Setting Up VPN...

[CDuddley]

I'm to setup a VPN with a friend on a cable modem. I have DSL with a static IP. My Netopia router has PPTP request support and it is set up properly and working (I tested it locally and it connects and seems to work just fine.) I'm not sure though, since my friend is not here locally how will he connect to my router? Will I need to talk to my ISP about fowarding his PPTP request to my IP address? I've tried using my external IP address to connect to my router with no avail, so I'm wondering is it just because I'm trying to connect externally from an internal address or is something getting lost between me, my gateway, and my external IP. Thanks for you time, and thanks for the advice in advance.

-CDudd

 

[Thet]

CDudd,

If I understand you correctly, you want to have your friend set-up a dail-in VPN connection to your VPN server over the internet. With that being the case, he simply dials with your fixed IP on the internet as the destination. On your end, he needs to be authorized to connect via dial-up. You may need to open port 1723 on your router and direct it to your VPN server's IP address (forwarding), depending on your network set-up. You said that you have already enabled PPTP pass-through. I'm not an expert by any means, but that is the set-up that worked here (VPN to NT4 Server). You are correct that you cannot dial your external address to test your VPN (Internal IP's are not sent to the router's external side). You can dial your VPN server's internal address to test. I haven't tried that from the VPN server, but it works from any other internal network address.

Hope this helps.