VPN Access

HI,

Here my issue. I am running SBS 2003 vpn, routing and remote access, I can
connect to the server just fine but when I try to open outlook and shared
files I cannot. If i use the following: \\10.x.x.x.x\shared name it works.

I think its a DNS issue but i dont know. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Are you running WINS on your LAN? If you are not, Netbios name
resolution will be using broadcasts. This will fail over a WAN link. If you
are running WINS on the LAN the remote client should get the WINS address
when it connects and name resolution should work.

As far as DNS goes, the usual problem is that the remote client gets the
correct DNS server IP address but uses the wrong dns suffix. You can
manually enter the correct DNS suffix for your network into the connection
properties on the client.

"Thomas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:CC267ED4-D29A-474C-95B3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> HI,
>
> Here my issue. I am running SBS 2003 vpn, routing and remote access, I can
> connect to the server just fine but when I try to open outlook and shared
> files I cannot. If i use the following: \\10.x.x.x.x\shared name it works.
>
> I think its a DNS issue but i dont know. Does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks for the reply...

my question is should i be running WINS?

"Bill Grant" wrote:

> Are you running WINS on your LAN? If you are not, Netbios name
> resolution will be using broadcasts. This will fail over a WAN link. If you
> are running WINS on the LAN the remote client should get the WINS address
> when it connects and name resolution should work.
>
> As far as DNS goes, the usual problem is that the remote client gets the
> correct DNS server IP address but uses the wrong dns suffix. You can
> manually enter the correct DNS suffix for your network into the connection
> properties on the client.
>
> "Thomas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:CC267ED4-D29A-474C-95B3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > HI,
> >
> > Here my issue. I am running SBS 2003 vpn, routing and remote access, I can
> > connect to the server just fine but when I try to open outlook and shared
> > files I cannot. If i use the following: \\10.x.x.x.x\shared name it works.
> >
> > I think its a DNS issue but i dont know. Does anyone have any suggestions?
>
>
>

That really depends on your setup, but as a general rule the answer is
yes. WINS is pretty easy to set up and just works without any fuss. It will
also cut the broadcast traffic on your LAN if you make all machines WINS
clients. The clients simply do a WINS lookup instead of broadcasting on the
LAN. ANd you get the bonus that Netbios name resolution works across routers
and WAN links.

In theory W2K and later don't require Netbios name resolution but lots
of apps still require it.

"Thomas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:73C3332A-A838-425F-823E-(E-Mail Removed)...
> thanks for the reply...
>
> my question is should i be running WINS?
>
> "Bill Grant" wrote:
>
>> Are you running WINS on your LAN? If you are not, Netbios name
>> resolution will be using broadcasts. This will fail over a WAN link. If
>> you
>> are running WINS on the LAN the remote client should get the WINS address
>> when it connects and name resolution should work.
>>
>> As far as DNS goes, the usual problem is that the remote client gets
>> the
>> correct DNS server IP address but uses the wrong dns suffix. You can
>> manually enter the correct DNS suffix for your network into the
>> connection
>> properties on the client.
>>
>> "Thomas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:CC267ED4-D29A-474C-95B3-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > HI,
>> >
>> > Here my issue. I am running SBS 2003 vpn, routing and remote access, I
>> > can
>> > connect to the server just fine but when I try to open outlook and
>> > shared
>> > files I cannot. If i use the following: \\10.x.x.x.x\shared name it
>> > works.
>> >
>> > I think its a DNS issue but i dont know. Does anyone have any
>> > suggestions?
>>
>>
>>

This happened to me after changing a NIC for the local area connection. I
forgot to enter the static LAN ip address in the NIC's WINS property tab.
This is where the VPN looks for name resolution i think.

"Bill Grant" wrote:

> Are you running WINS on your LAN? If you are not, Netbios name
> resolution will be using broadcasts. This will fail over a WAN link. If you
> are running WINS on the LAN the remote client should get the WINS address
> when it connects and name resolution should work.
>
> As far as DNS goes, the usual problem is that the remote client gets the
> correct DNS server IP address but uses the wrong dns suffix. You can
> manually enter the correct DNS suffix for your network into the connection
> properties on the client.
>
> "Thomas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:CC267ED4-D29A-474C-95B3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > HI,
> >
> > Here my issue. I am running SBS 2003 vpn, routing and remote access, I can
> > connect to the server just fine but when I try to open outlook and shared
> > files I cannot. If i use the following: \\10.x.x.x.x\shared name it works.
> >
> > I think its a DNS issue but i dont know. Does anyone have any suggestions?
>
>
>