looking for a router that allows protocol gre 47.?

Question

Hi.
I am running a Windows 2003 server that i have setup as a VPN server behind a linksys WRT54GS router. I am able to conect to the VPN server when i am connected to the network physically, but unable to do so when connecting from the outside "from an other location". the process gets stuck on "verfiying user name and password".

In order to make the VPN server work. I would have to open the TCP port #1723 and the protocol GRE 47. I am able to open TCP 1723 using port forwarding, but unable to open the GRE 47. any Ideas? i am currently running the DD-wrt firmware on the router and had no luck with any firewall script i tried to open the protocol.

the questions i want answered are

is there away to trick the linksys router to allow the forward "without opening DMZ or disabling the firewall"?

is there an other router that allows this feature (looking for a simple and an inexpensive one)?

thanks

Answer 1

The Linksys routers don't handle GRE (Generic Route Encapsulation) VPN tunnels very well. Just doesn't happen and there's no way to trick it.



The only (cheap) router I can think off that would handle GRE tunneling would be an inexpensive Cisco 800 series. They're nice and reasonable on eBay.



Now rather than using GRE tunnels (These are so your VPN server and exchange routing updates with the other VPN peer), couldn't you just set up a regular IPSec/3DES tunnel between your VPN server and the head-end peer? You won't be able to route all of the remote networks through the VPN server but you'd be able to NAT all of the remote networks through the VPN server.



I guess it all depends on your needs.

Answer 2

Gre 47

Answer 3

I would start by ensuring that VPN pass through is enabled on your router. If that does not resolve the issue, I would look at upgrading the firmware to the version that was released on 3/20/2007. If that doesn't resolve it, I would look at the possibility of a third party software. I have read good things about OpenVPN.



Suggestion on a router... I am partial to the Cisco 871 or a Linksys WRV200. I hope this helps.