laptop proxy issues when used outside of work

[Richard Darling]

We have one user who has a laptop. He can't check his email nor access the internet when not on the network. I assumed it had to be a proxy issue. So the first thing I did was to disbale the proxy in the WSP client and deselected the proxy server option in the LAN settings in IE...didn't help. I then uninstalled the Proxy client...didn't help. I had Outlook Express setup for him to check his mail at home, and Outlook at work...worked fine until I put him on the SBS. I have reinstalled the Proxy client and he can check email at work only now.

Any ideas??

Thanks...Richard

[Jamie Hughes]

Hi Richard,

When you say they can't access email or the internet, what error is received in each application? Does the user have a proxy server defined in IE and OE? Please post the error messages that the client is receiving.

How is the user accessing your network from home? Do they dial into an ISP and then vpn into your network or are they dialing directly into your network? Into a RAS server? Into the SBS server? Is the user logging into the domain as they dial in or are they logged on locally? Are they prompted for a domain username/password when dialing in?

If they are dialing directly into your network, I think they should configure IE and Outlook Express to bypass the proxy server for local addresses.

Where do they get an ip address? Is the ip address on the client hard-coded/nailed or do they pick up a DHCP address from a RAS server?

Can the user ping the proxy and mail servers by ip address AND by name? I'm thinking this is a name resolution and/or proxy problem. What kind of name resolution method do you use on your network? WINS? DNS? Let's make sure we are resolving names correctly when dialing in. We may need to use an lmhosts file on the client.

I think we need a few more details on how the client accesses the network from home. If they are going thru an ISP, I would think that they are using an external dns which might cause some issues. Are all clients having this problem or just one? What OS is the client running?

Sorry for all of the questions but I need a little more info before I can make a recommendation.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Richard Darling]

Jamie, I was not clear. We keep all our email on our ISP's server. Since I haven't had the SBS server that long I haven't looked into receiving our email directly on our Exchange server. I would have to deal with setting that up and then setting up OWA so that users could access their email on the road. That will come with time...

At this point I don't have remote access setup for the SBS server. Our main business apps run on our UNIX system, and this is what the users primarily need to access remotely. They do that using telnet over the internet, and don't go through the SBS at all.

The user logs into the network when he is in-house and uses Outlook to get his email through the Exchange server. He accesses the Internet using IE and the proxy server is enabled.

He uses an ISP supplied number to access the Internet when not at work. He gets his email off from the ISP's server, using his account setup in OE.
When he first attempted to access the Internet off-site he received the following error:
"The page cannot be displayed..."

When he first attempted to access his email off-site he received the following error:

"Server unexpectedly terminated the connection. Cause: server problems, network problems..."

I disabled the client in the WSP Client. I disbaled the proxy client in LAN settings in IE. Then disconnected user from network, rebboted, dialed into internet through ISP phone line...received same errors.

I then uninstalled the proxy client and rebooted...same error..

reinstalled proxy and reenabled all settings; connected to network and rebooted...user was able to get email and access internet after logging in...

This is the first laptop that I moved over to the SBS. All other users have desktops, and no one is having problems. The OS on the laptop is WIN98, 2nd ed.

Thanks...

[Jamie Hughes]

Hello Richard,

So SBS isn't really coming into play here other than the wsp softare on the client? And everything worked fine until you put that on? Did I understand the last part of your message - is it working now?

I'm still not sure where the client is getting their IP address. You are calling a phone number that rings at the isp and then you are supposed to use the isp settings to browse the internet and use email on the isp server? So the user isn't even getting onto your internal network in this scenario, just dialing up the isp and trying to surf and download mail?

If what I just described is correct, I think there must be some sort of problem with the isp. When you dial into the isp, where does the ip address on the client come from? Can you please do a winipcfg /all and send me the ip address, default gateway, dns, wins, etc addresses? Are these addresses external addresses or IPs on your internal network? Does the client have IE and OE configured to use a proxy server? If so, where is that proxy server, inside or outside your network?

I'm thinking the client might need to setup an lmhosts file that has the ip address and name of the mail server in it. Can the client ping the mail server by name and by ip address when they dial into the isp? If they can't, it is some kind of networking/name resolution problem that an lmhosts file might fix. Sorry, still no firm answer on this one.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Jamie Hughes]

Hi Richard,

I'm still thinking about this problem and I am leaning towards the proxy server settings on the client. Can you bring up IE and OE and check to see if the client has checked the option to use a proxy server? If they have, try unchecking it and see if it makes any difference.

Don't post your ip addresses out here as I previously requested. If we need to dig that deep, I can have you send them in email.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Richard Darling]

Thanks Jamie,
just spoke to a friend of mine who has had the problem before with laptops...he told me to remove the dialup adaptor and readd it...I did and now everything is working...thanks for your help...

Richard

[Jamie Hughes · Accepted solution]

YEA! That is good news Richard.

Take care,
Jamie

[Richard Darling]

Jamie, thanks for all your help and suggestions...Richard