Setting Up a VPN Connection

E-mail is just one of the ways the Pocket PC makes our lives easier. Given the right hardware, I can check my e-mail anywhere I can find a standard phone line, a Wi-Fi hotspot, a broadband connection, or can get a cell phone signal (using my cell phone as a modem). Getting connected to your corporate e-mail often requires the extra step of establishing a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, connection.

Setting up a VPN connection on a Pocket PC is remarkably easy. What can be difficult is understanding how Connection Manager works. Misconfiguration of Connection Manager will prevent a VPN connection from working properly or at all. Before we set up a VPN connection, let’s walk through the basics of setting up Connection Manager.

Most of the Connection Manager and VPN logic is the same for Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 devices. I’ll use a Pocket PC 2003 device for this article and try to highlight any differences for a 2002 device. The Connection Manager can be accessed via the Start Menu by selecting Settings, then the Connections tab and finally the Connections icon. You’ll see a screen similar to what is shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1: Pocket PC 2003 Connection Manager main screen

There are two basic sections: My ISP and My Work Network. These are defined by settings a bit deeper in the Connection Manager. If you select the Advanced tab, you will see three buttons. The first one is the one we are interested in—Select Networks. When you press that, you will be in the Network Management screen.

Figure 2 is very similar to the main screen of the Pocket PC 2002 screen, so those of you with the previous operating system can still follow along. There are two basic types of networks, My ISP (or Internet), and My Work Network. The My ISP settings are for general network connections. For example, you would put your dial-up network settings here for your personal Internet service provider. It is through this type of network that you access resources with fully qualified domain names (FQDN) such as http://www.yahoo.com or http://pop3.bellsouth.net. The second type is Work. This is for non-FQDN resources, such as corp.servername or gamepc.

Fig. 2: Pocket PC 2003 Network Management screen

Your Pocket PC is doing its best to dynamically determine several things for you when it attempts a connection to any Internet resource. It is looking for the fastest connection, the most cost-effective connection, and the right type of network. I have my ISP set up under My ISP and have my Wi-Fi card configured to access the Internet. I have my corporate RAS server set up under Work. My old fashioned Cat 5 Ethernet CompactFlash card that I use at the office is also configured under Work.

The key to a VPN connection is it will only connect if you have a connection established under the My ISP (Internet) section. That is the virtual part. If you are on a Work connection, there is no need for a virtual connection. Many people don’t want to fool with these settings and based on advice I’ve seen on popular Pocket PC sites and in various forums, they just configure everything to use Work. If your Pocket PC in Figure 1 above is missing the “My ISP” section, this is exactly what you’ve done. You’ve put “Work” in the first dialog box of Figure 2 above.

This workaround works pretty well as long as you don’t need a VPN connection and there is actually a valid reason for this workaround. Let’s say you are at home on your wireless LAN and you want to sit on the couch and remotely ActiveSync with your PC in the next room. Your PC is not a FQDN resource. It very likely has just one name, like Dell4400, or MikesPC. In order to ActiveSync, you must use a Work-style connection. Now, you’ve completed your sync and want to browse a few Web sites. Well, you can’t. Some of you may have seen the dialog box in Figure 3.