Server 2003 and VPN connection?

Guys,

I have a branch office server with a DC in it and 1 user. We have a PPP0E
setup back to the main office (both Cisco devices and a DSL connection). The
2003 server in the branch office and the workstation both have static IP's.
The branch office server is set to use the DNS from a DC back in the main
office and its secondary is set to the ISP DNS. The user in the branch
office has their DNS set to point to both DC back at the main office. The
issue I am having is that the connection of the branch office user gets
disconnected like once a week. Im wondering if there is something I may have
setup incorrectly on the Windows side. I had the ISP check the lines and
they are fine and if I log into the Cisco device it shows that its been up
and running for days. What could be causing this break in the connection?
Once it happens we generally can get back on in mintues. Any suggestions as
to what may be causing the lose of connectivity? It seems to happen about
once a week.

Hi WBE,
Your clients, servers and DC's must only use the internal DC's DNS as their
DNS servers.
Then the DNS server needs a forwarder to the ISPs DNS for resolution of
external names.
So client registers in and queries the internal name server. The internal
name server responds if it knows, and asks the ISP if it does not,
Does that make sense?
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.com




"WetBehindEars" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:818DE878-C987-4AD1-9E8C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Guys,
>
> I have a branch office server with a DC in it and 1 user. We have a PPP0E
> setup back to the main office (both Cisco devices and a DSL connection).
> The
> 2003 server in the branch office and the workstation both have static
> IP's.
> The branch office server is set to use the DNS from a DC back in the main
> office and its secondary is set to the ISP DNS. The user in the branch
> office has their DNS set to point to both DC back at the main office. The
> issue I am having is that the connection of the branch office user gets
> disconnected like once a week. Im wondering if there is something I may
> have
> setup incorrectly on the Windows side. I had the ISP check the lines and
> they are fine and if I log into the Cisco device it shows that its been up
> and running for days. What could be causing this break in the connection?
> Once it happens we generally can get back on in mintues. Any suggestions
> as
> to what may be causing the lose of connectivity? It seems to happen about
> once a week.

Also, the branch client should use the branch DC as its DNS server. The
branch DC/DNS can either forward straight to the ISP (as you have direct
internet access there) or if you prefer, can forward to the HQ DNS. It
depends a bit on where you router internet traffic from the branch.
Having the ISP DNS as your DC's Alternate DNS server is a serious
misconfiguration and should be changed, but actually I don't know if that's
what is causing the disconnection. You might have to be more specific about
what you mean by "disconnect". What exactly happens, and what errors do you
have in the client and server event logs?
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.com




"Anthony" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e5sjlSG$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi WBE,
> Your clients, servers and DC's must only use the internal DC's DNS as
> their DNS servers.
> Then the DNS server needs a forwarder to the ISPs DNS for resolution of
> external names.
> So client registers in and queries the internal name server. The internal
> name server responds if it knows, and asks the ISP if it does not,
> Does that make sense?
> Anthony
> http://www.airdesk.com
>
>
>
>
> "WetBehindEars" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:818DE878-C987-4AD1-9E8C-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Guys,
>>
>> I have a branch office server with a DC in it and 1 user. We have a
>> PPP0E
>> setup back to the main office (both Cisco devices and a DSL connection).
>> The
>> 2003 server in the branch office and the workstation both have static
>> IP's.
>> The branch office server is set to use the DNS from a DC back in the main
>> office and its secondary is set to the ISP DNS. The user in the branch
>> office has their DNS set to point to both DC back at the main office. The
>> issue I am having is that the connection of the branch office user gets
>> disconnected like once a week. Im wondering if there is something I may
>> have
>> setup incorrectly on the Windows side. I had the ISP check the lines and
>> they are fine and if I log into the Cisco device it shows that its been
>> up
>> and running for days. What could be causing this break in the
>> connection?
>> Once it happens we generally can get back on in mintues. Any suggestions
>> as
>> to what may be causing the lose of connectivity? It seems to happen
>> about
>> once a week.
>
>

Yeah, it makes alot of sense. I have the primary dns on the branch office DC
pointing to the DNS server at the main office and I have the secondary
pointing to the ISP DNS. I will change this secondary DNS to point to our
second DNS server back at the main office. By making this change do you
think it will correct the issue we are experiencing? Thanks for your help.

