vimeo - Link to Tokyo Time-Lapse Video by Samuel Cockedey

Oh my. Can’t tell you guys. I have been pulling my hair over this. I thought it was a problem around my home Internet router, a classic ADSL modem connected to a Fonera 2.0 FON router. It wasn’t the Fonera, I have had the issue before, so I suspected EVERYTHING inside the ADSL modem and actually I once managed to “break in” to that device just to check if there was a NAT running or something. But no. Everything fine and still:

Since upgrading from Tiger to Leopard Server’s VPN on one end, and a Mac client on the other end, VPN continued to work, however it only showed gave access to the machine that hosts the VPN server. Since this was the same machine that also hosts the AFP file server, I did not mind too much. However: since upgrading the server from Tiger to Leopard, the entire network was NOT seen anymore through VPN, so I could not just use VPN to connect to my client machine on the other end of the line, behind the VPN server itself.

This was of course a bit annoying. It ment I could not access my printer in the office from somewhere on the road. Or in fact access my office computer for that matter.

Nothing I did worked. Connecting to VPN, ONLY the server showed up or could be pinged, but nothing on the remaining network on that side… Actually I found quite a lot of people on the Internet that had just the very same problem and could find absolutely no solution to it.

Until today. And here finally is the solution and it seems very likely that this is a work-around to a very probable BUG in Leopard Server.

Kudos go to Brian Harman who wrote the following quite inconspicuous post on the Apple Discussion Board:

I found a solution that worked for me. In my case, I have a mac pro acting as a VPN server, dhcp, nat, firewall, basically everything. One ethernet is for the external network. One is for the internal network.

The issue was I could not see or ping anything other than the vpn server.

All I did is on the server, go to system preferences and add a connection using the same ethernet that is on your local network. ie, ethernet 1 is wan, ethernet 2 is lan, I made a second ethernet 2 and called it Ehternet 2b. Then assign it an additional internal IP, ie, if ethernet 2 was 172.20.0.1, i made ethernet 2b 172.20.0.5 with a 255.255.255.0 subnet, and 172.20.0.1 router. apply, restart services. Now you can ping the whole network. No idea why, but it worked on 3 different server installs I have..

Hope that helps.

Yes Brian, that absolutely helped. Since the internal network card now has two instead of just one address, all the rest of the network shows up through VPN. Apple, you should do something. This clearly is an issue that could be solved!

Yay!!! My Fon hotspot start to pay for itself, how fun!!! I have just realized that I have had my first guest on my public Fon hotspot and he has bought a 1 hour Internet pass, too!

I am really excited about this. It also marks a huge triumph for Fon over Apple’s highly expensive but complete rubbish Airport wifi system – biggest trash on this planet. The signal out on the street and especially behind the house still is a bit weak, but compared to the trashy Airport (1 base station and 3 Airport Express working as signal repeaters!!!) which couldn’t even cover the entire apartment – and no, I do not live in a castle – this ONE Fon router not only covers the entire apartment, it covers the entire house and parts around the house.

Enough apparently to get me my first paying hotspot user!

I now have plans to install a second (and maybe a third) Fon router, both with a Fontenna attached to them and directed to the recreational area just behind our house and the other one directed towards the street. I have even thought about using a powerline connection to the attic and put the router there and the Fontenna right on the roof! There is still an old TV antenna up there, entirely unused – we’re all on cable TV and analogue TV has also been completely substituted by DVB-T in the area. It would however make a nice supporting pole for the Fontenna – he he !

I have read that the Fontenna should have a directional cover range of up to 200 meters / 650 ft. If installed on the roof, I could even reach over to the nearby beer garden – LOL! Well, rather unlikely the signal would be strong enough over that distance.

Get a Fonera and Join the Community!

Take part in the fun, too, and make Fon the biggest public Internet access provider in the world with free Internet for everybody who contributes with an own hotspot. Plus, you will have the best WiFi router at the best price, ever. Trash your costly Apple or whatever equipment, I had learnt my lesson hard enough that money does NOT always equal quality (sorry, Apple, do something about those Airports…).

avhamazon error:http_request_failed - 403: Forbidden I have still 20 invitations from Fon to give out for a Fonera at a discount price, just drop me a line if you would like to receive an invitation, or click on the image on the left to be taken right to Amazon to get a Fonera from there. If you would like own the latest model or get a Fontenna, click here for the Fonera shop.

Sometimes… all we need is a little music and a Dutch female singer to get by… enjoy:

Oh what a nice and welcome update to my post “Social Media Gurus Miss the Point” – please read Dan Schwabel’s post over at the Personal Branding Blog:

6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Brand Yourself as a Social Media Expert