VPN Issue Can't Connect To VPN Over Internet

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Level 1

4 points

VPN Issue Can't Connect To VPN Over Internet

Hi

I'm pretty new to Mac In general and too server osx... Ive done some work with pcs in the past but thats all behind me. So in the last year i've spent enough money with apple to buy a small compact car with low miles, lol. People tell me its the Apple tax. But Hey It works great so i have no problem spending a little extra cash to get something that actually works correctly. So far so good but I'm having an issue trying to create a VPN and connecting to it.

So I have created a VPN L2PT and PPTP on my Mac Pro, which holds and will serve my movies, pictures, and music. So while on my Mac Book Pro I can file surf away from my home network to find pictures, movies or music (I am a Itunes Match Customer too, its awesome and easy!). But I would like to be able to reach my home network for say when I'm at work, on the road, or even at a family members house.

It works just fine when i'm on my LAN at home, I can connect to my VPN (L2PT or PPTP) when I am on my LAN. I can see all my files i'm sharing and I can see the server, etc... works awesome very nice....

When I'm at a friends house or turn my wifi off on my ipad, ipad mini, or either my wifes or my Iphone 5 It will not connect.... So anytime I'm not connected to my lan I can no longer see my VPN or Connect.

Inside my airport extreme / time capsle 2tb (which is awesome also) I have configured the ports 1723 (PPTP) and 1701 (L2PT) to port forward to my server's IP address...

Ok So when i try and connect to my VPN over the internet with L2PT I get the message "Can not reach vpn L2Pt, server is unreachable" - Which I think I did read that the L2PT no longer supports connection threw the internet --- find that hard to believe but I gave a shot at making a PPTP VPN connection.

When tring to attempt to connect to my PPTP VPN via the internet or even local network I get the error "VPN Connection Authentication Failed"... if i change the server name to anything else that what is suppost to be i get can not reach server message, so i know i'm reaching the server just the authentication has failed so i'm lost and i'm ready to start pulling my hair out and getting upset, lol....

So please let me know what i should try next just need some help and if any other things i can try i would like to try them....

Thanks in advance!

Mac Pro, OS X Server

Posted on Nov 20, 2013 3:25 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Nov 20, 2013 8:00 PM in response to shmoody

The VPN service is known to be non-functional in this release. Unofficially, you can reinstate it by copying the file /usr/sbin/racoon from a 10.8 system. That's a comment, not a suggestion.

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Answer 2

Nov 20, 2013 8:04 PM in response to shmoody

You're on the right track. And yes, L2TP is still supported by the Internet!

It's possible you don't have all the right ports forwarded... or perhaps your ISP/modem is blocking certain ports...

What you might try is forwarding all ports (not really sure how that's done on an Airport) to see if it is in fact an issue with port forwarding.

I looked at just what ports I'm forwarding for VPN, and I remembered that I still have this very problem... But I know for a fact my problem is I'm not forwarding all the right ports (there's more than 1701, 1723 and 500, which are all I have), because I forwarded ALL ports in the known universe and VPN worked.

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Answer 3

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Nov 21, 2013 7:24 AM in response to shmoody

Regarding external VPN to your network, you will want to visit this Apple article. There's a setup of PPTP link in the article.

Basically, Apple is saying the resolution is to use PPTP (Directory accounts) for external VPN when coming in from a different NAT gateway. This does work when using my iPhone to VPN or using my MBP from a WiFi network outside of my LAN. I can use L2TP when I'm on my LAN (same NAT gateway).

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