"Anthony" wrote:

> Hi WBE,
> Your clients, servers and DC's must only use the internal DC's DNS as their
> DNS servers.
> Then the DNS server needs a forwarder to the ISPs DNS for resolution of
> external names.
> So client registers in and queries the internal name server. The internal
> name server responds if it knows, and asks the ISP if it does not,
> Does that make sense?
> Anthony
> http://www.airdesk.com
>
>
>
>
> "WetBehindEars" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:818DE878-C987-4AD1-9E8C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Guys,
> >
> > I have a branch office server with a DC in it and 1 user. We have a PPP0E
> > setup back to the main office (both Cisco devices and a DSL connection).
> > The
> > 2003 server in the branch office and the workstation both have static
> > IP's.
> > The branch office server is set to use the DNS from a DC back in the main
> > office and its secondary is set to the ISP DNS. The user in the branch
> > office has their DNS set to point to both DC back at the main office. The
> > issue I am having is that the connection of the branch office user gets
> > disconnected like once a week. Im wondering if there is something I may
> > have
> > setup incorrectly on the Windows side. I had the ISP check the lines and
> > they are fine and if I log into the Cisco device it shows that its been up
> > and running for days. What could be causing this break in the connection?
> > Once it happens we generally can get back on in mintues. Any suggestions
> > as
> > to what may be causing the lose of connectivity? It seems to happen about
> > once a week.
>
>
>

You need to say exactly what is happening, and what errors you get in the
event logs. VPNs have a timeout and get brought up again by traffic, so it
could be nothing more than that,
Anthony,
http://www.airdesk.com




"WetBehindEars" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C780EFD3-A7F0-4BD6-8CFE-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Yeah, it makes alot of sense. I have the primary dns on the branch office
> DC
> pointing to the DNS server at the main office and I have the secondary
> pointing to the ISP DNS. I will change this secondary DNS to point to our
> second DNS server back at the main office. By making this change do you
> think it will correct the issue we are experiencing? Thanks for your
> help.
>
> "Anthony" wrote:
>
>> Hi WBE,
>> Your clients, servers and DC's must only use the internal DC's DNS as
>> their
>> DNS servers.
>> Then the DNS server needs a forwarder to the ISPs DNS for resolution of
>> external names.
>> So client registers in and queries the internal name server. The internal
>> name server responds if it knows, and asks the ISP if it does not,
>> Does that make sense?
>> Anthony
>> http://www.airdesk.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "WetBehindEars" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
>> message
>> news:818DE878-C987-4AD1-9E8C-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > Guys,
>> >
>> > I have a branch office server with a DC in it and 1 user. We have a
>> > PPP0E
>> > setup back to the main office (both Cisco devices and a DSL
>> > connection).
>> > The
>> > 2003 server in the branch office and the workstation both have static
>> > IP's.
>> > The branch office server is set to use the DNS from a DC back in the
>> > main
>> > office and its secondary is set to the ISP DNS. The user in the branch
>> > office has their DNS set to point to both DC back at the main office.
>> > The
>> > issue I am having is that the connection of the branch office user gets
>> > disconnected like once a week. Im wondering if there is something I
>> > may
>> > have
>> > setup incorrectly on the Windows side. I had the ISP check the lines
>> > and
>> > they are fine and if I log into the Cisco device it shows that its been
>> > up
>> > and running for days. What could be causing this break in the
>> > connection?
>> > Once it happens we generally can get back on in mintues. Any
>> > suggestions
>> > as
>> > to what may be causing the lose of connectivity? It seems to happen
>> > about
>> > once a week.
>>
>>
>>