VPN Connection via wireless internet

timbo82

Does anyone know anything about opening firewall ports on a Belkin wireless router? My boss is currently having problems accessing our sonicwall vpn because the router is preventing access.

My boss has an NTL connection and has a belkin wireless router that plugs into it to provide the wireless access (configured with 128bit WEP if that is important). When he connects through the ethernet on the NTL box his sonicwall vpn connection is fine but when connected via the wireless his connection appears to connect ok but he then has problems with accessing network resources.

I've had a good go at this but to be honest have struggled and failed. In particular I need to allow access to an smtp server for email, access to files / folders on a file server and microsoft terminal services.

From memory I believe that port 25 is for smtp and 3389 for MSTC but thats where I get stuck - how do I ensure that the router allows traffic through these ports?

Thanks in advance. Let me know if you need further info.

everythingblogcast

Open your internet browser and enter the address 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1.

Then enter the username and password to gain access to the setting of the router and go to the tab that have "port forwarding" or something like that. Am a linksys user so am just guesting what belkin is but in a mag it looked like linksys setup.lol
In the tab "port following" open the ports needed for the VPN to work.

nearlyrich

I am not a techie but I use a Belkin wireless router (on ADSL) everyday to access my company VPN so it can be done, I didn't need to change anything to get it to work it just did out of the box. Is the router working properly?

albertross_2

A vpn is an end to end tunnel, so you shouldn't have to do anything on the home router, apart from to make sure it has vpn passthrough (most do), and maybe reduce the mtu to 1400 or so (vpn adds length to the packet, which can cause fragmentation).

When you say it works wired, do you mean wired into the router, or wired into the cable modem?

Are the same protocols bound to the wireless adapter, as to the wired adapter?

Are you using an ip address to connect to, or a name?

PS, WEP isn't particularly secure, wpa with a long key is better.

timbo82

Thanks for the replies.

I've accessed the admin for the router and there is no section for port forwarding that I can see, only a section for virtual servers. Is this the same thing.

Albertross - When I say wired I mean if I connect directly to the cable modem it works fine. The wireless router connects to the cable modem and thats when I have the problem.

I don't know about protocols bound to the wireless adapter / cable modem. How would I check?

I'm connecting to an IP address using the sonicwall software. The connection works fine on other internet links i.e. dial-up, ntl wired broadband, my home wireless connection, but not the one my boss has.

MadCowMan

the sonicwall VPN client is an L2TP over IPSEC connection I seem to remember.

IPSEC connections and Network Address translation tend to not to play very well together. They'll work over a single layer of NAT , but not 2.

I have a hunch ,that you have 2 layers of NAT on your bosss network. That belkin kit needs to be running as an access point , not a NAT router ( which it sounds like the cable modem is doing. )

nice way of testing this would be to compare the IPCONFIGs of a device wired and wireless.

MadCowMan

the sonicwall VPN client is an L2TP over IPSEC connection I seem to remember.

IPSEC connections and Network Address translation tend to not to play very well together. They'll work over a single layer of NAT , but not 2.

I have a hunch ,that you have 2 layers of NAT on your bosses network. That belkin kit needs to be running as an access point , not a NAT router ( which it sounds like the cable modem is doing. )

nice way of testing this would be to compare the IPCONFIGs of a device wired and wireless.