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Always On VPN DNS Registration Update Available

Always On VPN DNS Registration Update Available When configuring Always On VPN, administrators have the option to enable DNS registration for VPN clients. When this option is set, VPN clients will register the IP address assigned to their VPN interface in the internal DNS. This allows client devices to be managed using their hostname from the internal network whenever they are connected remotely.

DNS Registration

DNS registration is enabled in one of two ways, depending on how Always On VPN client devices are managed.

Intune

When using the native Microsoft Intune UI to manage Always On VPN profiles, DNS registration can be configured by selecting Enabled next to Register IP addresses with internal DNS in the Base VPN settings section.

ProfileXML

When using custom ProfileXML with PowerShell, SCCM, or Intune, the administrator will define the RegisterDNS element to enable DNS registration.

Known Issues

Some users have reported unexpected behavior when DNS registration is enabled. Specifically, under some circumstances the VPN client will register the IP address of the VPN network interface along with the IP address of its public network interface (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, etc.). However, the VPN client can only be managed using the VPN interface. If the VPN client’s hostname resolves to its public IP address, manage out will fail.

This appears to happen only when Name Resolution Policy Table (NRPT) rules are defined in Intune DNS settings, or if the DomainNameInformation element is defined in ProfileXML.

Resolution

Microsoft recently released fixes for this DNS registration issue for Windows 10. The fix for this issue is included in the following updates.

Windows 10 1803 – KB4507466
Windows 10 1809 – KB4505658
Windows 10 1903 – KB4505903

Additional Configuration

After installing the update, the following registry entry must be defined on each VPN client.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters\DisableNRPTForAdapterRegistration DWORD = 1

To enable this setting, open an elevated PowerShell window and run the following command.

New-ItemProperty -Path ‘HKLM:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters\’ -Name DisableNRPTForAdapterRegistration -PropertyType DWORD -Value 1 -Force

Once complete, restart the client device for the changes to take effect. After validation testing is complete, the registry entry can be deployed to Always On VPN clients using Active Directory group policy preferences or Intune.

Additional Information

Deploying Windows 10 Always On VPN with Intune using Custom ProfileXML

Windows 10 Always On VPN Updates to Improve Connection Reliability

Windows 10 Always On VPN Device Tunnel Configuration using Microsoft Intune

Windows 10 Always On VPN Hands-On Training Classes

101 Comments

by Richard M. Hicks on August 5, 2019 • Permalink

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on August 5, 2019

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2019/08/05/always-on-vpn-dns-registration-update-available/

Deploying Always On VPN with Intune using Custom ProfileXML

When deploying Windows 10 Always On VPN using Microsoft Intune, administrators have two choices for configuring VPN profiles. They can use the native Intune user interface (UI) or create and upload a custom ProfileXML. The method chosen will depend on which features and settings are required.

Microsoft Intune

Intune has an intuitive user interface (UI) that can be used to configure and deploy Always On VPN profiles to Windows 10 clients. Guidance for using the UI to deploy Windows 10 Always On VPN with Microsoft Intune can be found here. However, Intune does not expose all Always On VPN settings to the administrator, which can be problematic.

Missing from Intune

At the time of this writing (updated March 2021), the following Always On VPN settings cannot be configured natively using the Intune UI.

Disable class-based default route
Exclusion routes
LockDown Mode
IPv6 routing (broken in Intune)

To implement any of the above features or settings the administrator must create and upload a custom ProfileXML.

ProfileXML

ProfileXML is a node within the VPNv2 Configuration Service Provider (CSP). When configuring Always On VPN using the Intune UI, each setting is configured individually. By contrast, the ProfileXML node includes all Always On VPN settings in a single configuration file. It can be deployed using Intune or PowerShell. Sample ProfileXML files for both user and device tunnels can be downloaded from my GitHub repository.

ProfileXML and Intune

I’ve already documented how to deploy an Always On VPN device tunnel configuration using Intune, so this post will focus on deploying the user tunnel using ProfileXML.

Once ProfileXML has been configured, open the Intune management console and follow the steps below to deploy it using Intune.

Create Profile

1. In the navigation pane click Device Configuration.
2. Click Profiles.
3. Click Create Profile.
4. Enter a descriptive name for the new VPN profile.
5. Select Windows 10 and later from the Platform drop-down list.
6. Select Custom from the Profile type drop-down list.

Custom OMA-URI Settings

1. In the Custom OMA-URI Settings blade click Add.
2. Enter a descriptive name in the Name field (this name will appear in the Windows UI on the client).
3. Enter ./User/Vendor/MSFT/VPNv2/Always%20On%20VPN/ProfileXML in the OMA-URI field. I’ve used Always On VPN as an example here, but you can use any text you like. If it includes spaces they must be escaped using %20, as shown here. Also, don’t forget to include the leading “.“.
4. Select String (XML file) from the Data type drop-down list.
5. Click the folder next to the Select a file field and select your ProfileXML file.
6. Click Ok.

