SBS 2003: Remote Connection Manager connection vs. manually created PPTP connection?

Hi --

What functionality/benefits does the "Connect to Small Business Server"
connection created by the Remote Connection Manager give me over a regular
PPTP tunnel to the same server?

The immediately obvious differences between these two connection methods are
that the Remote Connection Manager connection allows for fewer
modifications. And a connection made through the RCM seems to route _all_
traffic through the SBS box. This is something I can control on a manually
created PPTP connection that I seem to have no control over on the RCM
connection. I don't really want a user connecting from home and checking her
Hotmail account to route that traffic back and forth through the office SBS
box ...

Thanks,
CL

 

Hi,

A regular PPTP tunnel is the same as the RCM in SBS.

If you need to , create your own connection setup file manually using the
CMAK and place it in the same place as the one from the RCM wizard
(C:\inetpub\wwwroot\something)

Regards,

MAtt

 

Hello Charles,

Thank you for posting here.

According to your description, my understanding is that:

You have a concern about the difference between the "Connect to Small
Business Server" connection that is created by the SBSpackage.exe and the
manually created PPTP connections.

If I have misunderstood the problem, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Based on my research, there are no distinguished difference between both of
them. Connection Manager provides a customized remote access client so the
remote uers can connect to SBS network using connection features
predefined. This provide a simplification practice to distribute connects
to a large amount users. The "Connect to Small Business Server" connection
created by SBS is just a customized connection generated by SBS to fit for
most SBS scenarios.

As you noticed, by default the SBSpackage.exe will create a VPN connection
with 0.0.0.0 as the default gateway (default route). In the other word, all
traffic will be routed to the SBS server (VPN server) even when the user
access the resource on Internet. Meanwhile, it defaults to use PPTP
protocol. You can manually modify the remote.cms in Documents and
Settings\<username>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Cm\remote\ that contains the connection
settings.

Do not use default gateway on remote network (Same as uncheck the box "Use
default gateway on remote network" in the Advanced TCP/IP settings dialog
box), open the remote.cms file and change Gateway_On_Remote
from 1 to 0.

[TCP/IP&Connect to Small Business Server Tunnel]
Gateway_On_Remote=1
to
[TCP/IP&Connect to Small Business Server Tunnel]
Gateway_On_Remote=0

However, please note it is based on the client side. Other clients that run
the SBSpackage.exe will still use default gateway on remote network. As you
noticed, you also can manually create a VPN connection on the client side
with the option "Use default gateway on remote network" unselected in the
Advanced TCP/IP settings dialog box.

For your reference:

Connection Manager Administration Kit
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739464.aspx

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me
know.




Best regards,

Miles Li

Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support

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