Mentor ADSL Router

[MGriffiths]

Hi All,
I have just installed a new ADSL connection at one of our client sites, but have run up against the following problems.
Let me first explain the set-up.

I have installed a Mentor ADSL 4 Port Router that has an external WAN IP address of 89.???.??.106 and an internal LAN IP address of 89.???.??.108
This is directly plugged into a Linksys BEFSX41 4 Port Firewall that has an external WAN IP address of 89.???.??.107 (the mailgate IP address) and an internal LAN IP address of 192.???.???.250 .

The firewall is then directly plugged into the switch.

Browsing the internet works like a dream on all clients and the Server, as does sending SMTP mail, but when I try to receive SMTP mail, the ISP cannot telnet onto port 25, so this does not work.
Also, I cannot VPN in or out of the site.

Now I already have 4 sites up and running with BT configured routers and Linksys BESFX41 Firewalls that all work fine. The only difference is the Mentor router, which has loads of internal settings and a manual that is as much use as a chocolate teapot!

My questions are - has anyone set-up a Mentor to accept SMTP mail and VPN connections and if so, how? Or fi not, any ideas on what settings I might change to configure this beast to get it to work?
Any/All help appreciated.
Thanks and Regards
Mark.

 

[hollingworthp]

Hi Mark

We have two sites using these irritating devices.

One of our sites does host email and it was fairly straight forward to configure.

Forgive me if I am asking the obvious, but you have not stated in your email whether you have configured the Mentor Router to forward all traffic on port 25 to your mail server. We don't have a hardware firewall between the mail server and the router so that is all we need to do. The only extra task you would need would be to forward port 25 to your firewall and then have your firewall forward traffic to the mail server.

Unfortunately on the subject of VPN we do have a slight problem, but we do have a certain level of functionality and our problem probably relates to server configuration.

For some reason, we are able to run VPN behind the router on an old Win2k server which we would dearly love to decommission. Unfortunately, for some very strange reason, we are unable to get our spanking new Win2k3 box to run VPN, our users just get Error 721 when they try to connect.

The configuration for this is similar, you need to forward port 1723 to the relevent internal IP.

Let me know if you need anything else or if you find a solution to the VPN problem!

Kind regards

Phil.

 

[MGriffiths]

Hi Phil,
Thanks for that, do I forward the ports through the virtual server config?
If not, could you list where I need to Go and what to do.
Thanks again
M.

 

[hollingworthp]

Hi Mike

Right - I have now got VPN working in addition to SMTP.

For the port-forwarding, I have probably gone over the top, but I forward the ports in Virtual Server and Port Forwarding. (These are both accessed via Forwarding in the Basic section of the Web Admin page)

With regards to the VPN connection, it would seem that the Mentor router is unable to handle PPTP VPN Connections. I am waiting for Tech Support to come back to me to confirm this but in the meantime I managed to get L2TP VPN to work.

The PPTP does not work for this reason: PPTP VPN relies on TCP Port 1723 which needs to be forwarded to your VPN Server. However, it also relies on GRE packets which are Protocol ID 47 (NOT TCP Port 47). For a router to be able to deal with this, it either needs to have a PPTP Forwarding (or similarly named) option, or the ability to specify forwarding of Protocol IDs. It would seem that the MR4A cannot do either of these. The result is that clients will get a VPN Error 721 whenever they try to connect.

To make L2TP you need to have the router forward TCP Port 1701 and UDP Ports 500 and 4500 to your VPN Server. You will also then need to configure the VPN Server with a certificate or pre-agreed key.

Hopefully this will sort you out.

If you need any additional help then let me know.

PS - you may get Error 781 when you use L2TP with Win2k or XP then you will need to download a hotfix from Microsoft at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;818043

 

[rsp11]

Just as a side issue, I've got a Demon Internet a/c and a MR4C/UK with a Maplins splitter. Now the modem connects fine but if the phone rings I loose connection & when I make a call there is lots of static on the line and sometimes it drops out. Any ideas? Could it be the splitter or is it just a dodgy device or bad PSTN cable as I do live in a location surrounded by digital cable but I cannot get any (100yard black spot in Hillingdon)