National Executive Personnel

Access to Application Server.

NEP's executive management database resides on a secure server. Access is granted by userid and password that is assigned by system administrator. Once you have your userid and password you will be able to access they system. You will be required to periodically change your password as a security measure. Security exists at two levels. The first one is Virtual Private Network (VPN). The second is Windows System Logon security used by Terminal Services in order to establish a session with the server. Setup on your computer is simple but must be done in two procedures, each representing a layer of the security.

1. Connect using VPN.

2. Establish a Remote Desktop Connection.

3. Printing

4. FAQ

These instructions assume that you have Windows XP Professional installed as the operating system on your computer.

1. Connect using VPN.

To do this you are going to use the "Network and Dial-Up Connections" function of Windows. You will be creating a new connection that will establish the VPN connection to the server.

Go to "Start", "Control Panel", "Network and Internet Connections", "Network Connections", click "Create a new connection" As show here.
You will see the Welcome Wizard, click Next.
Select the Connect to the network at my workplace and click Next.
Select the Virtual Private Network Connection and click Next.
Enter a name for this connection. It can be anything.  

Now you enter an address on the Internet that identifies the NEP server location. The address is "www.nepconnect.com". You MUST enter this just as shown. This is how you computer connects across the Internet, based on this address.

Backup Connection. To access backup connection when activiated create a second VPN connection but instead of using nepconnect.com as above, use the IP address 24.173.144.52. This will allow you to use an alternate VPN. Once established use your remote desktop like always.

Check the Add a shortcut to my desktop then click Finish.
You will then be prompted to connect. Fill in your userid and password then select Connect. You should not check the box to save the userid and password as this allows anyone using your computer to connect.
When the connection is established you will see a network icon in the lower right corner. Remember when you finish your connection to right-click this icon and "disconnect" the connection.
   
   
   

2. Establish a Remote Desktop Connection.

Now use the displayed options to go to Remote Desktop Connection.
You will be prompted to enter the IP address of the computer. Use the IP address of 192.168.22.3 to connect to the NEP server.
If you select Options you will see a screen similar to this. Click Connect and you will be show a logon screen on the NEP server.

Once you have a session on the NEP server you will see an icon for EZ Access. Sometimes remote sessions are confusing because you forget that you are not running on your local computer but on a remote computer.

Periodically you will be required to change you password. Password rules will require you to enter an 8 character password composed of numbers and letters. It cannot be a password you have used before and cannot be the same as your userid.

Printing

Using Remote Desktop you will obviously want to print reports and such. Printing can be a challenge. This is because your session is running on a computer that is not at your location, yet you want to print on a printer that is attached to the computer at your location. To do this Remote Desktop has to establish a virtual printer on the remote computer that is an exact match for the printer attached to your computer. What this means is the virtual printer must have identical drivers to your local printer. Since there are literally thousands of printers available this can be a challenge.

The best way to increase the chance of success when printing is to use a printer that is very common. For this reason below will be a list of supported and tested printers. If you venture outside this list you must submit the driver set of the printer you use and we will try to make it work.

Remote desktop, in order to keep the number of virtual printers down attempts to only create virtual printers when the local printers are attached with a parallel cable. So if possible use a parallel attach printer (LPT1) and you will also have better success. USB attached printers are a challenge to make work.

  • All Hewlett-Packard laserjet printers.
  • Most Hewlett-Packard Deskjet printers.

Download Registry Fix for USB printers - click on this link, do a "Save" operation. After file is downloaded, double click on it and it will prompt you to enter entries into registry. Do so and it will modify your computer to search for all printers, even USB when doing a Remote desktop connection.

FAQ -More Information

1. Can I access my email using a web browser on any computer connected to the Internet?
2. When I first attempt to connect I get Error 800, unable to access VPN. I am using broadband access and a router.
3. VPN will not make connection.
4.. I've connected using the VPN connection, accessed the NEP server but when I try to access the Internet on my local computer I get Page Not Found message in the browser.
5. I cannot change printer characteristics like landscape from within EZ Access.

 

1. Can I access my email using a web browser on any computer connected to the Internet?

Yes - Outlook Web Access is supported for NEP email. Simply use the address http://www.nepconnect.com/exchange/userid where userid is your userid. You will then be prompted for your password. If the prompt asks for a domain use "nepconnect" as the domain.

2. When I first attempt to connect I get Error 800, unable to access VPN. I am using broadband access and a router.

Obviously there can be many reasons for this but the first thing to check is does your router support VPN (PPTP) passthrough? Most of the newer routers do support VPN but some of the less expensive one do not. Especially ones supplied by your broadband vendor. Stick with the better Linksys, Netgear, or DLINK routers. If you have this problem you must contact the manufacturer of the router.

3. VPN will not make connection.

  • See Above for Router problem.
  • Do you have a firewall blocking incoming and outgoing sessions? If so tell it to allow the VPN (PPTP)session or turn the firewall off.
4.. I've connected using the VPN connection, accessed the NEP server but when I try to access the Internet on my local computer I get Page Not Found message in the browser.
This happens because the default gateway for accessing the Internet is via the VPN connection you just established. The better way would be to NOT use the VPN connect but simply access the Internet like normal, via your standard connection to the Internet. The following instructions will show you how to change the default gateway and solve this issue.
Go to Start, Control Panel.
Select the Network Connections.
There you will see all network connections but we are only interested in the connection that you configured to VPN to NEP. Right click on this connection and select "Properties".
Once in the Properties Select the Networking Tab.
Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to select and then click Properties.
Next Click the Advanced button.
Now you see the culprit. You must uncheck the use default gateway option.
Once unchecked press OK on each screen to save changes and exit.
You will now be able to access the Internet for web, email, etc.
5. I cannot change printer characteristics like landscape from within EZ Access.

There is a problem with EZ Access changing printer settings in a Terminal Server environment. As a work around you can change the printer from outside EZ Access and then EZ Access will use those printer settings.

To identify a printer you need to know your computer name. This can be found by right clicking My Computer, Properties, Network Identification. When you connect remotely a virtual printer is built on the server that connects back via the VPN connection to the printer that is directly attached to your desktop computer. The printer is identified by Printername/Computer name/Session id. This is why it is important to know your computer name.

To change printers click Start, Settings, Printers. You may have to select Control Panel if the Printers selection is not shown.

As you see on screen the printer for this example belongs to the computer named "WEBWORK". Simply right click on this printer, select Properties then click the button "Printing Preferences". On the next screen click "Basics" and you can change the Portrait/Landscape option for the printer.