[AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN

Jim Dettman jimdettman at earthlink.net
Thu Feb 6 13:24:01 CST 2003


John,

<<I assume though that actual remote access requires Win2K Server?>>

  No.  For example, I have a client right now with a mix of Win 95, Win 98,
and Win 2000 stations in a peer to peer setup and I connect to any or all
fine.

  A VPN simply gives you a physical connection to the network.  Best way to
think of it is that you can/would do the same thing just as if you were
sitting there in the office.

Jim Dettman
President,
Online Computer Services of WNY, Inc.
(315) 699-3443
jimdettman at earthlink.net

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John W. Colby
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 2:09 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN


Jim,


John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 1:40 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN


John,

<<If my customer only has Microsoft Windows 2000 (non-server) can I still
set up
a VPN with them?>>

  Yes, you can still setup a VPN.  VPN's are implemented with a router
and/or Firewall, which simply gets you a connection to the network.  More
and more, this is all in one box.  Something like Netgears FVL328 or a Cisco
800.

Jim Dettman
President,
Online Computer Services of WNY, Inc.
(315) 699-3443
jimdettman at earthlink.net

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John Skolits
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 12:06 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN


Jim,

To set up the VPN, doesn't the VPN server require Windows 2000 'Server'? If
my customer only has Microsoft Windows 2000 (non-server) can I still set up
a VPN with them?

John Skolits


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 11:25 AM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN



  I just went through this with a client where I setup a VPN between two of
their offices.  They hate the slowdown when the drive is mapped, so I gave
them batch files to map/unmap the drive as needed as the connection is only
for occasional use.

  And yes, it's the best way in the world to support clients.  I have quite
a few now setup this way and it really speeds things up.

Jim Dettman
President,
Online Computer Services of WNY, Inc.
(315) 699-3443
jimdettman at earthlink.net

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John W. Colby
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 11:14 AM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN


Drew,

You DA MAN!!!

The first part worked like a dream, net use.

The second part has too much stuff that needs an example for me to
understand.

rasdial MyVPNName UserName Password /domain:VPN'sRemoteDomainName

I'm assuming MyVPNName is what I call the connection on my machine - in this
case "Virtual Private Connection Beacon",
UserName Password  I understand

/domain:VPN'sRemoteDomainName though is not specific enough to figure out
(for me anyway)
/domain I assume is the 64.252.xxx.xxx stuff.

What is :VPN'sRemoteDomainName?  There is no domain, it is all A2K desktop.
I'm guessing the workgroup is "Workgroup" since that is the normal default.

However, in the end (after playing around) ... it seems all I need is

rasdial MyVPNName

I have to guess that all of those other params are already in the connection
widget that gets called.

I now have a batch file that looks like:

rasdial "Virtual Private Connection Beacon"
net use W: \\192.168.0.10\Database

That starts the VPN connection and maps the drive for me.

A second batch file:

net use w: /DELETE
rasdial "Virtual Private Connection Beacon" /disconnect

unmaps the drive and disconnects the VPN connection.

HOLY CRAP!  Is this cool or what?

DREW'S DA MAN! DREW'S DA MAN! DREW'S DA MAN! DREW'S DA MAN!

Ok, I got a bit carried away there, but it really was a PITA to have that
mapped drive there that wasn't real, slowing everything down.  And now I
know how to map my server stuff as well.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Drew Wutka
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 1:26 AM
To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com'
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN


Okay, a simple solution would be to make two batch files.

Have one batch file setup the network drive, and one to kill the network
drive.

To setup the network drive: (first line removes substitution)

subst T: /D
net use T: \\computername\sharename

To kill the network mapping:

net use T: /DELETE
subst T: C:\MyLocalTDrive

(MyLocalTDrive would be a folder in the root of your C: Drive)

Now you could probably get fancy, and write a routine that keeps checking
for the existance of the VPN network, but I think just putting those two
sets of lines into two simple batch files would be a simple AND easy
solution.

You can even go a bit further if you want.  If you have RAS turned on for
Windows 2000, it allows you to use command line 'dialing' for a VPN
connection.

To connect to a VPN source:

rasdial MyVPNName UserName Password /domain:VPN'sRemoteDomainName

To Disconnect:
rasdial MyVPNName /disconnect

If those work, you could just have two batch files to start and stop your
VPN connection.

Drew

-----Original Message-----
From: John W. Colby [mailto:jcolby at colbyconsulting.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 11:14 PM
To: AccessD
Subject: [AccessD] OT: Mapped drive on VPN


Guys, I have a VPN setup to allow me to Remote Access into a client's
system.. Works great, highly recommended.

I also have a mapped drive on the client's system.  using that, whenever I
have the VPN connection going I can drag and drop from my hard disk to the
client's hard disk.  Also works well except... if I don't have the VPN up,
it wreaks havoc with many different things.  Basically any time that Windows
goes out to "scan" for available media, I have to endure a timeout.  This
means when any File Find dialog opens and I click the combo at the top to
display the hard disks... 10 (or more) seconds while it figures out it can't
see that drive.  IEs "autocomplete" in the address bar doesn't work any more
etc.

My question is, is there any way, using scripting or otherwise, to set up
something like a batch file to create the mapped drive.  This would allow me
to unmap the drive whenever I am not connected, the connect and remap the
drive whenever I want to connect to that client using the VPN.

I like the mapped drive and drag and drop from here to there soooo much I am
very hesitant to disable it, but it is a major PITA to endure the problems
whenever the VPN is not active.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com


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