i have been banging my head against this issue for weeks and have not been able to get my VPN connection up and running. i keep running across all these registry tweaks and policy articles about the l2tp/ipsec vpn setup. i have a 2k3 server with dual nic cards, rras installed, one nic with an external addy and one with a private. i've tried multiple configurations and can not get connected from the outside. PPTP works great! can anyone give me the EXACT configuration to make this work. i want to use the preshared key, not certificates and no radius server. ideally i'd like to have the vpn server completely outside the firewall, have it authenticate my users, assign a public ip and then have them remote desktop to our terminal server through the firewall.

You shouldn't need any edits to reg. Start here. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/... "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

i've already read and tried most of whats in those links. i still can't get the l2tp connections to work. is there something on the 2k3 server i have to disable or enable other than the shared key to make this work. this is all the server will be used for. i don't want to use CA or a radius server. i just want the pre-shared key.

PSK needs to authenticate also. If you don't open those port or not able then make a self signed cert and install manually. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

Assuming your Server is connected directly to the internet (Public Interface) then, no there is nothing else you need to do. On the W2K3 box, enter the preshared key on the server and make sure that you have available L2TP ports on the server with remote access connections (inbound only) enabled. If your public interface is behind a firewall then open up UDP ports 500, 1701 and 4500 mapped to the IP of the server's public facing interface. I have this configuration working as I write this but with 1 interface inside the network and connecting with my iPhone on 3G using VPN/LT2P to the W2K3 server through my Apple Airport Extreme router based at home. Hope this helps. PS. I am also able to PPTP as well without any problem. Server=W2K3 R2 Standard Edition.