Supported Number of VPN Connections in Routing and Remote Access
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2
Remote access clients connect to remote access VPN servers that run Routing and Remote Access Services (RRAS). A variety of VPN connection types are supported by RRAS, and each connection type can be configured to support a varying number of connections. In addition, some editions of Windows have limits on the total number of VPN connections that can be active simultaneously. The following table shows the maximum total number of active VPN connections that are supported by an RRAS server running on the specified versions and editions of Windows.
| Version / Edition of Windows | Maximum total number of VPN Connections |
|---|---|
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition |
1000 |
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions |
Unlimited |
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Editions |
250 |
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions |
Unlimited |
Note
Although each VPN connection type supported by RRAS can be configured individually to support a specified number of connections up to the maximum, the computer still only supports the maximum number of VPN connections as specified in the preceding table. So, configuring a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition with 250 PPTP ports, 250 L2TP/IPsec ports, 250 SSTP ports, and 250 IKEv2 ports does not mean that the computer can now support 1000 simultaneous VPN connections; it can still handle only the per server maximum of 250 VPN connections.
Note
The Enterprise and Datacenter Editions state “Unlimited” connections, which means that there is no built-in limit imposed by Windows. Instead, the maximum number of connections is determined by the available hardware resources of your server. Available CPU processing power, the amount of free memory, and available network bandwidth become the constraining factors.