Lan to Lan VPN IPSEC Tunnel Help

[i8theburger]

I am using two Linksys WRV200 routers and I am setting up two small offices to connect to one another. The routers are connected and the tunnel says it is working. I can ping the routers from the opposite end with success. I can ping computers from the opposite end with success. However, I cannot get the two networks to talk through Windows so I am unable to share folders and printers, etc. Help please.

WRV200 - Location 1
Router IP: 192.168.1.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Workstations on DCHP: 192.168.1.100~110

WRV200 - Location 2
Router IP: 192.168.2.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Workstations on DCHP: 192.168.2.100~110


I have PC's using Win XP home, Win XP Pro, and one using Vista Home.

[johnwill]

Are you able to ping by NAME, not just by IP address?

Let's see this for the computers on each end.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following two commands:

NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[i8theburger]

From Location 2

Using a WindowsVistaHome machine:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\John>NBTSTAT -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.2.100] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
JOHN-OFFICE <00> UNIQUE Registered
JOLLYGIANT <00> GROUP Registered
JOLLYGIANT <1E> GROUP Registered
JOHN-OFFICE <20> UNIQUE Registered

C:\Users\John>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : John-Office
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : linksys

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : linksys
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-FC-68-C6-82
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::35da:8af2:bc5f:6b61%8(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.100(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : February-21-08 11:00:28 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : February-22-08 11:00:28 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 201333756
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e66:3cb6:15f1:b9bd:ffc3(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3cb6:15f1:b9bd:ffc3%10(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 6TO4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : linksys
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.2.100%14(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\John>

[i8theburger]

And no, cannot ping by name.

From Location 1:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.



C:\Documents and Settings\Sacha>nbtstat -n



Wireless Network Connection:

Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.102] Scope Id: []



NetBIOS Local Name Table



Name Type Status

---------------------------------------------

NADELYOFFICE <00> UNIQUE Registered

NADELYOFFICE <20> UNIQUE Registered

JOLLYGIANT <00> GROUP Registered

JOLLYGIANT <1E> GROUP Registered

JOLLYGIANT <1D> UNIQUE Registered

..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered



Local Area Connection:

Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []



No names in cache



C:\Documents and Settings\Sacha>ipconfig /all



Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : nadelyoffice

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : no.shawcable.net



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : no.shawcable.net

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : D-Link WDA-2320 Desktop Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-5B-76-AE-D0

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.102

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. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 21, 2008 3:10:33

AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 22, 2008 3:10:33 AM





Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adap

ter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-6C-34-44-03



C:\Documents and Settings\Sacha>

[johnwill]

I've never used these routers, so I'm not sure what to suggest. Do the instructions say you can use a different subnet on each end of the connection? That would make sense, OTOH, the VPN router would have to do the translation to allow a full connection.

[i8theburger]

So I just got off the phone with Linksys. I had called them 10 days ago before I started researching this myself and I have been awaiting a callback, which was promised to happen within 1 hour (ha ha), and anyways I decided to wait no longer.
So, here is the deal. I am using firmware 1.0.32.2 on both WRV200s. This firmware does not support NetBIOS. NetBIOS is required to broadcast the networks back and forth and that is on reason why I cannot browse and find networks, and also why I cannot ping by computer name.
The main problem I was having is Windows Firewalls on my machines. If I disable the firewall, I can connect with an IP address through the tunnel. So now my questions are:
1. Should I leave my Windows Firewalls disabled and rely on the router's firewall to protect me - thus allowing my VPN to function? Or should I try to open some ports between specific computers?
2. In order to successfully map drives by IP address, I will probably have to set up Static IP's to the workstations at both ends. Is there an risk to doing this?

Lastly, the Tech from Linksys is emailing me a Beta Firmware for my WRV200s that is not released yet that has NetBIOS and I will test that and report back how it works.

Thank you!

[johnwill]

You should be able to open the file/print sharing ports. There is no risk to using static IP addresses, and you can use entries in the HOSTS file to associate computer names to the IP addresses. This is a poor man's NETBIOS.