VPN sessions drop after 3-4 minutes...

[NicktheNewbie]

We currently VPN into another site from a windows VPN session that each user starts when they need to connect.
We are a windows 2000 network, all on the same domain... VPN'ing into another site... and we consistantly get dropped after a few short minutes.
Also, programs like MIRC and MSN instant messager drop off in the same short period of time.
We can reconnect instantly, without problems.

Nothing has changed on the network of late, and access to internal servers/other clients on the network seems fine.

This is vauge I know... but anyone have a tool I might use to try to trace the problem down?

 

[John Lewis]

For starters, open the properties of the VPN connection, go to the networking tab and click the settings button. Make sure 'Negotiate Multi-link for single link connections' is NOT marked. While your there, look at the options tab. Make sure the hangup idle time is never.

Those would be the common things. If that looks OK, or if the problem persists after correcting, I would turn on logging. If you do, make sure you turn it off when you get your problem solved, as it can use lots of hard drive real fast. Instructions are here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;234014

You may need to do this on the server and the client in order to track down what is really going on.

If you need further direction, a few questions. What kind of connection are you using -- cable, adsl, sdsl, etc.? Do you see a pattern -- does this happen more often at a certain time of day, heavy network load, moving certain kinds of files, etc.? What protocol are you using -- PPTP, L2TP ?? Should be a good starting point.

Good luck!

 

[sals95]

I had a similar problem. I did a lot of reading and found this to be a known issue with windows 2k as per microsoft. they have a fix for it. it is included in sp3 for windows 2k. I installed the service pack on all computers I needed to use the VPN includeing the VPN server which is A w2k server runing ISA. This solved my problem and has been working great ever since.
hope this helps Brian S.
MCSE