Important Note: The File contents window must show the contents of your ProfileXML. If the contents are unreadable the XML file contains encoding that will not work. If this happens, copy the contents of your ProfileXML to another new text file and upload again.

Assign Profile

Follow the steps below to assign the Always On VPN profile to the appropriate user group.

1. Click Assignments.
2. Click Select groups to include.
3. Select the group that includes the target users.
4. Click Select.
5. Click Save.

Demonstration Video

A demonstration video with guidance for deploying a Windows 10 Always On VPN user tunnel using the native Microsoft Intune UI as well as custom ProfileXML can be found here. The custom ProfileXML guidance starts at 7:52.

Additional Information

Deploying Windows 10 Always On VPN with Microsoft Intune

Deploying Windows 10 Always On VPN Device Tunnel using PowerShell

Windows 10 Always On VPN IKEv2 Security Configuration

Windows 10 Always On VPN LockDown Mode

Windows 10 Always On VPN Scripts and Sample ProfileXML Files on GitHub

51 Comments

by Richard M. Hicks on July 15, 2019 • Permalink

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on July 15, 2019

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2019/07/15/deploying-always-on-vpn-with-intune-using-custom-profilexml/

Always On VPN and Azure MFA ESTS Token Error

Always On VPN and Azure MFA ESTS Token Error Configuring Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is an excellent way to ensure the highest level of assurance for Always On VPN users. Azure MFA is widely deployed and commonly integrated with Windows Server Network Policy Server (NPS) using the NPS Extension for Azure MFA. Azure MFA has a unique advantage over many other MFA providers in that it supports MFA when using Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP). This makes Azure MFA the solution of choice for integrating with Windows 10 Always On VPN deployments using client certificate authentication, a recommended security configuration best practice.

NPS Configuration

Installing and configuring the NPS extension for Azure MFA is straightforward. Configuration guidance from Microsoft can be found here.

Connection Issues

After installing the NPS extension for Azure MFA, administrators may find that Always On VPN connections fail and the user is never challenged for authentication. The connection eventually times out and returns the following error message.

“A connection to the remote computer could not be established, so the port used for this connection was closed.”

Always On VPN and Azure MFA ESTS Token Error

In addition, the Application event log on the Windows 10 client contains an Event ID 20221 from the RasClient source that includes the following error message.

“The user [username] dialed a connection named [connection] which has failed. The error code returned on failure is 0.”

NPS Event Log

Reviewing the event logs on the NPS server reveals more information. The Security event log contains an Event ID 6274 from the Microsoft Windows security auditing source that includes the following error message.

“Network Policy Server discarded the request for a user. Contact the Network Policy Administrator for more information.”

ESTS Token Error

Digging deeper in the operational event log on the NPS server, the AuthZAdminCh log (Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > AzureMfa > AuthZ) contains an Event ID 3 from the AuthZ source indicating an ESTS_TOKEN_ERROR message.

Troubleshooting ESTS Token Error

Follow the steps below to troubleshoot the ESTS_TOKEN_ERROR.

Prerequisites

Ensure that all prerequisites are met. Validate the user is being synced to Azure Active Directory and that it is properly licensed for Azure MFA.

Certificates

As part of the NPS extension configuration, a certificate is created on the NPS server that is uploaded to Azure Active Directory. To validate the certificate was created and uploaded correctly, follow the troubleshooting guidance found here.

Enterprise Applications

The Azure Multi-Factor Auth Client and the Azure Multi-Factor Auth Connector enterprise applications must be enabled to support the NPS extension for Azure MFA. To confirm they are enabled, open an elevated PowerShell command window on the server where the Azure AD Connector is installed and run the following PowerShell commands.

Import-Module MSOnline
Connect-MsolService

Get-MsolServicePrincipal -AppPrincipalId “981f26a1-7f43-403b-a875-f8b09b8cd720” | Select-Object DisplayName, AccountEnabled

Get-MsolServicePrincipal -AppPrincipalId “1f5530b3-261a-47a9-b357-ded261e17918” | Select-Object DisplayName, AccountEnabled

If either or both enterprise applications are not enabled, enable them using the following PowerShell commands.

Set-MsolServicePrincipal -AppPrincipalId “981f26a1-7f43-403b-a875-f8b09b8cd720” -AccountEnabled $True

Set-MsolServicePrincipal -AppPrincipalId “1f5530b3-261a-47a9-b357-ded261e17918” -AccountEnabled $True

Once complete, restart the IAS service on the NPS server using the following PowerShell command.

Restart-Service IAS -PassThru

Additional Information

Windows 10 Always On VPN Network Policy Server (NPS) Load Balancing Strategies

Deploy Windows 10 Always On VPN with Microsoft Intune

Windows 10 Always On VPN Hands-On Training Classes Now Available

21 Comments

by Richard M. Hicks on April 29, 2019 • Permalink

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on April 29, 2019

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2019/04/29/always-on-vpn-and-azure-mfa-ests-token-error/

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Always On VPN DNS Registration Update Available