Anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting why a RDP connection sometimes keeps its connection for a few hours, and more regularly loses connection every five to ten minutes (not regular interval)? Sometimes the connection only last for a minute or less.

Connection is over VPN which does not indicate any problems in its logs, and in order to reconnect the RDP session, the VPN must be disconnected and then re-enabled.

VERY frustrating...

Any thoughts?

More than one user with different internet connections have similar complaints.

VPN: Sonicwall
RDP: Server 2003
Clients: XP, Vista, W7

 

I have had this problem with my office connection and the juniper client.

We had a problem with software that is on the client machine, namely the Bonjour service.

 

Interesting... I have that running...

 

Just terminated that process. Let's see how it goes...

 

bonjour is used to share iTunes libraries across the LAN. Why would you have iTunes installed at work?

 

My firms VPN sucks balls on my computer.

I just needed to say that

 

It's on the home computer that I use to RDP into the work computer.

Also, I have whatever I want on the work computer.

 

Also we have work provided Ipads, therefore Itunes.

 

Bonjour disabled and problem persists.

Problem = I connect to VPN, then RDP to my work desktop. I then lose the RDP connection and when I go to reconnect, the computer (work desktop) cannot be found.

HOWEVER... If I disconnect from the VPN and then try to reconnect the RDP session, the computer is found and connected to right away.

Any ideas?

 

port forwarding? At work we open a random port for example 50000 on the public side then route it to 3389 on the private side and to your computers IP. you have different random public ports for each PC but the same 3389 but of course different IP on the private side. So

port 50000 = PC A
port 51000 = PC B
port 52000 = PC C

etc.

 

Based on the need to reconnect the VPN in order to find the RDP machine, I am thinking the problem lies with the VPN...

 

What home router are you using, and is it at the latest firmware.

 

Are you using hostname to connect or IP?

 

How old is this Sonicwall? If your client software is old, upgrade it.

If you can no longer get software updates for it ditch it and go Cisco. I ran into similar issues with a SOHO3 3-4 years ago. As new OSes came out the client software just wasn't up to the task at hand.

If the Sonicwall has intrusion detection try turning it off. I'm sure you have done this, but try rebooting the Sonicwall.

 

Linksys by Cisco WRT320N flashed with DD-WRT (Bld12982M).

 

Hostname.

 

Will have my associate reboot the SonicWall. It does have IDS, but I would rather forget the VPN than turn that off.

 

next time the connection drops, try to reconnect with the IP just for giggles.

 

OK, will give that a shot.

 

up the firmware on the router. you should be running v24 sp2.
that is what ended up totally fixing the problem for me. even though I kept saying to the tech that that couldn't possibly be the problem.

 

Do you know for sure it's just RDP that's the problem? Do a continuous ping to the PC and see if everything drops or just the RDP session.

 

Will give it a shot.

 

I've had this issue before, and resolved it by changing the MTU size

http://www.howtonetworking.com/vpn/mtu1.htm

 

^EXACTLY what my admin guy just suggested!

 

I have an easy fix Geoffy......stop trying to work from home in your banana hammock you lazy bitch!!!

 

What's wrong with my banana hammock? I wear it to work on the outside...

 

 

So this seems to be working, although I also am connecting via IP not hostname and also updated the DDWRT firmware.

 

guessing there's probably a reason but I have to ask - why do you need VPN if you are able to connect RDP without it?

and, have you considered TeamViewer? That's what I use now. I use to do RDP back until a couple of years ago when I finally got fed up with its frequent tendency to not work. TeamViewer is great, connects 99% of the time. Once in a while there is a hiccup of sorts but overall fantastic.

 

Srika, I need the VPN to be able to RDP. Might not have been clear on that. WHat I MEANT in the "however" section, was that I needed to disconnect and then reconnect the VPN to re-enable the RDP. My bad.

I will check out TeamViewer, thanks!

 

oh ok. well, yeah, not the biggest fan of VPN. if this is for your work I don't know whether TeamViewer will be a good thing. It's designed more for remote support purposes where you *need* to connect - that is, getting connected is more important than security concerns. but maybe something to try.

 

Changed MTU size, connecting via IP not hostname, still getting dumped. Other users are having the same problem.

REALLY frustrating.

 

I wonder if its dumping your connection when someone else establishes their connection to the VPN. Basically, you log in, surf your porn, all is well. Someone else logs in, RDP drops you, they surf their porn, all is well. Until you log back in, RDP drops them, etc. Not a solution, but a possible insight into where the problem might lie.

 

It may be, but I get dumped at times I am fairly certain no one else is connected. Other people who log on odd hours have the same results...

 

Either the VPN connection is shady or there is something that runs and disconnects it on the host (like a virus scan)

 

Check and see how many simultaneous VPN connections your setup can handle.

 

Consider upgrading to Cisco or look into Citrix?

 

fire Whisklars! get new IT guy.....

 

 

Is it a set interval, like you always get disconnected after 15 minutes. Or is it different everytime like one time it's 4 minutes and the next time it's 45 minutes?