iPhone PPTP VPN --> DNS resolution does not work!

[Acejam2k]

Hey all,

I'm trying to access a company intranet website through my company's VPN. We have a simple PPTP VPN server. (MS Server 2k3)

I'm able to connect fine. I'm able to browse to one of our intranet sites via IP address fine. But I cannot browse using hostnames or fully qualified domain names. (FQDNs) All of this si being done through Safari obviously.

Therefore, this means there is a DNS resolution issue. In VPN settings, I've tried setting "Send all traffic" to both on and off, and neither works. (should be on though)

Has anyone else got this to work using either PPTP or even L2TP? (and not CISCO)

[Acejam2k]

Anyone else get non-cisco VPN working?

[rizajj]

same problem here. can VPN into our MS PPTP VPN, but cannot do anything with FQDNs, only IPs.

From my 'research', it appears that one major issue is that OS X (and I'm assuming the iPhone OS) uses the ".local" extension for Bonjour services. Is your VPN's domain end in ".local"? That could be part of it. In OS X, you can just say that ".local" domain should be included in the VPN settings for traffic. But we dont have that option on the iPhone.

So, my impression is, if you have a ".local" domain, it simply won't work. Bummer.


Someone prove me wrong!!!

[JamboUK]

I was just doing a search for the solution to the exact same problem. I can use IP addresses to go where I want on the network once VPN is established but I cannot use DNS - which is ideally what I need.

My router is a Vigor (so again no Cisco) and I connect using PPTP. Be nice to have some help on this!!

[JamboUK]

same problem here. can VPN into our MS PPTP VPN, but cannot do anything with FQDNs, only IPs.

From my 'research', it appears that one major issue is that OS X (and I'm assuming the iPhone OS) uses the ".local" extension for Bonjour services. Is your VPN's domain end in ".local"? That could be part of it. In OS X, you can just say that ".local" domain should be included in the VPN settings for traffic. But we dont have that option on the iPhone.

So, my impression is, if you have a ".local" domain, it simply won't work. Bummer.


Someone prove me wrong!!!

and yes we also have a .local domain.

[Mindflux]

Same thing here. No DNS resolution.

[JamboUK]

Same thing here. No DNS resolution.

Well at least I now know I am not alone and doing something wrong. Which is small consulation!:D

[tjmarques]

I was having the same problem on my mac and completely disabling ipv6 in vpn settings worked. maybe the same holds true for the iphone?

[Blackforge]

FQDNs via my work's MS PPTP VPN work fine for me. Using just the hostname does not work though. Our internal domain ends in .com though.

[sdsvtdriver]

Are you receiving IP/DNS automatically or are you setting it statically?

[Acejam2k]

Are you receiving IP/DNS automatically or are you setting it statically?


Everything is dhcp, so that would be automatically. It sounds like there may be an issue with .local domain extensions.

[bradhs]

iPhone 4 and same problem... Anyone know of a solution? I really need this to work.

Everything is dhcp, so that would be automatically. It sounds like there may be an issue with .local domain extensions.

[lhs0002]

I'm not use to take part of a forum, Iphone VPN , I think find the bug,
After finish you conf in VPN , just on /off then when he try to connect, go back to the conf and you will see the DNS to reach, just push your finger on the DNS to force VPN to use this DNS.
Voila Thanks. For me it work, otherwise you can also use GuizmoOVPN.:)

[bradhs]

I didnt find any DNS settings/status/config while the VPN is on or off.

Maybe that's the issue? The iPhone is not properly requesting/receiving DNS from the Microsfot RRAS server.

I'm not use to take part of a forum, Iphone VPN , I think find the bug,
After finish you conf in VPN , just on /off then when he try to connect, go back to the conf and you will see the DNS to reach, just push your finger on the DNS to force VPN to use this DNS.
Voila Thanks. For me it work, otherwise you can also use GuizmoOVPN.:)

[lorenz meier]

Hey all,
Has anyone else got this to work using either PPTP or even L2TP? (and not CISCO)


Here's the solution if you are using the open source PPTPD server (my example: Ubuntu 10.04). I will be using the Google DNS servers, but feel free to use yours:

sudo nano /etc/ppp/pptpd-options

Make sure the following lines are enabled. Note that you have to provide dns AND wins servers for the iPhone to correctly set the dns!



ms-dns 8.8.8.8
ms-dns 4.4.4.4

ms-wins 8.8.8.8
ms-wins 4.4.4.4



Hope it helps
Cheers
Lorenz

[bryan1884]

I would imagine this is not possible without being able to edit the host file on the iPhone.

[lorenz meier]

I would imagine this is not possible without being able to edit the host file on the iPhone.

You don't edit anything on the iPhone...this is the configuration of your PPTP server, and it makes sure the right info about the DNS servers is pushed across to the iPhone.

[iPhone Addict]

Any way to get this to work if I'm using Win7 VPN server with an iPhone 4 as the client?

I can browse via IP addresses once I connect to my Win7 VPN but cannot browse to any sites with the actual website name.

Thank you.

[polychro]

This thread has been going on for 2 years (2.5 now). No solution to this problem? I have no problem with my MacBook Pro but both iphone 4 and iPad2 (both on iOS 5.01) connect to a win xp pptp server but no DNS resolution.
Thanks for any help anyone could provide.