Ok, got a new challenge that I think I might be able to do but rather than spend hours learning that its not possible I thought I would ask

At present I connect to the main office using a XP Pro initiaited PPTP VPN connection. I setup a linux box that sits in the office (behind a netgear router) that hosts incoming VPN connections. The linux box does its job and even supports proxy/forwarding netBIOS traffic which is perfect.

Unfortunately the hardware of the Linux box is starting to fail and I was wondering whether I could replace the PC with a Cisco router that I have sitting around ?

I am using a 26xx to connect the internet and I have a spare 26xx that was going to the dump. Would it be possible to configure the spare to sit at the main site and service incoming VPN connections ?
Could I then configure my 26xx rather than my PC  to establish the tunnel ?
Would I be able to route netBios/broadcasts between the two network segements ?

My ideal solution is to use the two routers as end-points so that both my LAN and the office LAN are fully browsable from either side of the network.
Do you need more information ?



edit: Looks like I need a different IOS to do VPN (c2600-ik9o3s3-mz), so I might have to go begging again  :whoops:

Yes, you do indeed need the IOS with the VPN feature set.

Do you have enough RAM? Setting up a Crypto VPN is piss easy.

Ive maxed out the RAM in the routers, it was cheap to do from eBay

I havent found any examples online of configuring and bringing up/handling VPN connections from an ethernet interface. All of the examples I have seen are built around DSL WICs; is there any problem with using eth ?

Should be fine. I use basic tunnels all over the place in the network here... GRE FTW!

ok, next step in the evolution of the overly complicated home network

Ive finally got my ADSL line activated. The purpose this line is purely for backup/redundancy when my cable line is down.

Remembering that I got my hands on a PIX520 at some point I was wondering whether I can replace my router with the PIX and use 2 of the ethernet NICs on the PIX to provide the redundancy ?

If someone could just say yes/no itd save me spending hours just find out its not possible Im not expecting anyone to tell me how to do it (yet).

So basically I want to use a PIX to provide NAT routing. With the PIX determining which one of two connections to route over based on the state of 1 of the connections.
Id also, ideally, like to be able to provide QoS and VPN functions but these are secondary.

Cant remember what version OS was on that Pix but this is the link I think you want.  http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vpndevc/ps2030/products_configuration_example09186a00806e880b.shtml

Have fun...