VMWare and VPN connections

[techno]

Apologies in advance for any confusion in terminology, I am a lowly code monkey and not a network guru

My main client requires me to use a VPN to connect to their corporate network so I can then RDP.

I have three other clients who for the next couple of months I'll also need to be connected to, but they all use different VPN software, so my connections are:


MainClient -> VpnSoftware1 -> Rdp
SubClientA -> VpnSoftware2 -> Rdp
SubClientB -> VpnSoftware3 -> Rdp
SubClientC -> Rdp (no Vpn software needed)


I've had issues in the past with running multiple Vpn software at the same time and conflicting, so my thoughts are:

Use VMWare workstation for my three sub clients as follows:

MainClient -> Desktop -> VpnSoftware1 -> Rdp
SubClientA -> VMWare1 -> VpnSoftware2 -> Rdp
SubClientB -> VMWare2 -> VpnSoftware3 -> Rdp
SubClientC -> VMWare3 -> Rdp (no Vpn software needed)


Would this mean "tunnelling" would happen so that network traffic from the VMWare sessions do not go down the main VpnSoftware1 "pipe"..?

Thanks.

[sal]

Yes that setup will work. Each VM traffic is isolated from the rest.

Also tell the client that allows RDP without VPN that this is a huge security risk.

[techno]

Yes that setup will work. Each VM traffic is isolated from the rest.

Also tell the client that allows RDP without VPN that this is a huge security risk.

Thanks sal

[SimonMac]

Apologies in advance for any confusion in terminology, I am a lowly code monkey and not a network guru

My main client requires me to use a VPN to connect to their corporate network so I can then RDP.

I have three other clients who for the next couple of months I'll also need to be connected to, but they all use different VPN software, so my connections are:


MainClient -> VpnSoftware1 -> Rdp
SubClientA -> VpnSoftware2 -> Rdp
SubClientB -> VpnSoftware3 -> Rdp
SubClientC -> Rdp (no Vpn software needed)


I've had issues in the past with running multiple Vpn software at the same time and conflicting, so my thoughts are:

Use VMWare workstation for my three sub clients as follows:

MainClient -> Desktop -> VpnSoftware1 -> Rdp
SubClientA -> VMWare1 -> VpnSoftware2 -> Rdp
SubClientB -> VMWare2 -> VpnSoftware3 -> Rdp
SubClientC -> VMWare3 -> Rdp (no Vpn software needed)


Would this mean "tunnelling" would happen so that network traffic from the VMWare sessions do not go down the main VpnSoftware1 "pipe"..?

Thanks.

Assuming VpnSoftware1 is not connected 2 & 3 will be unaffected, if however you connect 1 then 2 and 3 will also go down the VPN, unless "force all traffic" (name might differe per product) is not selected

[amanwhoisquiet]

Assuming VpnSoftware1 is not connected 2 & 3 will be unaffected, if however you connect 1 then 2 and 3 will also go down the VPN, unless "force all traffic" (name might differe per product) is not selected

I don't think that's necessarily the case. If the VMs NICs are configured as bridged, rather than NAT, he should be alright.

[sal]

Assuming VpnSoftware1 is not connected 2 & 3 will be unaffected, if however you connect 1 then 2 and 3 will also go down the VPN, unless "force all traffic" (name might differe per product) is not selected

VMs should be by default configured to communicate directly with the router with their own routing tables unaffected by the host system routing tables altered by Vpnsoftware1.

[techno]

I don't think that's necessarily the case. If the VMs NICs are configured as bridged, rather than NAT, he should be alright.

So setting up the VMWare session it was defaulting to NAT for the network adaptor...you're saying I should really have the Bridged option selected instead?

[sal]

So setting up the VMWare session it was defaulting to NAT for the network adaptor...you're saying I should really have the Bridged option selected instead?

Yes, so they can communicate with your internet router directly

[techno]

Yes, so they can communicate with your internet router directly

I've setup the VMWare sessions.

With Bridged connections none of them worked, but when I changed to NAT everything worked as I wanted, which is strange as my understanding from this thread so far suggests they are all using VpnSoftware1 connection from the main desktop, and that scenario never worked when not using VMWare sessions.

I did notice when I did an IPCONFIG on VMWare sessions that they are all individual and not the same as the main desktop, so does that mean they are all "tunnelling" out seperately and one knows nothing of the other?

Maybe I need to get a friendly network person to sit in front of my laptop next time I'm on site

[vwdan]

I've setup the VMWare sessions.

With Bridged connections none of them worked, but when I changed to NAT everything worked as I wanted, which is strange as my understanding from this thread so far suggests they are all using VpnSoftware1 connection from the main desktop, and that scenario never worked when not using VMWare sessions.

I did notice when I did an IPCONFIG on VMWare sessions that they are all individual and not the same as the main desktop, so does that mean they are all "tunnelling" out seperately and one knows nothing of the other?

Maybe I need to get a friendly network person to sit in front of my laptop next time I'm on site

Sometimes you need a quick dive into the actual VMware Workstation Network Configuration Tool - basically, with NAT everything else will see the traffic as being from your computers primary IP. With Bridged Mode, the VM's get their own IP from your router as though they were physically separated giving true 2 way communications. If it works I'd not worry about.