Hi,

One of our remote users has consistent reliabilities issues when working from home. Historically he has used an 8mb BT ADSL line and Windows Vista laptop. The VPN setup is via built-in Windows VPN client connecting to an internal Windows Server 2003 using RRAS (Routing and Remote Access). He complains of frequent disconnects and reconnection attempts.

Before Christmas we switched him to Virgin Media and he said it had improved, although not completely. He still suffers disconnections.

The laptop will be changed to something running Windows 7. But I need some recommendations about the most reliable method of VPN. Here are my requirements & questions:

1. Would a site-to-site (Draytek-to-Draytek) VPN be more reliable than a software VPN?

2. Can a site-to-site VPN split tunnel? (ie. web traffic to ISP, work traffic to VPN)?

3. Would load balancing Virgin and BT ADSL (into a Draytek 2820n) work with a site-to-site VPN? Are they any likely problems doing this?

4. Anything else I should consider/be looking at?

Thanks

Mike.

ad 1) I really didn`t found that dratek vpn is more reliable than software vpn.
If it was working well for software VPN - draytek was also running well ...
I have made few Cisco Vpn networks and I must say: they were rock solid. Nothing had happend in 2 years !

ad 2)yes it can, its really a matter of routing table routes.

ad 3)can`t help you with that - haven`t use lb in draytek.

ad 4) Couple of routers ( i found it on 5500 and 2930, I saw also post of people saying that they have same problems on 28xx) have NOW problems with VPN connections - disconections ofter couple minutes / seconds. It is after newest firmware ... Hope that patch will came out soon. So better wait a bit before buying vigor scritly for vpn trtaffic.

Hope it help !

re 2) It doesn't really have anything to do with you setting up routing tables. The Draytek does this automatically for you in the background. In the Draytek VPN set up there is a check box (unchecked by default) "Change default route to this VPN tunnel". Set like this you have a split tunnel. If you check the box all traffic goes through the VPN.

re 4) the old 2900 and 2910 series are rock solid but speed limited to 15-20 Mbps if you have a fast line.

Thanks NJH,

Re 4)

I noticed the 2910 has dual WAN ports. How would this work with an ADSL line? Would I need an ADSL modem (such as the Vigor 120) as well?

If so, I would prefer an all-in-one, such as the 2820n, but the reviews/experiences I read on this forum are mixed.

Any 2820 users out there care to comment on 2820-to-2820 (site-to-site) VPN reliability? (using Virgin or ADSL?)

Thanks

PS: On another note, this user has persistent connection problems with his Virgin broadband, but I'll post this as a separate discussion in the 'General' section of this forum. Interesting ping results confirm there is a problem.

If you use ADSL you would need an ADSL modem as well. From what I've seen on these forums, if you want the best speed, I'd keep clear of the Draytek modems.

From these forums some people are happy with their 2820 VPN's but I'll let them post. If you plan to use the more secure IPSec VPN's ignore any comments about PPTP VPN's.