RDP access drops when VPN client is running

[Y2KGTP]

I have a 2K3 server that I can access fine via RDP, until I start up a Nortel Networks VPN client on the box. IF I launch the VPN client via a console session, it will freeze up, and after this point I can no longer connect.

(XP Pro did the same thing, so I built a server box for testing)

The reason for this is that I have a VPN for my work on my laptop, and have a 2nd VPN for my customer network for access.

I was thinking of installing a 2nd Ethernet card in the 2K3 box, to see if I can get arould this....I just don't want to use a 2nd keyboard\mouse all day long, if I can ovoid it.

 

[Y2KGTP]

Any ideas....I have a 2nd network adapter installed now, but upon launching the VPN, it isolates both adapters from the local network.

 

[gmail2]

IF I launch the VPN client via a console session...

console session as in actually standing at the server (or using something like pcAnywhere) as opposed to using RDP? So, it crashes regardless of whether you launch it "locally" or over RDP? Sounds like a corrupt installation or something? Sorry - hope I haven't mis-understood something here?

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[Y2KGTP]

I will clarify a bit:

I can launch the VPN at the console (at the computer), and as soon as I do this, it disconnects any RDP session (mapped drives, etc...) to the box. And provents any reconnection until the VPN is disconnected.

If I launch the VPN while connected via RDP session, it will freeze the session, and disconnect after a few seconds, unable to reconnect.



I was hoping by adding a 2nd network adapter, I could gain access to the box while it was connected to the VPN connection, but so far I have not had any luck. I tried VNC as well, and it has the same behavior as Terminal Services.

 

[gmail2]

OK, now I understand. My guess is that the VPN client software is causing a routing conflict on the PC. So say your server ip address is 192.168.2.1/24 gateway address 192.168.2.254. Then you launch the VPN software and it also uses similar IP addresses. Although each network connection has it's default gateway, the routing table in windows can only have one. So the route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 (gateway) in the routing table will be overwritten by the default gateway for your Nortel VPN because this network connection was initiated second.

I could be totally wrong here, but I have a feeling that might be the issue. We had a similar problem where we couldn't test 3G cards after we installed them for users in remote offices because the 3G network used a similar IP addressing scheme to ours so once we connected the 3G connection, our RDP connection to the laptop was lost.

Hope this helps - let me know how you get on.

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[Y2KGTP]

That is likely the problem. The whole reason for this project is to be able to access 2 VPN networks from the same laptop. I have 1 VPN to my local work intranet, and a 2nd VPN client for access to the customer network.

I was wanting to be able to RDP to the 2nd server box, so I can use just the 1 laptop keyboard, and have the ability to cut\paste between the laptop & the RDP VPN session.

Currently I have 2 switch between 2 keyboards\monitors & email stuff back and forth between machines....

 

[gmail2]

hmm ... actually thinking about this, maybe if you added a persistent route to your laptop to just the server you want to RDP to then you could get away with it. Something like
route add 192.168.1.2 mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.254 -p where 192.168.1.2 is the IP of the server you want to RDP to over the second VPN connection and 192.168.1.254 is the default gateway of the second VPN connection. Not 100% sure if it'll work - and it may cause problems if you then plug your laptop directly into the LAN where that server is hosted (you'd have to remove the persistent route again) but I guess it's worth a try?

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[Y2KGTP]

Not sure if adding a route to the Laptop will help, as the Server running the VPN software is cutting every connection to it off.

Another idea I had was running VMWARE on the laptop, and build a virtual 2K or XP workstation, and see if that will let me connect to both networks threw the same laptop. I would prob just need to bump the memory a bit to compensate for the extra overhead....

 

[gmail2]

You know it was only a while after I posted this I realised how silly my suggestion was !! However, I do think you might be able to get around this using static routes. Firstly, the server you want to RDP to is on your company's LAN - not on the customer's LAN - am I correct? In that case, then maybe if you just added a static route for that server to point to the gateway you access that server with - then when you create the VPN connection into your customer site - it will overwrite the default gateway, but the static route will still point you in the right direction for that server. Sorry, I hope I've haven't gotten this all mixed up? Would be alot cheaper than upgrading memory - I don't have any experience with VMWARE i'm afraid.

Good Luck and let me know how you get on

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[tfg13]

This will pretty much be an open and shut case. The VPN software is more or less "hijacking" your network connections. It doesn't matter if you add more NIC's or not, as they will also have the same issue. There are ways to get around this with "limited" VPN profiles, but that might be another lesson.

For this issue, once connected to your VPN, are you able to ping/use the internet? What is your IP (are you able to get to the internet to verify, if so, go to whatismyip.org)? Is it different than what is displayed in the ipconfig /all?

As far as using VMWare, you'll run into the same issue, as the Guest OS actually uses a virtual NIC. This virtual NIC comes from, you guessed it, your physical NIC. Therefore, if you were to connect to the VPN software, with the host machine, you'll run into issues as well.