Topic: 5.6 Server-manager, XP and pptp

[Jim Huneycutt]

I've spent a whole day trying to figure this one out. I cannot run server-manager on any of several 5.6u4 servers and on one newly configured 5.6u5 server when using XP Pro and a pptp connection.

I can make the pptp connections fine; run putty and WinSCP just fine. If I try to load the server-manager on any of these systems I get the admin login screen, enter the user name and password, and IE reports "web site found...waiting for reply" and just sits there with a blank screen, i.e. the server-manager will not load and IE will not produce a page not found message, unless I break the connection after 10 or 20 minutes.

I am connecting through a 5.5u6 server. I have no trouble loading server manager from 5.5 servers via pptp on the same XP machines. I can also use Win2k and load server manager from the 5.6 servers. It is only Windows XP workstations going through the 5.5u6 server connecting to 5.6 servers where server-manager will not load via pptp connections. If I physically connect the XP systems to the 5.6 server network, rather than using pptp, server-manager loads OK.

There must be some setting I am missing in IE or the network or the SME 5.6 servers and I'm hoping some of the Linux gurus wil know immediately what I've done wrong. I've read every scap of info on pptp here and tried almost all the variations. Most of the problems seem to be with getting and keeping the pptp connections - I can't find anything about this server-manager specific problem.

I have tried using the ip address instead of the server name to connect with the same result. I have triple checked the remote access settings - they are the same on all my servers and, again, I can load the server-manager with Win2k. I have also tried removing the MS hotfix Q811493 (no effect) and re-installing it (same result).

If someone has a solution or an avenue of investigation, I would really appreciate it. I am about to stop (again) my migration from 5.5 to 5.6 because of this and other pptp-related issues, even though it may be another Microsoft problem. Most of my customers are now on XP and it's too late to turn back now and they need to be able to connect using pptp.

Thanks for your help.
jim

[Per Sørensen]

Had that problem, did this:
http://wiki.contribs.org/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=13&45a14dd739202bfca06852d1969bca6c=13c6ec833ff58cd893fb026972f501d3

Per

[Jim Huneycutt]

Per, thanks very much for the reply. I had put the multilink statement in the /etc/ppp/options.pptpd file on the 5.6 server, but I had recently taken it out of the 5.5 server since it did not appear to do anything. I put the multilink back in the 5.5 server (both servers were rebooted) and still no go - the server-manager will not come up in IE. I have also checked that the "negotiate multi-link for single link connections" box is checked on the PPP settings for the VPN connection.

Thanks,
jim

[Jim Huneycutt]

Additional info.

I get the following line in Messages on the 5.6 server when trying to load server manager (again, via PPTP from an XP Pro machine connecting:through a 5.5u6 to a 5.6u5 server) and server manager fails to load.

kernel: mppe_compress[0]: osize - too small! (have: 1400 need 1404)

A Google search yields only some c code from: http://pserver.samba.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ppp/linux/mppe/ppp_mppe_compress.c?annotate=1.1&only_with_tag=MAIN

as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 /* Make sure we have enough room to generate an encrypted packet. */
             |           321:     if (osize < isize + MPPE_OVHD + 2) {
             |           322:        /* Drop the packet if we should encrypt it, but can't. */
             |           323:        printk(KERN_DEBUG "mppe_compress[%d]: osize too small! "
             |           324:               "(have: %d need: %d)\n", state->unit,
             |           325:               osize, osize + MPPE_OVHD + 2);
             |           326:        return -1;
             |           327:     }
             |           328:
             |           329:     osize = isize + MPPE_OVHD + 2;
             |           330:
             |           331:     /*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am not a c programmer so I don't really follow this. Does this mean there is a problem or is it just informational?

Thanks,
jim