[vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after standby

Jim Harle vpn at technicolor.com
Tue Jul 30 14:38:59 CDT 2013


Thanks David, just to make sure I understand:

- If one of the computer's network connection is broken, the router has to be reset before THAT computer can connect to VPN again - a different computer can VPN successfully
- Issue happens on both computers, not just one

My questions are:

- Are the computers wired or wireless to the router?
- Does the router terminate the Internet connection (connects to the broadband modem) ?  In other words, there is no other router/firewall in front of it (between the router in question and the Internet)
- Do you happen to know the VPN gateway device type (at the far end, for the company you're connecting to) ?

-----Original Message-----
From: David Wills [mailto:david.wills at primus.ca] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 9:02 AM
To: Harle Jim
Cc: vpn-help at lists.shrew.net
Subject: RE: [vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after standby

Jim

Tried force-rfc.  Same story.  Disconnects and won't reconnect without
rebooting router.

David Wills, P. Eng.
13 Sydenham St
Kingston ON K7L 3G8
david.wills at primus.ca
Office:   613-547-9767
Mobile:  613-893-2593

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Harle [mailto:vpn at technicolor.com] 
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 2:57 PM
To: David Wills
Cc: vpn-help at lists.shrew.net
Subject: RE: [vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after
standby

David,

Have you tried the Shrew NAT traversal setting at 'force-rfc' ?  I only ask,
as we've had success with that on problematic connections, when other
settings (including Cisco client) have failed.

-Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: David Wills [mailto:david.wills at primus.ca]
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 7:16 AM
To: Harle Jim
Cc: vpn-help at lists.shrew.net
Subject: RE: [vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after
standby

Jim

NAT traversal is set to Enable and the router is a TP Link 300 M TL WR1043N
and the VPN passthrough is enabled.

David Wills, 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Harle [mailto:vpn at technicolor.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2013 3:01 PM
To: David Wills
Cc: vpn-help at lists.shrew.net
Subject: RE: [vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after
standby

David - your issue smells, at least partially, like a PAT (port address
translation) issue.  Is NAT traversal set to "enable" in your Shrew client?
And regarding your router, what make/model is it, and if you have
configuration access to it, there is likely a setting called "VPN
passthrough" which should be enabled.

Just some thoughts,

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: vpn-help-bounces at lists.shrew.net
[mailto:vpn-help-bounces at lists.shrew.net] On Behalf Of David Wills
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2013 12:29 PM
To: 'Nikolaos Milas'; vpn-help at lists.shrew.net
Subject: Re: [vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after
standby

Nikolaos

I've experienced virtually the same problem and found the same solution.  If
I get disconnected for whatever reason involuntarily I have to reboot the
router.  I don't need to reboot the computer.  A little wrinkle is that I
have two computers on the same router set up with ShrewSoft and even if the
first one can't connect the second one can.

I have been going back and forth with ShrewSoft but haven't found another
solution.  I'm not technical but it's like a setting in the router sticks
for the first computer and can only be released by rebooting.  No idea what
that means in router jargon.

David Wills
 


-----Original Message-----
From: vpn-help-bounces at lists.shrew.net
[mailto:vpn-help-bounces at lists.shrew.net] On Behalf Of Nikolaos Milas
Sent: July-28-13 11:50 AM
To: vpn-help at lists.shrew.net
Subject: [vpn-help] Shrewsoft VPN Client not working properly after standby

Hi,

First of all, thanks for your great piece of software, which I have been
using for some years almost flawlessly. Keep up the good work.

Recently, I have started using a Dell laptop running Win 8 Pro 64 bit. 
It connects to a Cisco 3825 router running IOS v12.4(9)T2.

I am running Shrewsoft VPN Client v2.2.2 (Free Version).

The problem: If an established VPN Connection (over Ethernet, using UTP
cabling) is interrupted abnormally (i.e. not using an explicit -manual-
discconnect), then, the next time VPN is -explicitly, pressing the Connect
button- established (VPN seems to be established without issues), no
Internet access is available (except local, on my home private network; I am
on a DSL line.) Neither usual Internet access is possible, nor VPN access to
our Org internal network. Pinging to known public IP addresses does not work
either - so it's not a DNS problem.

The situation (i.e. Shresoft VPN Client effectively not working any
more) cannot be resolved in any way, except by rebooting the machine. I have
tried restarting the Shrewsoft VPN Client, disabling and re-enabling the
Ethernet connection, but nothing works.

This is a consistent, reproducible problem. It usually happens when the
laptop is put to Standby mode by closing the lid, while VPN is active. 
If I manually disconnect before Standby, then, after Standby VPN Client
works fine to establish a new connection. If I forget to disconnect
manually, it will need a reboot for the VPN Client to work correctly.

The same happens if Ethernet connection (physically) drops temporarily while
the VPN link is active. VPN appears to be up (by the way, I would expect
Shrewsoft VPN Client to understand the outage and drop the connection
automatically); If I attempt to manually Disconnect an Connect again, I find
myself in the above situation (VPN Client connecting but not working).

Client Configuration Details:

    Adapter mode is "Virtual adapter and assigned address" (Auto
    Address/Netmask), MTU 1380, Auto Config: ike config pull,
    Options: [NAT Traversal: enable, Port 4500, Keep-alive: 15 sec, IKE
    Fragm.: enable, Max packet size: 540 Bytes, Enable Dead Peer
    Detection, Enable ISAKMP Failure Notifications, Enable Client Login
    Banner],
    Authentication method is "Mutual PSK + XAuth", with ID Type: Key
    Identifier, Key ID string, (Remote ID: ID Type: Any) and
    Credentials: Pre-Shared Key.

No visible errors. "ipconfig" command output does not show any difference
between when (VPN is connected and) VPN is working and actually NOT working.

The same problem was occurring with v2.2.1 (which I had initially tried on
the same laptop).

Please advise on how this can be resolved.

Thanks and regards,
Nick

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