VPN between PC and Netgear FVS318 problem

Hi all,

I am trying to get a VPN connection working between a Windows XP SP3 machine and a Netgear Prosafe VPN Firewall model FVS318v3.

I have set up the VPN on the firewall using the wizard which is very straight forward if you wish it to be connectable from any machine. I have set up many VPN connections on these firewalls, but only between another netgear firewall.

Now when I use the standard windows facility to create a VPN connection it simply doesn't work.

I have tried using an IPSec Client Software called SSH Sentinel v1.3 to no avail.

Is this at all possible to do between such a firewall and a PC, if so may I ask how.

Many thanks.

 

I presume you are trying to connect to the router from the internet. If so, is the router's IP address static?

 

Yes over the internet, and yes the router has been given a static IP address as well as the machine having a static IP address.

 

Has that static IP address been assigned by your ISP?

Does it start with one of the following: 192.168, or 10. ? If so that's not a valid external IP.

The firewall needs a static public external address. The client shouldn't need a static external IP, but will work with one.

Also be aware that if the client is behind a NAT router, that can mess up the VPN connection because NAT effectively repackages the network packets and thereby messes up the VPN encapsulation.

Also looking at the web site for this device:

http://www.netgear.com/Products/VPNandSSL/WiredVPNFirewallRouters/FVS318G.aspx

It specifies using a dedicated VPN client software. It might be worth trying to connect with that first.