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OK I will try and explain my situation as clear and as simple as possible.

I have 2 separate networks in my home, Network A is my family's network and network B is my "Lab" network. I am trying to simulate an "inside" and "outside" the network environment. I wanted to access files shares from one network to the other going through VPN using one of my routers as a VPN server, I am successful at this to some degree however as I can only access the shares via their IP address and not their address name.

I have connected an Ethernet cable from the WAN port on my "lab" router to the LAN port on my family's BT router.

here is my setup details:


Network A BT Home Hub modem/router - Family network

IP address 192.168.1.254

Subnet mask 255.255.255.0


Network B Asus DSL-N55U modem/router - My Lab router

Static IP Address 192.168.2.1

Static WAN IP Address 192.168.1.250

Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway 192.168.1.254


So just to reiterate..my questions is how can I access the share files from Network B to Network A through VPN by the Address name and NOT the IP address?

I've looked around and as I understand it's because of either DNS settings or a possible NAT issue?

What should my DNS settings be for my "Lab" router?

Thanks

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my questions is how can I access the share files from Network B to Network A through VPN by the Address name and NOT the IP address?

First, if you want to access the shared files in Network A from Network B, you do not need VPN. NAT is enough. In your deployment, the Network A is external network and the Network B is the internal network. Access the resources on external network from internal network, we normally use NAT.

If you want to access the file share in Network B from Network A, you need VPN.

I've looked around and as I understand it's because of either DNS settings or a possible NAT issue?

To access the resource with their FQDN, all you need is a functional, correct DNS. I suspect that you do not have a DNS server in your environment. As a workaround, you need to modify the hosts file on the client. It's not suggested in the production environment, but for test, it's enough.

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  • Sorry Yes you are correct, I'm trying to access files shares in Network B from Network A which is why I'm using VPN. What would be the correct DNS settings and what modifications would be necessary on the hosts file? Thanks again
    – philhevican
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 16:30
  • @philhevican - You should update your question.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 17:00
  • I have updated the question but kept the initial details
    – philhevican
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 18:51
  • @philhevican The correct DNS settings should be building a DNS server on the network B. Most companies have their own DNS server on the corpnet. In you case, you may just edit the hosts file of the client on network A (source side). The hosts file contains mappings of IP address and FQDN. And it overrides the DNS resolving. Which means that if the requested FQDN matched by an entry in hosts file, the system will not perform the DNS resolving.
    – Steven Lee - MSFT
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 15:44
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OK a quick update, I turned off NAT on my "Lab" router and I was then able to resolve host names.

However..My Internet then went down and I was also unable to log back into the router!

So maybe something to do with double-NAT??

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  • First, there is only one NAT between the Network A and Network B. Second, there should be no direct influence on DNS when we disabling the NAT.
    – Steven Lee - MSFT
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 15:33
  • I've come to the conclusion that with the Asus router I'm using as the VPN and no dedicated DNS server, I will just have to carry on accessing the shares via the IP addresses and not NetBIOS names.
    – philhevican
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 18:25

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