Problems using Vault 2.0.1 over a VPN tunnel

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:04 pm

We have an interesting problem that is very hard for us to track down. Everything seems to work perfectly with Vault when the developer is working locally. Once we try to add a project from a remote location over a VPN Tunnel things start getting strange. We are using version 2.0.1, and the problems happens with both the Stand Alone Vault Client, and the IDE Client, in both VB6, and VS.net. When attempting to add a project to source control the transaction will fail after uploading several files. Some projects upload perfectly, but the ones that fail will always fail on the exact same file, this is even true for developers working from different locations. The client reports that uploading the file failed too many times, so the transaction was aborted. None of the files being uploaded are more then 7k. If all the files are uploaded except for the "bad" file it works fine, but then adding *just* the "bad" file will work when it is uploaded as a single file. There do not appear to be any errors or warning in the server's log file. As far as I can tell we are using an install of Vault with the default installation options, with no modifications made to any config files. We have reinstalled it on both a Windows 2000, and 2003 server with the exact same results.

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:06 pm

Anonymous wrote:We have an interesting problem that is very hard for us to track down. Everything seems to work perfectly with Vault when the developer is working locally. Once we try to add a project from a remote location over a VPN Tunnel things start getting strange. We are using version 2.0.1, and the problems happens with both the Stand Alone Vault Client, and the IDE Client, in both VB6, and VS.net. When attempting to add a project to source control the transaction will fail after uploading several files. Some projects upload perfectly, but the ones that fail will always fail on the exact same file, this is even true for developers working from different locations. The client reports that uploading the file failed too many times, so the transaction was aborted. None of the files being uploaded are more then 7k. If all the files are uploaded except for the "bad" file it works fine, but then adding *just* the "bad" file will work when it is uploaded as a single file. There do not appear to be any errors or warning in the server's log file. As far as I can tell we are using an install of Vault with the default installation options, with no modifications made to any config files. We have reinstalled it on both a Windows 2000, and 2003 server with the exact same results.

This was actually posted by me, I forgot to login.. If you need to email, please use the email from this account.

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:13 pm

buffner,

We've got lots of folks using VPN tunnels to work with our vault server. So far, I haven't experienced or heard of any problems with adding files or checkins through a tunnel.

Just a wild shot, but are your clients wireless? I recently got bit by a configuration parameter in windows xp "wireless zero configuration". If "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" is check, expect some very strange problems with data transfers through the network.

It might also be worth playing with your network MTU size. One easy way to do this on a client machine is with:

http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp

What kind of VPN hardware/software are you using??

Don

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:25 pm

We are using Checkpoint Securemote Client for our VPN. No wireless is involved, strictly Cable modems. There are several different ISPs involved too.

We have evaluated your product for a few days, and decided to purchase it even with this problem, hoping that we could find a solution.

I can clear the log file, and get a fresh copy of what is displayed when it fails. I'm not seeing anything useful in the log, but you may have more insight into it then we do.

sterwill · Post by **sterwill** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:57 pm

Is IE configured to use any web proxies, or are your client machines configured to run personal antivirus products that watch HTTP traffic? These would affect Vault, since it uses the same HTTP libraries as IE. Several proxies don't support current HTTP protocols (Microsoft ISA comes to mind) and require a registry setting to make Vault cope.

Norton Personal Firewall is known to intercept HTTP traffic and mess with the byte stream when it (incorrectly) detects a cross-site scripting vulnerability being exploited as Vault uploads files. This affected one user who could not upload a single PHP file, but your problem seems different (you can upload the file by itself).

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:01 pm

Including the log file.

the contents of the vs.net output window looked like this after attempting to add the solution into Vault.

