All posts tagged DPC

Always On VPN RRAS Centralized Monitoring and Reporting

A while back, I wrote about the monitoring and reporting options for Windows Server Routing and Remote Access (RRAS) servers supporting Microsoft Always On VPN. In that article, I outlined how administrators can use the Routing and Remote Access Management console (rrasmgmt.msc) or the Remote Access Management console (ramgmtui.exe) to perform configuration tasks and review current user and device activity. However, neither solution is ideal in a distributed environment with multiple RRAS servers. Thankfully, there’s a new option available to address this crucial limitation today.

Centralized Reporting

I’m excited to announce the availability of a cloud-based, centralized reporting solution for Windows Server RRAS and Always On VPN from the folks at PowerON Platforms. Created by the folks that brought us the Dynamic Profile Configurator (DPC) solution for managing Always On VPN client configuration settings, PowerON Platforms’ new reporting solution allows administrators to aggregate configuration, performance, and user activity data from multiple individual RRAS servers across their organization.

Important! I’ll be joining the folks at PowerON Platforms for a webinar on Thursday, January 18 to introduce and demonstrate this new Always On VPN reporting solution. Register now!

Summary View

The Summary view page provides a consolidated high-level look at the environment’s health status and capacity of VPN servers. Administrators can quickly see if any servers are unhealthy and view current usage details to assess the capacity of the deployment.

Server Overview

The Server Overview page provides a more detailed look at individual server health status and configuration. Here, you’ll find information about the number of active and available connections and the TLS certificate status. In addition, you’ll find detailed information about provisioned CPU and RAM, disk space utilization, and system uptime. You will also see information about the size of the reporting database on disk and the number of IKEv2 and SSTP VPN ports provisioned.

VPN Server Configuration

The VPN Server Configuration page looks into the IP address pool configuration and current utilization. In addition, this page provides an in-depth look at the VPN server TLS certificate health status. Currently, configured authentication and accounting servers are also shown.

Server Performance

The Server Performance page shows granular details about resource utilization on RRAS servers. This includes CPU and memory utilization, disk space usage, and database size. Administrators can view aggregated data or select individual servers. The view can be further customized by filtering by date.

Connection History

The Connection History page details concurrent connections observed on all VPN servers. Data can be filtered by date, individual server, and user or device name.

Client Distribution

The Client Distribution page provides an intuitive graphical display of client activity by server and tunnel type. In addition, it includes details about usage by individual clients and the number of connections made by individual endpoints.

Connection Detail

The Connection Detail page allows administrators to view user activity across all servers in the organization. Once again, data can be filtered by date, individual server, and user or device name. This view provides granular details on user activity, enabling the administrator to drill down to view specific resources accessed over the VPN for individual sessions.

Data Flow

The Data Flow page displays information about data transfer through the VPN server.

Summary

The Always On VPN cloud-based centralized reporting solution for Microsoft Always On VPN by PowerON Platforms is sure to be helpful for organizations managing distributed RRAS server deployments. The reporting solution aggregates data from all RRAS servers in the enterprise, providing a holistic view of configuration, health status, and user activity in one management console. This consolidated visibility is crucial for capacity planning and configuration maintenance, making the identification of performance bottlenecks or misconfigured servers easy. Also, the ability to view certificate expiration status for all servers in the organization is sure to prevent outages. Security administrators will find the solution helpful for forensic reporting and to identify sources of data leakage and exfiltration.

You can contact PowerON Platforms and request additional information here.

More Information

Are you interested in learning more about PowerON Platforms Always On VPN reporting? Would you like an interactive solution demonstration or an evaluation license to trial the product in your environment? Fill out the form below, and I’ll contact you with more details.

Always On VPN Disconnects in Windows 11

Always On VPN administrators migrating their endpoints to Windows 11 may encounter a scenario where Always On VPN randomly disconnects when the VPN profile is deployed using Microsoft Intune. The same configuration deployed to Windows 10 devices works reliably, however. In addition, Always On VPN profiles deployed using PowerShell (natively or with SCCM) or PowerON DPC do not experience this problem.

Troubleshooting

Administrators troubleshooting this issue will find the root cause is associated with the Always On VPN profiles being removed and replaced each time the device syncs with Intune. This occurs even if there are no changes to the configuration. Removing and replacing the Always On VPN profiles on each device sync is unnecessary, of course, but is also highly disruptive to connected users.

Intune and XML

The Intune team identified the issue, and a fix was made available in the August update. However, many of you have reported the issue persists with some Windows 11 clients after installing the latest updates. Further investigation indicates that although the issue has been resolved when using Intune and the native VPN device configuration profile template, the problem still occurs when using the Custom device configuration template.

Workaround

Microsoft is aware of the issues with deploying Always On VPN client configuration settings using XML in Intune, but there’s no indication when or if they will fix it. Until then, administrators have two options to address this problem.

Native VPN Template

When deploying Always On VPN client configuration settings to Windows 11 endpoints, use the native VPN device configuration template, as shown here.

Using the native VPN template does have some limitations, however. The following settings are not exposed using the native VPN template and can only be configured using XML.

