Problem connecting to remote network using demand-dial VPN interface with Windows Server 2003

Question

I have a Windows 2003 server (SP2) that I'm trying to set up route traffic from my local network using a VPN

My local network has the following components:

• Broadband router (192.168.0.1)
• Windows Server with a single NIC running RRAS (192.168.0.2 def. gateway = 192.168.0.1)
• Client Machine (192.168.0.3 def. gateway = 192.168.0.1)

Using a VPN connection, I am trying to access a remote machine (10.0.0.1 for example)

I configured RRAS with a demand-dial interface for the VPN and set it to be a persistent connection. As part of that setup, a static route to 10.0.0.0 (255.255.0.0) was created.

When at the console of the server, I can ping 10.0.0.1 with no problems

I added a route on the client machine using the following command:

ROUTE ADD 10.0.0.0 MASK 255.255.0.0 192.168.0.2

If I run tracert 10.0.0.1 from the client, the first hop is to 192.168.0.2 which tells me that route is working.

However, I cannot ping 10.0.0.1 from the client machine.

What am I missing? Hopefully something simple.

Answer 1

Figured it out. I had to add NAT to the mix.

1. Add NAT/Basic Firewall as routing protocol
2. Add the demand-dial interface to NAT
3. Configure it as "Public interface connected to the internet" and check only "Enable NAT on this interface"

Answer 2

I've seen this problem before, and thats because the RRAS service the routing entries into the table on the Windows Server when it has a single NIC. What I've done to solve the problem is put the routing entry on the server with the /p switch to make the routing entry perm, so it survives across reboots.