How to connect to the FrankfurtDatacenter?
How to connect to the Frankfurt Datacenter
Table of contents:
VPN Connection
If you need to access one of the servers in the Datacenter
What is VPN?
Why VPN
How to configure IPSec VPN
Advantages
Known problems
How to connect to the servers
Consol access
Configuring/Using MS Remote Desktop for Consol access (to Windows 2003 server)
How to transfer files between the servers and my PC
How to Transfer files with FTP
How to Transfer files with Remote Desktop Client
Troubleshooting
Support
VPN Connection
If you need to access one of the servers in the Datacenter
Contact Technical Services for a user name and password.
Contact Technical Services for the IP addresses of the servers you want to connect to.
Go to the web site: get your account enabled. (By default all account are disabled. When you need access, after filling form in you can get in enabled. Your account will be valid for some days only. The activation length you can specify. Your datacenter access will be logged!)
Establish a VPN connection to the Datacenter
Connect to the server via its private IP address. (VPN traffic is filtered! You can use ONLY Microsoft Terminal Services to connect. Direct file copy from your workstation is not possible to the servers!)
When you have finished your task, log off from the server, disconnect the VPN connection.
What is VPN?
Virtual Private Network : VPN
It is similar to a standard dial up connection. With VPN you are using an existing network connection to dial, instead of a phone line.
So, for VPN you need an IP address to connect to, instead of a phone number.
If you are using a phone line to connect to the internet, first dial in to the internet, and as soon as you have Internet connectivity, connect to the VPN server.
When you have a VPN connection established, you get an IP address from the remote network. With this IP address you can work on the remote network as if you were sitting there. (In this case in the Datacenter, next to the servers)
Why VPN
It is a secure way to connect to remote servers behind a firewall.
When you establish a VPN session, you build up a tunnel between your computer and the remote network. All the traffic is encrypted.
Easy to configure
How to configure IPSec VPN
Download Cisco VPN Client from
Install Cisco VPN Client (Default install), restart your PC
Open Cisco VPN Client, import the connection file (.pcf) you downloaded from
Click Connect and type your password
Advantages
You will not loose your Internet connection while you are connected to the Datacenter
Easy to configure, as we prepare the connection import files for you
Known problems
If you are behind a firewall, VPN might not work if the firewall won’t let you use VPN. In this case contact your system administrator. (Open UDP 500, 4500, 62514 ports). We CANNOT provide a solution for these situations (only some technical help for the system administrators).
How to connect to the servers
You have 2 ways to connect to a windows based server:
-Consol access - With Microsoft Remote Desktop (former Terminal Client)
- You get the screen of the server, you see exactly the same as if you were sitting in front of the monitor.
- If you leave an application running there, the next user can see that application
-Terminal access – With Microsoft Remote Desktop (former Terminal Client)
- Your session is running in the background.
- Nobody else BUT you can see what you are doing there
- Looks like you sit in front of the server, BUT it is ONLY a background session. Some applications might fail (especially during install) when you start them, as they are not “Terminal services aware”
- Only 2 terminal users can connect concurrently (in the same time)
Consol access
PcAnywhere is not supported in our datacenter
For Windows 2003 servers you need to use MS Remote Desktop Client with /CONSOLE option
On the newer mstsc.exe you need to use the mstsc - ADMIN switch to connect to the console session.
Configuring/Using MS Remote Desktop for Consol access (to Windows 2003 server)
Make sure you have the Remote Desktop client software installed
- If you have WindowsXP or later you have it by default
- If not, you can download the client setup files from (log in, and select download. Then download msrdpcli.zip (MS Remote Desktop Client)
You need to install the correct x86 or x64 file from the zip.
Create a new shortcut for it. DO NOT USE THE ORIGINAL SHIRTCUT for CONSOL access!!! The original shortcut will connect as Terminal Client. You need to put “%SystemRoot%\System32\mstsc.exe -admin” to the shortcut. The -ADMIN option is VERY important. If you don’t have that, you will NOT GET the consol session.
Open it
Type the server name / IP address and connect
Then type your VPN User name and password to connect
How to transfer files between the servers and my PC
You have 2 options
Using SFTP (using the central SFTP server)
Using remote consol application (Remote Desktop for Windows2003 servers)
How to Transfer files with FTP
Connect to VPN
Connect to the SFTP server (10.31.1.23) with any SFTP client running on your PC
For example: WinSCP
You can use the Temp folder to upload/download files
Log on to the server where you want to transfer the files (with Remote Desktop client) using the same user you used for upload/download the files.
You can copy files from/to the FTP folder from the server using \\10.31.1.23\ftp$ or it should be automatically mapped to the W: drive
How to Transfer files with Remote Desktop Client
Connect to VPN
Open Remote Desktop Client (mstsc.exe)
Click Options, Local Resources tab
Select “Disk Drives” at Local Devices section
Connect to the server you want to transfer files. Open explorer, and you should see you local folders on your PC. You can browse them and transfer files
Troubleshooting
VPN
If you cannot connect with VPN and the error message says “No answer from the server” then
- MICROS Internal: try to ping 172.28.50.241 (to check the MPLS connectivity)
- From the public internet: try to ping 213.70.228.195(to check the Internet connectivity)
- Ping name of the VPN server to check if the name resolution works fine (check if you get an IP address back, don’t worry if it times out, ping to that device is blocked probably)
- If the connection is up, and you are behind a firewall, ask your system administrator to open the required ports for VPN (see VPN section)
If the system rejects your authentication, make sure you are using the domain name.
Terminal Services
If there are more than 2 users using the server with Terminal services, you will not be able to connect. If a session is stacked, and you would like to kill it, do the following:
- Connect to another server in the same domain
- Open Terminal Services Manager from the administrative tools, select the server, and kill the stacked session.
Support
If you need any help call the 24/7 Technical Support number of the Micros-Fidelio Frankfurt datacenter.
Contact via E-mail:
DOCUMENT: Connect to HHDC.doc Author: Karoly Laczi, Technical Services Page 1 of 7