Disable class-based default route
Application-specific traffic filters
IPv6 routes (UI doesn’t allow /64 prefix!)
Exclusion routes
VPN protocol preferences

XML

If you must use XML, I’ve had some success by ensuring the order of XML settings is exactly as Intune expects. Follow the steps below to confirm the XML settings order in your XML configuration file.

Deploy your XML file with Intune.
Run Get-VpnClientProfileXML.ps1 to extract the deployed XML settings.
Compare the order of settings to your existing XML.
Make changes to ensure all settings in your XML are in the same order as the extracted XML.
Publish a new XML configuration file using Intune and test.

I’ll caution you that this workaround doesn’t always work reliably. Some customers report that this solved their problems entirely, while others have indicated it does not. My testing shows the same results. Let us know in the comments below if this works for you!

Additional Information

Always On VPN Windows 11 Issues with Intune

Always On VPN PowerShell Script Issues in Windows 11

4 Comments

by Richard M. Hicks on October 9, 2023 • Permalink

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on October 9, 2023

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2023/10/09/always-on-vpn-disconnects-in-windows-11/

Always On VPN and Interface Metrics

In Windows, each network interface identified by the operating system is assigned a metric value. Interface metrics are settings that determine the priority or preference of network interfaces when there are multiple active network connections. The Windows networking stack uses these metrics to determine which network interface should be used for routing traffic when multiple network interfaces are available. Network interface metrics are critical for Always On VPN administrators to understand because they can impact how name resolution requests are processed when an Always On VPN connection is established.

Metric Values

By default, Windows automatically assigns metric values to network interfaces (including VPN interfaces) based on various factors, including the connection speed, link state, and interface type. It tries to select the most suitable interface for general internet connectivity.

Metrics and DNS

Windows will also use the network interface with the lowest metric value as the preferred interface for sending DNS queries by default. This means that DNS queries will be routed through the network interface with the lowest metric value, assuming it is available and connected. When an Always On VPN connection is established, DNS queries may fail or return unexpected results if the network interface metrics are not configured optimally.

Split DNS and Wired Ethernet

Split DNS (sometimes called ‘split brain DNS’) is when the DNS namespace is the same internally and externally. The most common scenario where interface metric settings interfere with DNS operation is when using split DNS and the endpoint is connected to the Internet with a wired Ethernet connection. In this scenario, the Ethernet interface will be assigned the same or lower interface metric value as the Always On VPN interface, which can yield unexpected results.

Viewing Metrics

Always On VPN administrators can view currently assigned interface metric values by running the following PowerShell command.

Get-NetIpInterface

Assigning Metrics

Most Always On VPN administrators will never have to change interface metric settings. However, if your implementation uses split DNS and some of your endpoints connect using wired Ethernet connections, you may need to update the interface metric settings to ensure proper DNS operation. Choose a setting for the interface metric value that is lower than the wired Ethernet interface. I’ve used a value of ‘3’ without issue for many years. Use one of the following methods to update the interface metric for Always On VPN connections.

PowerShell

Updating interface metric settings in Windows can be accomplished by running the Set-NetIpInterface PowerShell command.

Set-NetIpInterface -InterfaceAlias <connection name> -InterfaceMetric 3

Note: Using PowerShell to assign the interface metric is not persistent! While this method is suitable for local validation testing, you should use one of the following methods to implement this change permanently.

Rasphone.pbk

To assign the interface metric permanently, Always On VPN administrators can edit the following settings in the rasphone.pbk configuration file.

IpInterfaceMetric=3

Ipv6InterfaceMetric=3

Administrators can automate updating this setting using the Update-Rasphone.ps1 PowerShell script. In addition, the following scripts can be used with Microsoft Intune remediation.

Detect-DeviceIpv4InterfaceMetric.ps1

Remediate-DeviceIpv4InterfaceMetric.ps1

Detect-DeviceIpv6InterfaceMetric.ps1

Remediate-DeviceIpv6InterfaceMetric.ps1

Detect-Ipv4InterfaceMetric.ps1

Remediate-Ipv4InterfaceMetric.ps1

Detect-Ipv6InterfaceMetric.ps1

Remediate-Ipv6InterfaceMetric.ps1

DPC

Organizations using PowerON Platforms’ Dynamic Profile Configurator (DPC) to manage Always On VPN client configuration settings with Active Directory and group policy or Microsoft Intune can enable the VPN Tunnel Metric setting.

Additional Information

Get-NetIpInterface PowerShell Command

Set-NetIpInterface PowerShell Command

Managing Always On VPN Client Settings with DPC

Always On VPN DPC with Microsoft Intune

Always On VPN DPC Advanced Features

Always On VPN DPC Video Demonstration

PowerON Platforms Always On VPN Dynamic Profile Configurator (DPC)

7 Comments

by Richard M. Hicks on September 25, 2023 • Permalink

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on September 25, 2023

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2023/09/25/always-on-vpn-and-interface-metrics/

Richard M. Hicks Consulting, Inc.

Awards

Pluralsight

Consulting

Newsletter

All posts tagged DPC

Always On VPN RRAS Centralized Monitoring and Reporting