(REDONE) Networking Mages - HERE is a challenge READ THIS ONE FOLKS

[Matt Graham]

After a long battle with technology, Wayne Davis wrote:
> *On My Home Network Side:*
>  a M0n0wall APPLIANCE using a Wrap 2e board running the LATEST firmware
> update. It has a built-in PPTP VPN server that is enabled and allowing a
> authenticated user to pass ANY protocols to ANY LAN subnet on my network.

ARE you PIPING your output THROUGH "M-x zippy" in EMACS?

> *On The Portable:*
> Windows XP Home,

This might be part of the problem.  'DozeXP Home doesn't work well at all with 
that whole domain/workgroup thing IME.

> A second connectoid to connect to the VPN running PPTP VPN and TCP/IP,
> File & Print Share, Client For MS networks for protocols - NO LOCAL
> FIREWALLS. I CAN browse the web pages served from devices on my home network

TCP/IP and ICMP are working.  Great.

> I CAN_ click on: "My Network Places"-"Entire Network"-"Microsoft
> Windows Network" and see my workgroup name which is NOT "workgroup".
> HOWEVER, IF I click that workgroup name, expecting to see a list of
> machines that have MS shares on them. I get a long pause, then a error
> message: " XXXX is not accessible. You might not have permission...."

The "browsing SMB shares" implementation used in 'Doze relies at least 
partially on broadcast packets.  So you could probably get to //BORG/SHARE/ 
without a problem.  But depending on how the VPN is set up and how the 
machine tries to send those broadcast packets, browsing could fail miserably.  
If you were using OpenVPN instead of PPTP, I could tell you exactly what you 
need to do--use bridging mode, so that broadcasts will work.  (Or the FAQ 
page mentions running a WINS server behind the VPN if you need to use routing 
mode, but doesn't give that many details.)  The last time I did this, I think 
it worked, but I didn't have a 'Doze box I could test that particular problem 
out with.  I don't know how the PPTP thing handles bridging, so you'll have 
to read up on it.

> If I simply disconnect the Sprint thing, and connect the portable via
> the LAN jack using the SAME protocols.  I SEE what I expect to see.

Yep.  See above.

> */WHAT is wrong? /*

/* questions within comments not supported by this implementation
 * maybe in version 2.0 */

> A 2 hour call to Sprint 's level 2 support and ultimately their subject
> matter expert ultimately got this reply: " We Don't know"   Which, was a
> honest answer from them, and WAYYYYY beyond their normal scope.

They're a telco.  They don't know anything about things like SMB.

-- 
   "Oh bother," said the Borg, "We've assimilated Pooh."
   --MHR on alt.fan.pratchett
  My blog and resume: http://crow202.dyndns.org:8080/wordpress/
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see