VPN connection issue

[mconners]

Folks,

Over the weekend, I connected to our ARD system using a VPN connection. It worked great for what I needed. Now I have a few Macs trying to reach back through our firewall and getting their data cut off. I can remotely connect to them, get to the internet just fine. When they attempt to download software from Apple, they get a network error.

This is new to me. Should I be flushing the DNS cache on these systems? Isn't DNS flushed while performing a restart?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

mick

[davidacland]

Hi Mick,

Do you mean you can connect to them using ARD and load web pages on the remote Mac ok but not download software from Apple?

What method are you using to download software? (Mac App Store, Apple website, software update server, something else?).

[mconners]

Hi David,

Yes, I can remotely connect to these Macs. I can even get out onto websites on these Macs. The network team is telling me these Macs are hitting our firewall and being shunned for an hour. What I don't know is why they are hitting the firewall and being shunned. The suspicion is when I was connecting to them remotely over the weekend, these Macs somehow remembered my VPN address and are trying to communicate through it. Which won't work.

The software download is happening when we connect an Epson printer via USB. Then when we click add, the client goes out to connect to Apple to download the software. It is at this point, it is failing.

Strange for sure...

Mick

[davidacland]

It doesn't sound like the VPN connection is part of the problem. Most likely the specific URL or port being accessed is being blocked. I would push it back to your network team.

I'd assume that if you took one of these Macs and connected it to a "normal" unfiltered Internet connection it would download the drivers fine.