RRAS and Master Browser

Hello,
We mistakenly turned on VPN on a Win2003 Server running Exg 2003 & SQL 2K
and our user's Outlook could not connect to Exg. After we turned off VPN the
only way we could get an Outlook connection to Exg was to turn on RRAS. Now
the server in question cannot see the network and the network cannot see the
server. We can get to it by searching directly for it but we need to get to
it in the normal way. Our other four servers show RRAS disabled so we
obviously have something set wrong but cannot figure out what. I'm afraid if
we disable RRAS on this server we may be able to see the network but Outlook
may not be able to connect to Exg again. Can someone help us get back to
normal? Riley

When you enabled the RRAS, it may register two IP addresses in the DNS and WINS. That will cause a name resolution issue. This troubleshooting may help,

name resolution and connectivity issues on RRAS A computer that is running Windows Server may have name resolution and ... clients can't access the RRAS server any more after a VPN connection is made. ...
http://www.howtonetworking.com/cases...dcdnswins1.htm


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"riley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Hello,
We mistakenly turned on VPN on a Win2003 Server running Exg 2003 & SQL 2K
and our user's Outlook could not connect to Exg. After we turned off VPN the
only way we could get an Outlook connection to Exg was to turn on RRAS. Now
the server in question cannot see the network and the network cannot see the
server. We can get to it by searching directly for it but we need to get to
it in the normal way. Our other four servers show RRAS disabled so we
obviously have something set wrong but cannot figure out what. I'm afraid if
we disable RRAS on this server we may be able to see the network but Outlook
may not be able to connect to Exg again. Can someone help us get back to
normal? Riley

Thank you very much for the response. What I've learned so far this morning is that we most likely should not have ever turned on VPN. The customer had done it before we could stop him. When we turned it off we ended up having to turn on RRAS to get the Outlook clients to connect to Exg. When comparing the services in five other Win 2003 servers (a couple of mine and several of his) RRAS is disabled by default. I would like to take RRAS back to disable but when we do Outlook/Exchange becomes an issue. I think RRAS in a disabled state would allow the server to be seen on the network. While comparing the services this morning I noticed that Remote Access Connection Manager is also off in all the machines that I'm looking at except the one that's giving us the problem. Could that also be a problem? Also Remote Procedure Call Locator is stopped on all machines by default except the machine in question. Could that also be an issue? Thanks again for the help.
Riley
"Robert L [MS-MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
When you enabled the RRAS, it may register two IP addresses in the DNS and WINS. That will cause a name resolution issue. This troubleshooting may help,

name resolution and connectivity issues on RRAS A computer that is running Windows Server may have name resolution and ... clients can't access the RRAS server any more after a VPN connection is made. ...
http://www.howtonetworking.com/cases...dcdnswins1.htm


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"riley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Hello,
We mistakenly turned on VPN on a Win2003 Server running Exg 2003 & SQL 2K
and our user's Outlook could not connect to Exg. After we turned off VPN the
only way we could get an Outlook connection to Exg was to turn on RRAS. Now
the server in question cannot see the network and the network cannot see the
server. We can get to it by searching directly for it but we need to get to
it in the normal way. Our other four servers show RRAS disabled so we
obviously have something set wrong but cannot figure out what. I'm afraid if
we disable RRAS on this server we may be able to see the network but Outlook
may not be able to connect to Exg again. Can someone help us get back to
normal? Riley

