I am trying to use Connection Manager to create a connection that can be
used to log on to the SBS network, and view a web site hosted on our
intranet. The site is up and running and operates correctly when I am at a
locally connected machine.
I can connect successfully through the connection created by CM, but this is
the point at which I am stumped. How, now, do I access resources on the SBS
network?
Right now the intranet site is in development and has not been added to DNS
(I think that is the proper terminology), so when I am onsite, I connect
using http://[serverHostname]:[port].
Connected remotely, I have tried a variety of things, such as browsing to
http://[serverHostname]:[port], http://[serverHostname], http://companyweb,
http://[serverIP], http://[serverIP]:[port], \\[serverHostname],
\\[serverHostname]\[sharename], \\[serverIP] etc., as well as looking in My
Network Places, but never reach any of our network resources. (Although it
is the intranet web browsing that ultimately needs to work, I would be
satisfied just to see some hosts or file shares just to confirm that the
connection is working...) The account I am connecting with at this point is
in the Administrators group, so I wouldn't think permissions are at issue.
The offsite computer which I am using to connect is a Win2k server, patched
to SP4, but with no updates beyond that. (I am running some older software
and have had problems in the past with over-patching breaking it, so I
installed a minimum of updates for the moment.) Active directory is not
installed.
I am an application developer and casually familiar with Windows Networking,
but it is not my area of expertise. I should be able to figure this out
with a hint or two in the right direction, though.
Thank you!
-TRS
"Mark" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1C3F1F3F-358F-4C8E-BB73-F249606B23A1@microsoft.com...
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your response!
Some background, by the way: the ultimate goal here is to allow one of our
partners to be able to connect via VPN and use this intranet ASP.Net site to
look up some things in our database. I am currently trying to test and
document a proven setup method for this which I can then pass on to their IT
department.
While in the process of writing this reply, I made some significant
progress. You may want to skip down to where it says "BIG UPDATE"!
I'm not positive, but I would assume the latest. "Windows Server 2003 for
SBS" is what it says on the login screen. This installation, including the
server itself, is less than two months old.
Yes. It's a small network; the SBS server is the main server, and there are
about 5-6 workstations. I just remembered there is also an NT4 server
connected, to provide access to an old app that wouldn't migrate properly.
(But based on what I discovered in "big update" and the fact that I never
even had an account on the NT4 server, I tend to doubt that is what's
complicating things.)
I am not sure on the answer to the first two questions. When I say "VPN" I
am talking about the "Connect to Small Busines Server" connection which was
automatically created in Network & Dial-Up Connections when I ran the
"sbspackage.exe" file (which I got from "Download Connection Manager" in my
Remote Web Workplace.) It appears to offer nothing relevant in the way of
configurability. I heard someone else refer to this as "VPN" but I'm not
sure if it is a VPN in the true sense.
The connection appears to be PPP, according to the connection status
dialog's Details tab.
Wow... yes!
Yes.
A funny thing about this is that in the connection status dialog, it lists
the Server IP as 192.168.5.19, but in IPCONFIG, it lists the DNS server as
192.168.5.8. I thought these would be the same... Not sure if this is a
clue... The .8 IP is the "general" IP of the server; the one I would use if
I was trying to ping it on the LAN. I'm not sure what the .19 represents.
BIG UPDATE!
Just now, while connected, when I tried to navigate to either .8 or .19 by
typing \\[ip]\c$ in Windows Explorer, it prompted me to login, saying I had
an incorrect password or username. When I was testing this yesterday, it
was just giving me the "Windows cannot find X" dialog, but I think this may
be because I was trying all those multiple methods of connecting, in quick
succession. (For the record, the Internet connection at the office is DSL
and kind of slow.)
When I provided my login info, the first couple of times (or possibly just
the first time for each IP), it gave me the "Windows cannot find" dialog,
but on my second attempt, it did allow me to connect to c$! I was able to
connect on both .8 and .19 and they did show the same drive.
Once I was connected, the Windows Explorer folder tree did expand to show
\My Network Places\Entire Network\Microsoft Windows
Network\[domain]\[ip]\c$, however, if I just open Windows Explorer and try
to browse their in the folder tree, it times out and gives me the "X is not
accessible" dialog before I see any results. (Not that this really matters,
other than this is how I usually go about exploring an unfamiliar network.)
Unfortunately, when I try the various http addresses, I still get "The page
cannot be displayed". This may be just because I am not typing the right
thing, but being relatively new at IIS config, I am not sure. If, when
connected locally, I type "http://[serverHostname]:[port]" to connect to the
website, then shouldn't http://[ip]:[port] work right now? It doesn't...
And that's where things start to get a bit over my head...
FYI the website is currently configured to allow anonymous access to
simplify development/testing, but when we go into production with this I
would prefer to only allow authenticated access.
I hope this gives you a better picture of the situation.
It definitely has, and is much appreciated! If you ever think I can help
with anything involving .Net/SQL/Office development, (or for that matter
audio/video production), please do not hesitate to send me an email!
Thank you!
-TRS
