Cisco IPSec VPN Client - 5.0.7 Released- Win7 64-bit support

Cisco has officially released a 64-bit version (non-beta) of the IPSec VPN Client, version 5.0.7 (vpnclient-winx64-msi-5.0.07.0290-k9.exe) available for download. Finally a Cisco supported 64-bit version of the IPSec client for Windows 7! It is available for download on CCO but requires a valid CCO login and current contract to get the code.

Do read the release notes, there are caveats for Windows Vista in the release notes so if you are planning on running it on 64-bit Vista make sure you review those. Also, it is important to note there is a specific section titled "Windows 7 and Vista Window Auto-tuning Feature Might Cause Network Timeout Problems" that states:
"Windows 7 and Vista support a feature called "Receive Window Auto-Tuning" that continually adjusts the receive Windows size, based upon the changing network conditions.

Some people reported that auto-tuning causes network timeout problems with some applications and routers. If you have experienced such problems, you can turn it off using the following procedure:

Step 1 Open an elevated command prompt.
Step 2 Enter the following command to disable auto-tuning:
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled


If this solution does not fix the problem, you can turn it back on, as follows:
Step 1 Open up an elevated command prompt.
Step 2 Enter the following command to enable auto-tuning
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

To view the states of the TCP global parameters, use the following command:
netsh interface tcp show global "

So for all of you that have to support Windows 7 64-bit and still have Cisco VPN Concentrators, PIX's and ASA's doing IPSec only you have a valid supported solution now! I don't know why it took so long but it is nice to know you don't have a pay the AnyConnect essentials license if you don't want to. I do like many of the features and advantages with AnyConnect, it just seemed wrong that to get VPN for a 64-bit OS you HAD to use AnyConnect only and pay the premium for the client.
- Ed

Cisco IPSec VPN Client - 5.0.7 BETA - Win7 64-bit support

Cisco has a beta version of the IPSec VPN Client out, version 5.0.7 BETA (vpnclient-winx64-msi-5.0.07.0240-k9-BETA.exe) available for download. It appears they got the message about the need for a 64-bit version of the IPSec client for Windows 7! It is available for download on CCO but requires a valid CCO login and current contract to get the code.

This is great news for Microsoft customers that have Cisco ASA's, PIX's or VPN 3000 concentrators deployed and their IT team is migrating their client OS's to Windows 7. Many OEM's are shipping the default OS as Windows 7 64-bit to take advantage of the all the RAM systems can support today.

Cisco is still pushing their AnyConnect client + ASA platform to compete with Microsoft's DirectAccess solution on Forefront UAG. Cisco is positioning the AnyConnect client as an always ready vpn client that auto-reconnects and is seamless in that process. I don't know if I am buying that position given the flexibility of what DirectAccess can do and how you can manage the policies with GPO's in AD in the Microsoft solution. Plus the fact that once DirectAccess is deployed there is no VPN "client" per-say, it is more of a policy function which is a very unique position in terms of product positioning.

At least if you have a Cisco IPSec solution deployed today you can now leverage it with Windows 7 without requiring any third party software to get around the problem of being on a 64-bit OS.
- Ed