WINDOWS - Set up and ping problems

[Jens Rößiger]

Hi everyone,

A few days ago I started reading about TINC and it really got me going
because my intention is to set up a network connection between two
computers (Windows). The reason for that is a program which is running
within a network quite well but now I would like to have a laptop to
be mobile. The program however should still be able to connect to the
database in the office and it has no inbuilt internet connection mode.

I read a couple of tutorials and searched the mailing list archive but
it never worked completely. The closest I probably got was that I was
able to ping machine 2 from machine 1 but it didn't work the other way
around... Maybe I'm finally able to resolve this by asking for help
here.

Ok let's say I've got the following configurations:

#### First setup ####

For each tinc adapter I chose an IP which fits into the computers local network.

***OFFICE***

network: 192.168.2.0/24
dynamic internet IP with dynamic DNS thingy: office.selfhost.eu
computer IP on the real network card: 192.168.2.77 mask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.2.1
Tap IP of the Windows Tinc Adapter (named: VPN_Tinc): 192.168.2.200
mask 255.255.0.0
router is configured to forward port 54525 TCP and UDP to 192.168.2.77
Windows Firewall is disabled for the TAP IP interface

tinc.conf

Name = office
Interface = VPN_Tinc

hosts/office

Address = office.selfhost.eu
Subnet = 192.168.2.0/24
Port = 54525

***LAPTOP***

network 192.168.1.0/24
no router and no dynamic IP
computer IP on the WLAN: 192.168.1.50 mask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1
Tap IP of the Windows Tinc Adapter (named: VPN_Tinc): 192.168.1.200
mask 255.255.0.0
Windows Firewall is disabled for the TAP IP interface

tinc.conf

Name = laptop
Interface = VPN_Tinc
ConnectTo = office

hosts/laptop

Subnet = 192.168.1.0/24

#####

Results: Tinc seems to connect. If I start it in debug mode with -D
-d4 or something I get regular messages like Got/Sending PONG/PING
from office/laptop

Now when I start a separate terminal and try to do "ping
192.168.1.200" from the office it works and I get answers. However if
I do it the other way round from the laptop "ping 192.168.2.200" it
doesn't work and I only get "Request timed out"

It also didn't work after I added a specific route.

route add 192.168.2.0/24 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.200 metric 1
(keep in mind these are all Windows machines and I don't know any way
to define a route without a gateway but I guess Windows translates the
gateway into interface because later on the gateway is just mentioned
as "on-line" in the list.)


#### Second setup ####

I also tried a different approach because someone in some tutorial
mentioned they had problems with using an IP for the Tinc adapter from
the same network as the LAN. However this time the Tinc adapters are
in the same network and their subnet is restricted with /32.

***OFFICE***

network: 192.168.2.0/24
dynamic internet IP with dynamic DNS thingy: office.selfhost.eu
computer IP on the real network card: 192.168.2.77 mask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.2.1
Tap IP of the Windows Tinc Adapter (named: VPN_Tinc): 172.40.2.1 mask
255.255.255.0
router is configured to forward port 54525 TCP and UDP to 192.168.2.77
Windows Firewall is disabled for the TAP IP interface

tinc.conf

Name = office
Interface = VPN_Tinc

hosts/office

Address = office.selfhost.eu
Subnet = 172.40.2.1/32
Port = 54525

***LAPTOP***

network 192.168.1.0/24
no router and no dynamic IP
computer IP on the WLAN: 192.168.1.50 mask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1
Tap IP of the Windows Tinc Adapter (named: VPN_Tinc): 172.40.2.2 mask
255.255.255.0
Windows Firewall is disabled for the TAP IP interface

tinc.conf

Name = laptop
Interface = VPN_Tinc
ConnectTo = office

hosts/laptop

Subnet = 172.40.2.2/32

###

Results: were mostly the same. Except of course the IPs in my ping
commands were different I was still only able to ping the laptop from
the office but not the other way around...

#####

I disabled the firewalls on both computers for the specific Tinc
interfaces and I also tried it once with completely disabled firewall,
but it didn't help. Honestly I haven't got a clue on where the problem
could be and what to try next.

In the meantime I gave the program Hamachi a try. There the pinging
seems to work and I could even explore Windows network shares. However
the connection to the SQL Server didn't work. I also don't like the
idea of having an additional GUI lurking around. I would like it more
if I could get the ping working with Tinc on both machines. In theory
that should also enable the other program to communicate with the
server in the office....

The point why I mention is is... Could having Hamachi installed on the
machines somehow interfere with TINC?

Thank you for any input you could give me :)
Cheers,
Jens