VPN and Airport Extreme (802.11n)

Thanks sullust...this solved the IP assigning issue for me and I can now connect to my work VPN on that laptop. Thanks!

Works out of the box for me with Cisco VPN client ver 4.9.0.1

I just bought one of these new units and am experiencing the same problems mentioned by a number of people: I can not connect to my work via VPN (Nortel). I've tried everything, but nothing short of plugging directly into the cable modem works. The old Airport Exptreme (g) this unit replaced worked fine. Seems like Apple nees to adress this fix in a hurry.

iMac Intel 24 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Airport Extreme n, MacBook Pro Core 2 duo, Laptop PC XP

Did you try setting the default host for your Airport Extreme to be the ip address of the machine you are trying to connect to the VPN from? A number of people (myself included) have found that this allowed us to connect to the VPN via the Nortel client.

Apple still needs to fix the underlying problem of course...

This solution- using 10.0.1.253- did resolve the Nortel/VPN issue for me as well.

Thanks!

I'm still hoping for a more 'elegant' solution, but, in the interim, it works.

"setting the default host for your Airport Extreme to be the ip address of the machine you are trying to connect to the VPN from.."

That would not work for me. I have two machines that use VPNs (sometimes at the same time).

Yep. It still needs a proper fix from Apple.

I just confirmed this solution as well. Agreed not a
good one because I set my MacBook up as the default
host so I can server a website and allow SSH
connections but it's better than nothing. I'll just
have to switch around IP's when I'm not using VPN on
my WinXP laptop.

Doesn't the base station support port forwarding? In which case, just forward your ssh port (22 is default) and web port (80 is the default) to your MacBook's IP address while it's connected to your Base Station. While you'll still (probably) have to have a fixed IP address for your MacBook (or the base station may not be able to "find" it), it doesn't need to be the default host. I don't know if the AEBSn can port forward to a specific MAC address instead (but that would be clever if it did!)

I do not own any Apple Base Station products, so I may very well be talking out of my you-know-what (But I would find it to be very sad if Apple didn't support such a basic and useful feature on it's brand new Wireless Router).

By the way, "Default Host" sounds like the same thing as a host in the "DMZ" which means, it's not a good solution because it exposes the "default host" to the open internet. With that host being a Windows machine, that's not always the ... most secure setup.


Mac OS X (10.3.9)

For anyone wondering, it works great with Avaya VPNRemote as well as Juniper SSL.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I have two separate machines that I need to be able to connect via VPN, so the workaround does not help me in this case. I called Apple and they asked me if my VPN clinet was IP sec or PPT protocol (it is IPsec) but after chatting with the tech rep it is obvious this is a problem tha Apple needs to fix PRONTO!

In the meanwhile, I have set up my old Airport Extreme as the main base, and slaved the N via ethernet, giving me two separate Wireless Networks. I am using the Old Extreme for the VPN connections, and the new N for the Macs. I expect Apple to fix this soon, because it makes no sense to "have to have" two routers.

Regards,

Actually, I had problems with the Avaya VPNRemote and had to implement the "default host" fix.

Thanks to everyone who replied. Enabling the default host worked.

Actually I set a DHCP reservation for the MAC address of the laptop I use for my VPN so that it gets the same IP everytime, then set the default host in the AEBS to that IP.



iMAC Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Like many of you I too am unable to connect to my VPN (Nortel) using the new Airport Extreme and a WinTel XP machine. My Linksys worked fine and I purchased the new Extreme over a new Linksys because I thought Apple would be the easiest of all the hardware to set up...wrong.

BTW - I cannot get rod of the blinking amber light yet I don't have an issue accessing the internet. Anyone know how I might fix this?

Another Nortel VPN user here whose that failed to connect until I put it in the DMZ. Terrible solution but it works for now.

I thought I was experiencing the same problem with my Cisco VPN connection but I eventually figured out that it may be an issue related to the fact that I'm on Parallels. I happen to have the Cisco VPN for both my mac and for Windows XP within Parallels. It works just fine from the mac, without changing any settings on the airport. But it won't work from Windows in Parallels.

I do want to say how unappealing the default host solution is; doesn't it basically forward all inbound traffic to your default host? Although I realize macs are more secure, I do not like the idea that the benefits of NAT are defeated using that solution.


Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)