Re: Netgear FVS318 VPN connection

[Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter

I don't know NetGear - we use a LinkSys VPN router. Usually there's a log 
on the router, probably accessible through a browser.

Setting up a W2K or XP IP Security policy is one of the worst, most 
frustrating exercises I know of. If you don't click on all the right 
circles and squares and other arcane weirdness, nothing works. You might 
also go to LinkSys' site and find the downloads for their VPN router - that 
manual has an extensive section on setting this up. When I follow every 
step very carefully, sometimes it works.  :-(

But when I have set one up, getting the 'Negotiating...' statuses is normal 
for the first attempt--it's how I establish the connection--then the next 
attempts at connecting (FTP, NetServer, etc.) should work without comment. 
Try a telnet in a command prompt after your ping. Also, see if the router 
is set up not to respond to ping. This will not stop the VPN connection but 
may confuse you when you get no other response.

If that does not work, you maybe should review your policy setup, maybe 
remove the one you have and start over. But check the log on the router, if 
you can.

I much prefer a separate client - I use SSH Sentinel - don't know if you 
can find a freely-usable copy anymore - it is quite stable and easy to set up.

HTH

Vern

At 10:03 PM 9/28/2003 -0700, you wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm on W2K Pro trying to connect to a customer through my LinkSys BEFSR41 to
> their Netgear FVS318 router which should let me see their LAN and their
> iSeries.
>
> I'm totally unfamiliar with this stuff, so I followed the instructions I
> downloaded from Netgear for setting up an IP Security policy on W2K to
> communicate with their router.  This is new to the LAN guy on the other end
> too, so we're stumbling over terminology among other things.
>
> At the moment, when I attempt to ping their iSeries's LAN IP address, I get
> 4 reponses of Negotiating IP Security, which I take as a good sign.  However
> there's no sign it reached the Netgear router.
>
> Has anyone done this?  Is there a Netgear forum for it somewhere?  Any and
> all help appreciated.
>
> Peter Dow
> Dow Software Services, Inc.
> 909 793-9050 voice
> 909 793-4480 fax
> 909 522-3214 cell