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DNS issues over VPN with new router
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SoozyJ22
Posts: 3,266 Forumite


in Techie Stuff
Hi all, the Techie Forum's been very helpful in the past with various issues I've had so I'm hoping you can help me out with this problem I'm having. I've tried googling for help but can't find anything useful so would be very grateful for any advice.
Since I got a new router last year, I've been having issues with DNS resolution while connected to my work VPN. Previously I had a workaround with the application which had a problem with this, but since they've switched where another application's server resides, I'm now getting problems that I can't work around so it's time to do something about it.
The problems only happen when I'm connected from home. I can VPN from anywhere else (hotels, airports, customer sites) with no problems.
The symptoms of the problem are quite simple. We have various dns suffixes used at work, but the main ones are eu.<company name>.com and am.<company name>.com. Normally the suffixes are added correctly, however at home I seem unable to connect to anything that should add the am suffix because it always adds the eu suffix instead and then can't be found. My workaround for the original application with problems was that I was able to enter the full address to connect to by adding the am.<company name>.com, but the other application doesn't allow me to change the address to add the suffix.
So, for example, from home I get:
tracert <application ID>
Tracing route to <application ID>.eu.<company name>.com – which doesn't exist.
but from elsewhere the same tracert becomes:
Tracing route to <applicaton ID>.am.<company name>.com – which is the correct address.
If I go into the connection settings for the VPN connection, in the advanced TCP/IP settings it has 'Append these DNS suffixes (in order):
<alternative company name>.com
<company name>.com
am.<company name>.com
ap.<company name>.com
eu.<company name>.com
plus a few others'
DNS suffix for this connection is <alternative company name>.com
Register this connection's addresses in DNS is ticked
Use this connection's DNS suffix in DNS registration is not ticked
My Ipconfig/all settings are at the bottom of the post. They're from a year ago but are unchanged today other than a few small differences to company IP address. I don't understand why the DNS search list is in a different order to what I've put above, but since it seems to work when not using my router, I guess it's not relevant?
The router is a TP-LINK TD-W8960N. My Dad bought it for me and set it up so I don't know much about it really other than it's much more stable than my old one way.
Please let me know if you have any ideas to what might be causing this? Or things I could try changing to make it better? I've looked at the settings in the router, but I don't really understand what most of them do so I don't know where to start. The laptop's running XP in case that makes any difference, but I'm also failing to connect to terminal servers in the US if I connect to the VPN from my own laptop which is Windows 7.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : <laptop name>
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : eu.<company name>.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : eu.<company name>.com
<company name>.com
am.<company name>.com
Various other suffixes here
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
! ! ! ! Connection-specific DNS Suffix !. :
! ! ! ! Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
! ! ! ! Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-D6-31-31-4C
! ! ! ! Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.106
! ! ! ! Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
! ! ! ! Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
! ! ! ! DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
! ! ! ! DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
! ! ! ! Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 June 2012 17:01:02
! ! ! ! Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 15 June 2012 17:01:02
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
! ! ! ! Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
! ! ! ! Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Con
nection
! ! ! ! Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-E8-D7-45-02
Ethernet adapter Network Connect Adapter:
! ! ! ! Connection-specific DNS Suffix !. : <company name>.com
! ! ! ! Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Juniper Network Connect Virtual Adap
ter
! ! ! ! Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-00-6B-43-8A
! ! ! ! Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : xx.xx.40.124 (xxs added for privacy)
! ! ! ! Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
! ! ! ! Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.40.124
! ! ! ! DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.40.10
! ! ! ! DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.128.220
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! xxx.xx.1.106
! ! ! ! Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.1.106
! ! ! ! Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 June 2012 17:11:13
! ! ! ! Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 21 June 2012 17:11:13
Since I got a new router last year, I've been having issues with DNS resolution while connected to my work VPN. Previously I had a workaround with the application which had a problem with this, but since they've switched where another application's server resides, I'm now getting problems that I can't work around so it's time to do something about it.