This is embarrassing. We've solved the problem. Somehow during the VPN effort back in May the "Disable NetBios over TCP/IP" was set to disable. I had focused all my efforts around the VPN/RRAS and only when I was looking at the WINS panel did everything click. Not only was NetBios disabled but the WINS address was pointing to itself. I assume the VPN wizard had something to do with these settings. That area hasn't been opened since we built the machine early last year. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and help. Riley
"riley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Thank you very much for the response. What I've learned so far this morning is that we most likely should not have ever turned on VPN. The customer had done it before we could stop him. When we turned it off we ended up having to turn on RRAS to get the Outlook clients to connect to Exg. When comparing the services in five other Win 2003 servers (a couple of mine and several of his) RRAS is disabled by default. I would like to take RRAS back to disable but when we do Outlook/Exchange becomes an issue. I think RRAS in a disabled state would allow the server to be seen on the network. While comparing the services this morning I noticed that Remote Access Connection Manager is also off in all the machines that I'm looking at except the one that's giving us the problem. Could that also be a problem? Also Remote Procedure Call Locator is stopped on all machines by default except the machine in question. Could that also be an issue? Thanks again for the help.
Riley
"Robert L [MS-MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
When you enabled the RRAS, it may register two IP addresses in the DNS and WINS. That will cause a name resolution issue. This troubleshooting may help,

name resolution and connectivity issues on RRAS A computer that is running Windows Server may have name resolution and ... clients can't access the RRAS server any more after a VPN connection is made. ...
http://www.howtonetworking.com/cases...dcdnswins1.htm


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"riley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Hello,
We mistakenly turned on VPN on a Win2003 Server running Exg 2003 & SQL 2K
and our user's Outlook could not connect to Exg. After we turned off VPN the
only way we could get an Outlook connection to Exg was to turn on RRAS. Now
the server in question cannot see the network and the network cannot see the
server. We can get to it by searching directly for it but we need to get to
it in the normal way. Our other four servers show RRAS disabled so we
obviously have something set wrong but cannot figure out what. I'm afraid if
we disable RRAS on this server we may be able to see the network but Outlook
may not be able to connect to Exg again. Can someone help us get back to
normal? Riley

Thank you for the feedback.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"rgpetty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:OpMae%(E-Mail Removed)...
This is embarrassing. We've solved the problem. Somehow during the VPN effort back in May the "Disable NetBios over TCP/IP" was set to disable. I had focused all my efforts around the VPN/RRAS and only when I was looking at the WINS panel did everything click. Not only was NetBios disabled but the WINS address was pointing to itself. I assume the VPN wizard had something to do with these settings. That area hasn't been opened since we built the machine early last year. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and help. Riley
"riley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Thank you very much for the response. What I've learned so far this morning is that we most likely should not have ever turned on VPN. The customer had done it before we could stop him. When we turned it off we ended up having to turn on RRAS to get the Outlook clients to connect to Exg. When comparing the services in five other Win 2003 servers (a couple of mine and several of his) RRAS is disabled by default. I would like to take RRAS back to disable but when we do Outlook/Exchange becomes an issue. I think RRAS in a disabled state would allow the server to be seen on the network. While comparing the services this morning I noticed that Remote Access Connection Manager is also off in all the machines that I'm looking at except the one that's giving us the problem. Could that also be a problem? Also Remote Procedure Call Locator is stopped on all machines by default except the machine in question. Could that also be an issue? Thanks again for the help.
Riley
"Robert L [MS-MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
When you enabled the RRAS, it may register two IP addresses in the DNS and WINS. That will cause a name resolution issue. This troubleshooting may help,

name resolution and connectivity issues on RRAS A computer that is running Windows Server may have name resolution and ... clients can't access the RRAS server any more after a VPN connection is made. ...
http://www.howtonetworking.com/cases...dcdnswins1.htm


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"riley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Hello,
We mistakenly turned on VPN on a Win2003 Server running Exg 2003 & SQL 2K
and our user's Outlook could not connect to Exg. After we turned off VPN the
only way we could get an Outlook connection to Exg was to turn on RRAS. Now
the server in question cannot see the network and the network cannot see the
server. We can get to it by searching directly for it but we need to get to
it in the normal way. Our other four servers show RRAS disabled so we
obviously have something set wrong but cannot figure out what. I'm afraid if
we disable RRAS on this server we may be able to see the network but Outlook
may not be able to connect to Exg again. Can someone help us get back to
normal? Riley