Is this possible?

Shlouski

VIP Member
My goal is to setup a lan that friends can dial into, so we can file share and do some lan gaming. I have some knowledge about networking, so I've be able to get connections logging on to my Windows server 2008 r2 machine, but is it possible to get the server to forward subnet data between computers in my lan and computers over the internet? Or is it possible to log all users onto the server and have it act like a router relaying all the data between those computers?
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
If you're just talking about sharing files then yeah it should be. I could probably clumsily figure it out if I had it in front of me but this is a question @beers can probably handle better than anyone.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
It's Windows server, even though I understand a lot of the terminology and have a reasonable understanding about networking, I can't get my head around how this Windows works. I can setup a file server no problem, but when I come to the remote access, the ip routes and how I'm supposed to have this machine configured in the network, I'm lost. Am I supposed to have this server between my lan and wan or can all the machines just connect to the wan as normal? I've found dhcp referenced I like 3 places, which one is for my lan and which are for the remote access pc's or do they do both, I'm confused, also it tells me I can't set the dhcp on because I haven't given them a static ip???????? Lol confused
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
What kind of routers and similar do you have? You'd generally put this on a vpn which could either roll ipsec on your edge or host an openvpn server that they connect to and you route toward.

You generally have to decide if it's always on like a traditional site to site or remote access with a client, what the VPN subnet will be, port forwarding VPN access and protocol passthrough like 50/esp. you'd also need a route statement from your router for the VPN IP space to the VPN server if you were hosting it like openvpn.

Some other utilities might be more convenient for you like hamachi
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
What kind of routers and similar do you have? You'd generally put this on a vpn which could either roll ipsec on your edge or host an openvpn server that they connect to and you route toward.

You generally have to decide if it's always on like a traditional site to site or remote access with a client, what the VPN subnet will be, port forwarding VPN access and protocol passthrough like 50/esp. you'd also need a route statement from your router for the VPN IP space to the VPN server if you were hosting it like openvpn.

Some other utilities might be more convenient for you like hamachi

Used Hamachi before, and I'm not a fan.

I have a cheapo tplink modem connected to a netgear r7000, and then a whole load of switches. Of course the modem is just supplying the netgear router with internet with all the ports forwarded and then I do all my routing on the netgear. For starters I'm not sure where to put the server in the link, I was hoping to just be able to connect it to the router, but I guess it may need to go between the router and the modem and if so do I need to be using 2 or 1 nic?

Is it not possible for clients to connect by say pptp and then configure the server to forward to different subnets and IP's?

Using the server connected straight to the lan and connecting clients over the internet via pptp, my router is able to give them an IP using DHCP and that gives me the ability to file share, but with the different subnets lan gaming isn't possible.
 

thewhiterabbit

New Member
While you may find yourself able to host a vpn server from home, most ISPs block these ports and services. Hamachi would be your best bet in the long run, as even port forwarding on you router will not open these ports that your ISP has blocked. If these ports are not blocked you can use OpenVPN but the best way to set up a VPN server is to install (flash) third party firmware on your router. Here is some information on your router and its flashing capabilities https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/netgear/netgear_r7000

However i want to stress that while if flashing does what you want, and you are successful, you will open a brand new world full of possibilities you did not know existed, i also want to warn you. If you attempt this and fail, your router is toast. No bringing it back. Do not attempt this if you don't have experience flashing the firmware of routers. It is very much like rooting an android phone. One mistake and you're out several hundred dollars.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
Ports are not a problem, they can all be opened and none are blocked by my isp. My main problem is a lack of understanding how to work windows server and what its capabilities are, as I can't find much information about on what I'm trying to do, its making me question if windows server is even capable of it. Setting up pptp and getting multiple clients connecting and sharing files is easy and needs very little configuring, the process of getting the server to forward packets across different subnets requires delving much deeper into how the OS and networking works. I'm sure I can figure out whether or not its possible, but I'd rather not spend hours lasting my time trying to do something windows server can't do.
 
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