Accessing Folders over VPN

[michael.reed@bhamalumni.o]

I am very new to VPN so please be patient!

We run MS Small Business Server 2008 on a Dell server with four Lenovo Windows 7 PCs on the network. I am trying to set up a VPN so I can access remotely - already have remote desktop but need VPN ultimately to access a database.

I have set up the VPN successfully, and after a long time trying to map a network drive, was referred to this forum and found a very helpful thread which told me to use the 'run' dialogue box to search for the internal IP address of the server. I have done this and found all the shared folders and seen how any of them can be mapped. So far so good.

However:

We use Sharepoint on the server for documents, and I can map network drives from the office PCs direct to the sharepoint folders by using the protocol \\companyweb\shared documents. However, this protocol does not work from the 'run' dialogue box over the VPN even if preceded by the IP address, and searching the shared folders dosn't produce a result either.

Can anyone tell me how to access the sharepont folders?

Many thanks

Mike

 

[Mr. Rant]

Hi,

Can you access the server via the IP address of the server when connected to the VPN? or Ping it?

It could be a permissions issue, I have a NAT device on my network and have no problem seeing it, I will attempt to run a sharepoint on my network to see if I can replicate your issue, however as everyone's network setup is different it may not replicate it.

I would look at whether the permissions are correct on the server firstly.

 

[michael.reed@bhamalumni.o]

Yes, I can access the server using the IP address and the Run dialogue box, and all the shared folders on the Server show up. However, the sharepoint folders are not visible on the Server even when logging on to the server locally and I have only ever been able to access them by mapping a network drive using the \\companyweb protocol from a desktop - I discovered this because someone cleverer than me had set up one of the desktops this way and I copied it to others. Therefore I can't check permissions. Mike

 

[netware5]

In order to use some of the Windows services your VPN should be in "bridged" mode, i.e. you should tunnel Ethernet frames not IP packets. What kind of VPN you had settled?