Running into a weird issue when connecting to work VPN from home

ppilot

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
99
So about a two months ago i installed a Netgear router with built in VPN support to allow our offsite employees connect up our Accounting System's database file (the program requires a mapped network drive). For the most part setup was really easy as employees were able to connect up with the mapped drive with no issues from pretty much anywhere.

The weird thing I am running into is that when I bring my laptop home, I can seemingly connect up with the VPN with no issues but cannot connect with the mapped network drives. I've had no issues with connecting at our off-site location along with a couple different coffee shops so there must be something on my home network causing the problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
What's the error?
Can you ping the server hosting the share?
Can you access it via UNC?
 
The error is just getting notified that I can't connect to the mapped network drive. Stupid question but How do I ping something that is on the VPN? Also what is UNC?
 
Sounds like you (or the business) need proper IT support.
You should still be able to ping the server hosting the share; or at least get the hostname resolved to an IP assuming all DNS is working properly. Ping hostname/server name.
UNC (Universal Naming Convention) would be \\servername\sharename
 
Split tunnel is the #1 vpn configuration problem, make sure you account for that.

I would not use netgear for a real business, especially not one that has an "accounting system database" with more than a couple hundred bucks in it, or handles PII, medical info or anything of that nature. Might be time for your company to get serious about IT before they learn the hard way.
Actually, I would not use a netgear router with the default firmware for anything.
 
Sounds like you (or the business) need proper IT support.
You should still be able to ping the server hosting the share; or at least get the hostname resolved to an IP assuming all DNS is working properly. Ping hostname/server name.
UNC (Universal Naming Convention) would be \\servername\sharename

Unfortunately I am it and that's not changing. I am really pushing to move to a cloud based ERP as it would solve a ton of security and logistics issues.

Naming convention is the standard Company (\\SERVER\Peachtree) (Z:) As for pinging the host, I won't be able to test that until I get home.

Split tunnel is the #1 vpn configuration problem, make sure you account for that.

I would not use netgear for a real business, especially not one that has an "accounting system database" with more than a couple hundred bucks in it, or handles PII, medical info or anything of that nature. Might be time for your company to get serious about IT before they learn the hard way.
Actually, I would not use a netgear router with the default firmware for anything.

I 100% agree as this is basically a stopgap until we hopefully move to cloud based ERP within the next six months or so. I would love to spend more money on the IT side, but to say the owner is cheap is an understatement (pretty small company).
 
I'll venture that you don't have an internal DNS server at the office and that your network is flat. Connect to your shares via ip address instead of name ie \\10.1.1.2\Peachtree.
 
What is the internal IP range at work? What is your internal IP range at home? If they are the same, say 192.168.0.0/24, or partially overlap, you will have problems. If they do overlap, just change your home range to something like 10.20.30.0/24.
 
Back
Top