Slow connect to local server if VPN active

[Bill Medland]

Does anyone know how to solve this?

I am running IBM DB2 on a Linux server on a private LAN.
I am accessing it via ODBC from a Windows 2000 client
I also use the Windows 2000 machine as a VPN client
If the VPN client is not active then the Windows 2000 machine can
connect quickly to the server.
However if the VPN client is active then it seems to take forever for
the Windows 2000 machine to connect to the server.
The server is specified as a static ip address (192.168.n.n)

Any ideas?

[Lou]

I've been having a lot of trouble with VPNs lately in similar
situations. I had a network engineer buddy of mine explain to me that
most VPNs have some type of firewall built into them, and the firewalls
cause both long waits and "you can't get there from here" problems.

Which VPN are you using? Does it have a built in firewall?

[Bill Medland]

Hi Lou, thanks for the response

No idea what VPN it is; it's the standard Microsoft one that is within
Microsoft Windows 2000. It probably does include a firewall, I guess.
My point is that I don't understand why the VPN is even being included
in the conversation when I have told DB2 the static IP address on the
LOCAL network; why is it even talking to the WAN?

[Lou]

Windows 2000 is good news. Windows XP with SP2 installed will make your
hair grey or fall off your head.

When you fire up the VPN it starts trying to tunnel everything TCP/IP.
With the Windows 2000 version you can bypass with a proxy. Have a look
at this:

Internet options (reachable from IE Tools, Internet options or from
your Windows settings menu).
Tab: Connections
Button: LAN Settings

You can set a proxy server for your LAN traffic.

The approach I use on XP is to install the ancient NetBEUI protocol on
all PCs and allow my mapped drives, etc. to communicate via it instead
of TCP/IP. Obviously this is not an approach for your ODBC connection
to Linux, but at least my PCs can talk to each other with all these
bloody firewalls.