second host route through vpn

Hello
I need another helping hand on a networking project. I have a remote office connecting via a pptp vpn xp pro is pptp client. One workstation connected to adsl NOT behind nat router/firewall.
I need a second host device to route through the vpn connection,this is a networked tcp/ip time clock. Is there a way I can add a second nic to the workstation (xp pro) and have the device route through the vpn.

 

I'm a little unclear as to what you want. Where is the network clock device; at the remote office or on your main network? Are you trying to make a network clock in your branch office accessible to nodes on your main network, or is there a clock on the main network that the remote PC needs to access.

In most circumstances, if you wish to connect more than one PC to an ADSL connection, the best solution is to use an ADSL router. Many ADSL routers will support VPN (either passing encrypted packets through the NAT {not a trivial task} or acting as a VPN endpoint - effectively giving you a network to network VPN tunnel).

Routing through an XP PC so that it effectively acts as a router/VPN gateway isn't an horrendous task, but rarely works as well as a hardware router and is more difficult to set up.

However, if all you need to pass through the XP box is accurate time, it may be easier to set it up as an NTP time server/relay. Search XP help system for "NTP" and have a look at "Net Time ". The inbuilt XP NTP works quite well. If you need something more meaty there are third party NTP apps you can use.

 

sorry for the confusion

Sorry for the poor explanation.
The device is a biometric time clock for employees to clock in. It supports multiple readers at multiple locations through a vpn. It has a master network appliance that sits on the lan at the main office. I already vpn through a simple pptp from a remote office. So I need to put a reader at the remote office. The reader connects directly to the lan. I was hoping there would be a way to keep my pptp setup as is. Will a linksys router act as a pptp client?

 

OK. That makes sense.

I think you'll will find it hard to find a router that will act as an end point to a PPTP pipe. They tend to be set up for IPSEC tunnels nowadays. However, PPTP as well as being less secure than well configured IPSEC is also more forgiving as far as NAT is concerned.

I think you'll find that if you install a router, you'll be able to set up two pipes, one for each PC; that is both PCs in the remote office will each be able to open up their own PPTP pipes to the main network connecting over the router link.

That is as long as the pipe is initially set up by the branch office. If you are in the branch office and from there "dial-in "* to head office via a VPN connection. That won't be a problem over a router. You'll be able to do it from either PC.

However, if you need to initiate the pipe from the main office (so the remote PC acts as the VPN server), then I think it will be tricky to set it up so that you can connect to both computers without messing around with customer ports. You're best bet then is to see if your ISP will give you mulitple IPs, and then don't use NAT. Each PC will have a public IP address (and will have to be firewalled appropriately).

*I use the term dial-in loosely here. Of course over ADSL you do not have to dial-in each connection. Similarly ADSL modems don't modulate/demodulate.