Cisco PIX 501 VPN w/out WINS

I am having a huge problem here. I am using a cisco pix 501 for the firewall and router on a network with about 20 machines, all windows xp home. I need to configure a vpn that will work without wins or a server (my company should be the king of lowballers). I have read tech docs on cisco tac and it states that IPSec dosen't encapsulate NetBios traffic. The only other two options i have is PPTP and L2TP. I have a static IP and dns servers. I am able to connect fine and ping fine but cannot see any of the computers on the inside interface. Is there anything i can do to get around the wins server. Please any info would be greatly appreciated, i have spent countless hours on this already. Thanks.

 

Here are a couple of things to consider. Is Netbios over TCP/IP enabled? You could map shares using ip addresses and then there is the never fail host file. Ponder those and meanwhile Ill try and find it in my CCNA book.

 

Thanks very much for helping me out. Its nice to hear another voice on this.

I do have NetBios over TCP/IP enabled on all the computers. Also I tried to add a network place using the IP address, works inside but not outside (do I need to map the locations while on the inside first?)

I am not familiar with using a host file, is there a site i can visit with some info on this that you know of.

Thanks again.

 

Hello again, Im apoligize for the delay. I have been in a class to all hours of the night all week. The host file is a built in windows function that can reduce dns searches all together. (more of less) In a nut shell it is located here. C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc it will not have an extension but is editable in notepad. Normally windows goes through a series of checks before it acually tries to reach out and gather data. The first step is its own cache, the second is it looks at the host file. It is used to map IP addresses to host names. What that means is you could add the ip address to all your favorite web sites and your computer would no longer need to pass that request on to the DNS server to resolve, for it would have the IP locally and speed up surfing. (side note-- Hackers use this to spoof your web surfing and direct you to *their* site as oposed to the ligit one without you knowing). Two things that concern me. 1. If you are using DHCP on the network you are trying to get to that host trick will not work due to the changing IP's on your network. The second one is it just might not work with a VPN. I just finished CCNA last month but I do not remember them covering that issue specifically. But like I said I will look it up and let you know.

BTW. if you do a google on * host file * you will find all kinds of usefull information on it and possibly a better explanation.

 

Thanks, that worked. I still cannot see any computers in my network places but after listing ip addresses and names in the host file i was able to map a shared folder to the name or ip. Thanks again.

 

Great, I'm glad that worked out. I just happened to ask my MCSE Buddies today about your specific problem. What they proposed was to use the LMhost file instead of the Host file and even better to mirror them. Again, they highly recommended using the LMhost for it is specifically used to map netbios names to IP addresses instead of the host which maps computer names to IP addresses. It is located in the same directory as the host and has instuctions in the file itself on how to configure it. With the LMhost I believe you will have better results.

good luck