Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I want to use a guest OS via VMware Player. In that OS I run a Cisco VPN client.

My resources are located in two different networks. I need access to them at the same time - but not necessarily in the same GUI.

One solution could be to create two accounts on my guest, and log in to one the "usual way", and the other via remote desktop.

The problem is that when I enable the VPN client, the network connection is system wide, which means that it also affects the remote desktop user.

I would like to get different network interfaces (LAN1, LAN2, LAN3, etc.) separately available for each user. Is that possible?

  • Host: Debian stable x64
  • Guest: Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 R2
  • VMware: VMware Player
share|improve this question

1 Answer

Is your VM networked using NAT (so that outgoing connections use the host IP)? If so, you could use bridged networking instead, which would give the VM its own IP address, and so be presented as a unique source to the VPN gateway. This is provided your outgoing connections are not NATted to a single public IP address as they traverse the internet on the way to the VPN gateway. In which case you'd need a router that supports multiple VPN sessions (you would need this even if the two VPN clients were on two physical boxes).

Update In bridge-mode, the VM gets its own virtual interface. It is bridged to the physical interface just so it can communicate on the ethernet cable plugged into the physical interface. Other than that, it is effectively separate from the IP stack on the physical interface. This means that any routing that takes place on the physical interface isn't relevent - the VM is not even aware of it. It has its own IP address and its own routing table. It gets its IP from your dhcp server on your network or is statically assigned. If it wants to talk to the internet router, it has to do an arp request for it and communicates directly.

Having said all that, the Cisco VPN client is sometimes sneaky. It is possible that it is blocking any traffic traversing the interface it has bound to its VPN adapter that does not originate from the machine it is running on. In which case, you will need a separate nic dedicated to the VM.

share|improve this answer
Do you mean that I should switch to "bridge mode" and create an additional network adapter? - giving me two unique IP:s, where one is associated with the VPN-client, and the other one left for my RDP session?If so, Iǘe actually tried it, but I think the VPN client takes command om the routing table which in effect makes the other network adapter useless. – user99447 Sep 28 '11 at 9:41
my response got a bit long for the comments so is in the main answer. – Paul Sep 28 '11 at 13:27
Thanks for your repies Paul! I fear the Cisco VPN is a sneaky little bastard. When your write "separate nic", does it mather if it is a logical- (vmware virtual device) or physical NIC? – user99447 Sep 29 '11 at 5:42
Traffic from a virtual nic will still traverse the physical nic that the Cisco client is controlling, so physical is the only way (assuming the whole "Cisco stole the nic" premise is correct). – Paul Sep 29 '11 at 5:49
I was hoping a couple of magic lines in the Win7 routing table would solve my issues. Iḿ afraid adding one more physical nic to my laptop just isn´t an option. Thanks for trying to help me out Paul. – user99447 Sep 29 '11 at 8:44
show 2 more comments

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.