VPN client not listed in My Network places

[dimonadave]

Remote Windows 2000 (called "Remote") Server (192.168.1.x) logs into PDC (network B 10.0.0.x) using IPSEC VPN.Remote server establishes connection verifies username and password etc and can "see" all workstation/servers on network (including itself).Remote can ping ipaddresses and netbios names and can map drives etc.
Any client on network B (10.0.0.x) can ping the Remote server using Netbios or ipaddress (10.0.0.251 assigned by RAS policy), however when looking in the network neighbourhood/My network places , server "Remote" is not listed. The problem we have is that the Veritas Replication 2.1 and Symantec Antivirus Server obtains the names for remote installation from the network neighbourhood/My network places and there is no possibility of
substituting netbios names for IPadresses.
I do not mean to sound repetitive but I can ping from remote site to any PC on Network B LAN and vice versa only problem is that the remote PC is not being listed under Network neighbourhood/my network places - Also when searching for Remote using start....search ...find computers from network B the server is found.....am at total lost any help appreciated

 

[ROUTERKID1]

Make sure the dns suffix is set to the same on both machines. What type of VPN are you using, if it is a PPTP connection in XP set this suffix on the tcpip properties of the VPN adapter? Check local area connection as well for DNS suffix.

 

[dimonadave]

Have done this as well as setting Remote server to be a secondary DNS. Further to this we set the Remote server to be a secondary WINS too and replicated between the 2 sites.
When we look at the the DNS on both Remote and PDC (Office Network B) we see entries for the "Remote" machine.As you suggested we already tried setting the dns suffix to the same on both servers.
We are using PPTP from Remote to Office (Network B).We read a Microsoft article outlining the advantages of installing WINS so we gave that a whirl too.....really stumped

 

[ROUTERKID1]

On a network based on Microsoft networking, there MUST be for each workgroup one system
acting as the book-keeper, this system is called the "Browse-Master".
When you have a network of Windows95/98/ME/2000/XP systems and you switch on these systems,
one of first things done by the network-software is to check on the network for the presence of
a Browse-Master:

- If no Browse-Master is found, then a Browse-Master is elected.
- Only a system with "File-and-Printer Sharing" installed can be elected to become a Browse-Master
- On a network with a mixture of Windows95/98.ME and Windows NT/2000/XP systems,
the "strongest system" wins the election and becomes the Browse-Master.
strength of Windows Versions :
- Windows 3.x ------------- > "weakess system"
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
- Windows ME
- Windows NT4 Workstation
- Windows 2000 Workstation (internal name : NT 5.0)
- Windows XP (internal name : NT 5.1 ) -----> "Strongest system"
- On a network with a Windows NT or 2000 server, the server becomes the Browse-Master,
( a server is always "stronger" than a workstation )
- each system sends the list of available shared resources to the Browse-Master:

 

[ROUTERKID1]

is file and printer installed on the vpn machine ?

 

[dimonadave]

Yes there is a network share - Both machines in question are Windows 2000 servers belonging to the same domain.
"Remote" is an offsite server which we want to replicate certain data using Veritas Storage replicator.
The VPN server is a Windows 2000 server also running WINS fir the Office network (Network B) - see above
when searching for computer using search facility under any windows 2000 client the "Remote" server is found and accessible. However it does not appear in "My Network Places" where all other domain servers and clients appear. As stated above the software requires the Remote machine to be listed in order to run the replication. From both networks pinging IP addresses and or Netbios names provides positive response. Also FQDN responds on ping from both ends

 

[ROUTERKID1]

check the Service pack on both machines

 

[dimonadave]

Both have service pack 4.
We have opted to buy a new router to see if this resolves the issue as the Netgear DG-834G has Netbios option....perhaps this will resolve the issue

 

[ROUTERKID1]

Good luck keep me posted on the results.

 

[dimonadave]

PROBLEM RESOLVED thanks to

http://www.chicagotech.net/nameresolutionpnvpn.htm

VPN client don't appear in remote LAN's Network Neighborhood/My Network Places

Normally, VPN clients don't appears in Network Neighborhood/My Network Places on the LAN. If you want the VPN clients to appear on the LAN browse list, you may need to install NetBEUI on the RAS server and RAS clients. This peculiarity is a known problem with RAS, but no fix is available at press time.
We installed NETBEUI on both client and server and this resolved the issue
ROUTERKID1 Thanks for your effort !

 

[ROUTERKID1]

Very good I will save this in my memory bank.