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Cisco PIX 501: port forwarding to a Windows PPTP VPN server

Originally published Last updated 5 comments

By Ivan Versluis

This example publishes my Windows Server 2003 PPTP VPN server through a Cisco PIX 501 firewall. The diagram shows the lab setup.

My ISP uplink provides a registered /28 network with 14 public IP addresses. The SDSL modem supplies them through its internal DHCP server, while the Cisco PIX 501 uses a manually assigned public IP address.

image

Configure PPTP port forwarding on the Cisco PIX 501

The CLI commands below configure static NAT to a public IP address for TCP port 1723 (PPTP). I also use access-list entries to allow TCP and GRE traffic to the VPN server.

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fixup protocol pptp 1723
name 192.168.5.35 VPN-02
pdm location VPN-02 255.255.255.255
inside static (inside,outside) tcp 194.0.0.2 pptp VPN-02 pptp netmask 255.255.255.255 0 0
access-list outside_access_in permit tcp any host 194.0.0.2
access-list outside_access_in permit gre any host 194.0.0.2

The result

After applying this configuration, I could connect from my Windows XP and Windows Vista computers using the built-in VPN client and PPTP. I configured static port forwarding on TCP port 1723 and enabled the GRE IP protocol fix with the "fixup protocol pptp 1723" command.

Without the PPTP fixup, I have to translate the complete internal host (VPN-02), using all TCP ports. If you do not apply the fixup, you will probably receive an event log message like the one below.

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Event Type:    Warning
Event Source:    Rasman
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    20209
Date:        3/18/2008
Time:        9:22:43 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    VPN-02
Description:
A connection between the VPN server and the VPN client 87.0.0.1 has been established,
but the VPN connection cannot be completed. The most common cause for this is that a
firewall or router between the VPN server and the VPN client is not configured to allow
Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) packets (protocol 47). Verify that the firewalls
and routers between your VPN server and the Internet allow GRE packets. Make sure the
firewalls and routers on the user's network are also configured to allow GRE packets.
If the problem persists, have the user contact the Internet service provider (ISP) to
determine whether the ISP might be blocking GRE packets.

5 comments

Comments from the original WordPress site, kept read-only.

  1. Guillermo

    I've an cisco px 501 (PIX Version 6.3(3)), using the cisco vpn client and works fine from win XP, but the new laptop comes with Vista Business and here cisco vpn client doesn't work.
    Do you know if Vista need some change in config or so on,

    Thanks in advance.
    Guillermo.

  2. Ivan Versluis

    Hi Guillermo, which version of Cisco VPN client did you install? I had problems before and you should install Cisco VPN Client v5 for Vista.

    What kind of error message do you get if any?

    Send me an email at ivan1980(at)networknet.nl.

  4. Po LAM

    Dear Sir

    I have 2 x Cisco Pix 501 with ver 6.3 (5) router, I want to setup Site-to-Site VPN for linkup both internal network. I had found some example configuration from web but still failure.
    Could you help me ?

    The detail is as follows:

    Site 1 have 192.168.6.x have true IP 203.186.x.x with Win2003 server (192.168.6.88)
    Site 2 have 192.168.123.x have true IP 223.255.x.x (user need to access the windows server at Site1)

    Also, could you tell me why some PC can't open the PDM but server can ? It due to IE security or Java version ?

    Thanks a million

    Po

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