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We're evaluating a VM hosted externally which runs Windows Server 2008 R2 Web Server Edition and wish to access it via a VPN connection for maintenance and administration.

RRAS isn't included in Web Server Edition, but it does have a form of VPN server called "Incoming Connections". This appears to work well and even supports multiple simultaneous connections. As we'll be using this VPN regularly we'd like to know if this is a viable solution or if we'd be better off upgrading to Standard Edition and full-fledged RRAS.

In particular we're accessing the VM via the Private IP given by the Incoming Connection (currently 169.254.135.207) so we'd like know:

  • if the server private IP might change every so often?
    • if so is there any way to define it manually?
  • or should we be using the server name rather than the private IP address?
    • if so how can we be sure that it will resolve correctly?
      • Name resolution over the "Incoming Connection" has worked on and off during our tests.

Thanks for your help

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  • why don't you ask your hosting provider these questions? I think they will be able to answer all of these questions. or did you set up the server yourself? Dec 20, 2010 at 23:39
  • The "Incoming connection" we setup ourselves, the host wasn't aware that this "Poor Man's VPN" existed in Web Edition.
    – revelate
    Dec 21, 2010 at 6:25

2 Answers 2

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The hosting company will have to answer the questions about the IP changing. Dynamic DNS is often a good solution if the server IP will change, just register for a free account.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_dns

http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/

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  • Thanks for your reply. We're trying to clarify the expected behaviour of the "Incoming Connection" VPN -- a standard Windows 2008 feature. The public Server IP is fixed and not something we're concerned about. When connecting via VPN private IPs are used in the 169.254.x.x range. This is purely dependent on the way the "Incoming Connection" VPN works and not something under our host's control.
    – revelate
    Dec 21, 2010 at 6:31
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  • On the Incoming Connection: right-click: Properties > Networking > TCP/IPv4 properties
    • In the "IP address assignment" group select "Specify IP addreses" and define a range such as :
      • From: 169.254.149.0
      • To: 169.254.149.255

The server will always be assigned the first value in the range (in this case 169.254.149.0)

Name resolution appears to be triggered by calling tracert 169.254.149.0

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