[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer
[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Transaction completed successfully
---- Operation started at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation started at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation started at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation started at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation started at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation started at time 9:51:15 PM ----
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:51:15 PM ----
[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:15 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer/GumoDesignerHost
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer/ImportRunUOPlugin
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer/SnapToGridPlugin
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:16 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer/WallPaperPlugin
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:17 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/GumoDesignerHost/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:18 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:18 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/ImportRunUOPlugin/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:18 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/SnapToGridPlugin/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:19 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/WallPaperPlugin/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:19 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:19 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/GumoDesignerHost/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:20 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/ImportRunUOPlugin/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/SnapToGridPlugin/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:21 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/WallPaperPlugin/~sak3372424301c41794.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak375b9deb01c41794.sln
[3/31/2004 9:51:22 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak375b9deb01c41794.sln
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:23 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak382b0a8101c41794.tmp
[3/31/2004 9:51:24 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:24 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:24 PM] Checking out file $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak382b0a8101c41794.tmp
[3/31/2004 9:51:24 PM] Checked out file $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak382b0a8101c41794.tmp
[3/31/2004 9:51:25 PM] Undoing check out of file $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak382b0a8101c41794.tmp
[3/31/2004 9:51:25 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:25 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:25 PM] Delete $/dotNET/Gump Designer/~sak382b0a8101c41794.tmp
[3/31/2004 9:51:25 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:25 PM] Transaction completed successfully
---- Operation started at time 9:51:26 PM ----
[3/31/2004 9:51:26 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:26 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:26 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer/Elements
[3/31/2004 9:51:26 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:26 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Create folder $/dotNET/Gump Designer/PropertyEditors
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Transaction completed successfully
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Preparing data to begin transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:27 PM] Beginning transaction
[3/31/2004 9:51:28 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/Gump Designer.sln
[3/31/2004 9:51:28 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/Gump Designer.vssscc
[3/31/2004 9:51:29 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/Plugins.vb
[3/31/2004 9:51:29 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/PluginManager.vb
[3/31/2004 9:51:29 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/PluginManager.resx
[3/31/2004 9:51:29 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/GumpDesignerMain.vb
[3/31/2004 9:51:29 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/Gump Designer.vbproj
[3/31/2004 9:51:30 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/frmSplash.vb
[3/31/2004 9:51:30 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/AssemblyInfo.vb
[3/31/2004 9:51:30 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/DesignerForm.resx
[3/31/2004 9:51:30 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/DesignerForm.vb
[3/31/2004 9:51:31 PM] Add $/dotNET/Gump Designer/frmAboutBox.resx
[3/31/2004 9:52:22 PM] Upload for item $/dotNET/Gump Designer/frmAboutBox.resx failed, retrying...
[3/31/2004 9:53:50 PM] Upload for item $/dotNET/Gump Designer/frmAboutBox.resx failed, retrying...
[3/31/2004 9:55:12 PM] Upload for item $/dotNET/Gump Designer/frmAboutBox.resx failed, retrying...
[3/31/2004 9:55:12 PM] Upload for item $/dotNET/Gump Designer/frmAboutBox.resx failed too many times, aborting transaction
[3/31/2004 9:55:12 PM] Ending the transaction
[3/31/2004 9:55:12 PM] Transaction failed
---- Operation completed successfully at time 9:57:34 PM ----

[/quote]

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:31 pm

I disabled all anti-virus / firewall applications on my computer, and placed my computer directly on teh internet outside of any routing. I'm getting exactly the same results.

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:03 pm

One of the developers just tried dialing into the company network over a modem. He says everything seems to work perfectly with the modem.

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 6:45 am

Try lowering the MTU size on your machine to 1002. See the link to DrTCP earlier in the thread. To use it, select the network adapter (lower left) and set the MTU size on the lower right of the panel.

We tried Linksys VPN to Cisco for awhile, and it almost worked but didn't allow domain logins - which we tracked to an MTU problem between the routers. Eventually, we chunked all our old routers and went with Zywall for all corporate and remote users.

It would be nice to find out if you have a problem with the router, VPN (router/router), or VPN (router/software client). Do other VPN clients work with your router - our roadwarror types use SSH Sentinel. Do you have control over the firewall to allow tests bypassing VPN (expose the vault server and open ports)?

Don

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:13 am

We are planning on exposing the Vault Server directly to the internet today. We do not have direct access to the network firewall, so we have to go through the network admins. I'll post those results as soon as we get a chance to test it.

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:18 am

Preliminary testing seems to show that lower the MTU to 1002 works, but we want to do more testing to be sure. Next problem is figure out why it would need to be set so low, as that could have an effect on network performance.

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:36 am

I think the default MTU size for a MS network is 1500. We're a mainframe software company, and the IBM networks use a slightly smaller MTU size. This has caused us lots of grief over the years. We selected 1002 because it seems to always work for us, and we've never noticed any performance problems with our local network. We regularly move GB files around, and if there is a performance hit, we don't notice.

If this is an MTU problem for your site, you can probably bump up to near 1492, but I wouldn't worry much about MTU if you get a stable network.

Don

sterwill · Post by **sterwill** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:42 am

I wrote a knowledge base article on problems with MTU settings on some routers, but hadn't thought to apply it to this situation with a VPN. I've never setup a VPN before, so I don't know if it's customary to allow in ICMP for connection flow control.

buffner · Post by **buffner** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 10:07 am

After some testing it seems that the largest MTU that will work over our VPN is 1278. Thanks for your help!

I'm glad we choose to go with your company, from what i've seen so far, your support is great. Thanks again.

SourceGear Support

Problems using Vault 2.0.1 over a VPN tunnel

Problems using Vault 2.0.1 over a VPN tunnel

Re: Problems using Vault 2.0.1 over a VPN tunnel