JSI Tip 4077. Windows 2000 Remote Access Service logs Event 20171?

If you are running the Windows 2000 Remote Access Service (RAS), have L2TP connections configured, and you are also running the Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server on the same server, you receive:

Event Type: WarningEvent Source: RemoteAccessEvent Category: NoneEvent ID: 20171Description: Failed to apply IP Security on port Server name and L2tp Port number because of error:              The RPC server is unavailable.             No calls will be accepted to this port.

NOTE: L2TP L2TP clients cannot connect to the RAS Server.

This problem is caused by a race condition between the ISA and RAS services.

Microsoft is aware of this problem.

To work around this feature, Microsoft recommends that you set the RAS service to start manually:

1. Administrative Tools / Services.

2. Right-click the Remote Access Service and press Properties.

3. Set the Startup type to Manual.

4. Press Apply and OK.

After you log on, you can manually start the RAS service.

NOTE: You can NOT simply make the RAS service dependant upon the ISA service.

I suggest that instead of the above work around, you configure the RAS service to start manually and schedule a batch job that starts when the system starts. In the batch job, Sleep for approximately 60 seconds and then use the NET START command to start the RAS service.