The problems only happen when I'm connected from home. I can VPN from anywhere else (hotels, airports, customer sites) with no problems.
The symptoms of the problem are quite simple. We have various dns suffixes used at work, but the main ones are eu.<company name>.com and am.<company name>.com. Normally the suffixes are added correctly, however at home I seem unable to connect to anything that should add the am suffix because it always adds the eu suffix instead and then can't be found. My workaround for the original application with problems was that I was able to enter the full address to connect to by adding the am.<company name>.com, but the other application doesn't allow me to change the address to add the suffix.
So, for example, from home I get:
tracert <application ID>
Tracing route to <application ID>.eu.<company name>.com – which doesn't exist.
but from elsewhere the same tracert becomes:
Tracing route to <applicaton ID>.am.<company name>.com – which is the correct address.
If I go into the connection settings for the VPN connection, in the advanced TCP/IP settings it has 'Append these DNS suffixes (in order):
<alternative company name>.com
<company name>.com
am.<company name>.com
ap.<company name>.com
eu.<company name>.com
plus a few others'
DNS suffix for this connection is <alternative company name>.com
Register this connection's addresses in DNS is ticked
Use this connection's DNS suffix in DNS registration is not ticked
My Ipconfig/all settings are at the bottom of the post. They're from a year ago but are unchanged today other than a few small differences to company IP address. I don't understand why the DNS search list is in a different order to what I've put above, but since it seems to work when not using my router, I guess it's not relevant?
The router is a TP-LINK TD-W8960N. My Dad bought it for me and set it up so I don't know much about it really other than it's much more stable than my old one way.
Please let me know if you have any ideas to what might be causing this? Or things I could try changing to make it better? I've looked at the settings in the router, but I don't really understand what most of them do so I don't know where to start. The laptop's running XP in case that makes any difference, but I'm also failing to connect to terminal servers in the US if I connect to the VPN from my own laptop which is Windows 7.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : <laptop name>
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : eu.<company name>.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : eu.<company name>.com
<company name>.com
am.<company name>.com
Various other suffixes here
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
! ! ! ! Connection-specific DNS Suffix !. :
! ! ! ! Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
! ! ! ! Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-D6-31-31-4C
! ! ! ! Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.106
! ! ! ! Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
! ! ! ! Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
! ! ! ! DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
! ! ! ! DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
! ! ! ! Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 June 2012 17:01:02
! ! ! ! Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 15 June 2012 17:01:02
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
! ! ! ! Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
! ! ! ! Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Con
nection
! ! ! ! Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-E8-D7-45-02
Ethernet adapter Network Connect Adapter:
! ! ! ! Connection-specific DNS Suffix !. : <company name>.com
! ! ! ! Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Juniper Network Connect Virtual Adap
ter
! ! ! ! Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-00-6B-43-8A
! ! ! ! Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
! ! ! ! IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : xx.xx.40.124 (xxs added for privacy)
! ! ! ! Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
! ! ! ! Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.40.124
! ! ! ! DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.40.10
! ! ! ! DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.128.220
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! xxx.xx.1.106
! ! ! ! Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : xxx.xx.1.106
! ! ! ! Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 June 2012 17:11:13
! ! ! ! Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 21 June 2012 17:11:13
0
Comments
-
What IP numbers is your business using for its internal network? It's a bit worrying that your laptop is 192.168.1.106, but you've got xxx.xx.1.106 as the WINS, and another, server for your employer. If xxx.xx is 192.168, then that will be a problem.
More generally, my advice is, if possible, to choose two random numbers X and Y, each in the interval 1..255 and use 10.X.Y.0/24 as your home network. You are thus highly unlikely to hit a conflict with anything you need to VPN to.0 -
Thanks for the reply. None of the xxs are 192.168. They're all 172.something.
Oh, and my old router had the same IP address and that never caused any problems.0
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