Home wasn't designed for logging in and authentication with a domain. You CAN so simple file/folder sharing in a workgroup.

As far as creating a network connection on the client side, a way to do this is to create a new network connection and follow the wizard prompts. [will prompt you to use dialup or DSL, log in info, and so forth] Then, to establish a VPN connection, just open network connection and use the one you created.

by cg it

as far as static IP address, again need to know more about the office setup. If they have one or not and whether or not they have DNS service.

by cg it

ah, ok Windows 2000 Pro. In my humble bumble opinion, use PC Anywhere.

Now the fun part is setting up the W2K Pro machine to accept remote connection. Since you have AOL dialup internet access on both machines, this really limits what you can do. The only option I can see is dial in via the 56k modem. That itself poses a problem if the machine one wants to access is turned off every night, you'll need to have remote Wake on Ring capability on the mainboard to turn it on. Down side is, not so good because anyone that calls, even wrong # calls will wake up the computer.

Static IP addressing scheme here doesn't apply. Using dial up AOL what your are really doing is logging into their network like workstations in a big company, then obtaining internet access same as if you were an employee using a workstation to surf the web. There's no IP address assigned to you that is considered a routable public IP address like you would get with DSL or cable service.

by kenlea1

OK, so far so good; have obtained copy of Secure Planet VPN, but not played with it yet. Still not clear how to configure AOL; has to be done by AOL username, surely, but I don't recall seeing this option in any AOL config screens, only in Connection Wizard, which always assumes MSN and Outlook. Possibly thirdparty VPNs do too...

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