Help me get "local" address over my VPN

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carstensdj
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:29 am

Help me get "local" address over my VPN

Post by carstensdj » Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:35 am

Hi All,

I am looking at setting up a nationwide VPN between my office PC's (JHB Office and CPT office) and my various sites. The client software at the sites should be able to see the PC's at the office running the server software, over the internet and via a "local address".

I have taken a look at SoftEther as it is open source and seems to have alot in terms of ways to set it up / features etc...

This weekend i logged into my SoftEther server at work (through the SoftEther DNS) and could connect fine to my VPN, but could not ping any of the local addresses of any of my machines at the office even though i was connected to the VPN. Does anyone know how to get the correct IP assigned to me for when i log into the office VPN? It's giving me a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx instead of 192.168.1.xxx and i suspect this is why i cant ping any of my machines at the office while connected to my VPN. Assistance would be GREATLY appreciated!

kh_tsang
Posts: 551
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:09 pm

Re: Help me get "local" address over my VPN

Post by kh_tsang » Tue Aug 27, 2013 1:54 pm

Make sure your office has DHCP so that computers in the local LAN network can obtain local IPs without configuring static IP address. Do you know about your company's DHCP configuration.

carstensdj
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:29 am

Re: Help me get "local" address over my VPN

Post by carstensdj » Tue Aug 27, 2013 2:57 pm

kh_tsang wrote:
> Make sure your office has DHCP so that computers in the local LAN network
> can obtain local IPs without configuring static IP address. Do you know
> about your company's DHCP configuration.

Hi kh_tsang. I know that our wifi router/access point assigns IP's via DHCP, but dont think that our gateway is setup for DHCP. Does the gateway HAVE TO use DHCP or is there another way around that?

What i have done on my home PC is statically changed the IP settings on my VPN connection to IP credentials that match what my office IP would be, should i be at the office, but still no luck.

kh_tsang
Posts: 551
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:09 pm

Re: Help me get "local" address over my VPN

Post by kh_tsang » Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:06 pm

If you are sure the network has DHCP on it, you will need to ensure that the DHCP is hosted outside the VPN Server since when using local bridge on servers with only one NIC, the VPN Client cannot communicate with other services on the server after the VPN Connection is established(I have this problem on Linux server).

*DHCP Server may not be hosted on routers, especially for corporate network.

carstensdj
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:29 am

Re: Help me get "local" address over my VPN

Post by carstensdj » Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:21 pm

"ensure that the DHCP is hosted outside the VPN Server" Do you mean The SoftEther server must not be the same machine as the DHCP machine?

"the VPN Client cannot communicate with other services on the server after the VPN Connection is established" What sort of services would this be? *I'm quite new to all of this so please bear with me... :)

"DHCP Server may not be hosted on routers, especially for corporate network" Do you mean that the router should not be giving IP addresses to the various devices and that it should be done by a server instead? Is this a suggestion or will SofEther not work with it like that?

kh_tsang
Posts: 551
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:09 pm

Re: Help me get "local" address over my VPN

Post by kh_tsang » Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:55 pm

Reply to first question, it is recommended that you have a dedicated NIC which does not have IP set on it to do the local bridging. If not, I think you can try adding a tap device in the Softether VPN if you are using Linux or install Hyper-V and enable bridge the network then you will see your original NIC has disabled all functions and a new adapter will be responsible for your connection(I saw this in Windows Server 2008 R2) then enable local bridge to that NIC with no IP address in the Softether VPN Server if you are using Windows and see if it works.

Reply to second question, I think this is a bug.

Reply to third question, companies may set up another DHCP Server on a server and disable the integrated DHCP in the router because there are a lot more functions on it(example: Windows Deployment Server, multiple scopes). You will know if you have used DHCP function on Windows Server. Sometimes a server with more than one NIC may also be used instead of a router.

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