VPN and Browsing...

[The Computer Valet]

Question regarding VPN...

My wife uses a VPN connection to her office at work.

I've noticed that, when connected, she can't browse the Internet with the browser on her local desktop. Once the VPN connection is terminated, she can.

I presume this is because her computer becomes part of their network and her IE doesn't know how to get outside to the rest of the Internet.

My question:

Is this normal behavior?

Cheers,

m

[Quiet Thunder]

When I have my laptop remotely connected to our network through VPN, I can browse the i-net just fine. Is she connected to the internet through some other means at the same time? (Eg, Cable, DSL). How is she connecting through VPN? It's also possible that when connected through the VPN, all internet activities are controlled by the VPN and are actually going through the company's network, and the company has internet browsing blocked through the VPN. I can't say wether it's normal pratice, but I know I don't suffer a similar situation.

[The Computer Valet]

Well, let's see...

It's a cable connection at the house that we're connecting VPN through. No other concurrent connections, if that's what you mean.

It's a CISCO VPN Utility (the name escapes me at the moment.) That establishes the connection.

Any thoughts?

[futuretech]

Check that the check box for use default gateway is not checked on the VPN settings.
This sounds like the VPN default gateway is being used.

[Commander Klarg]

Even if you can surf while VPN is connected, it is generally a bad idea because of security issues.

[LaSERCHiPs]

Did anyone figure a way to work around this so that the local LAN is not diabled
when connecting through the cisco VPN client?

I would like to know...

[Ya_know]

Did anyone figure a way to work around this so that the local LAN is not diabled
when connecting through the cisco VPN client?

I would like to know...

Just a guess, but selecting additional gateways under Advanced TCP/IP settings might do it. It's been awhile, but I recall using some sort of trick like that before...but I can’t remember which OS I got that to work under…98 or 2k…never messed with XP.

Otherwise, it could be configured at the firewall providing the VPN connection to allow this to occur... I don't know where...just throwing out some guesses, see if this stimulates the thread a bit.

[LaSERCHiPs]

Just a guess, but selecting additional gateways under Advanced TCP/IP settings might do it. It's been awhile, but I recall using some sort of trick like that before...but I can’t remember which OS I got that to work under…98 or 2k…never messed with XP.

I tried this...No success...even changed the metrics to use the local LAn setting first...

Otherwise, it could be configured at the firewall providing the VPN connection to allow this to occur... I don't know where...just throwing out some guesses, see if this stimulates the thread a bit.

I would love to be able to modify this, but it's another company and I don't have any say in how it is setup...

If anybody know the actual steps to disable the "Disable the Local LAN" setting on the cisco VPN client or the server side please let me know maybe I can get the company to do this for me...

Thanks for the info and help (Ya_Know)

[Uncelabe]

Does your wife connect to a PIX??? and if she does do you know the version , if it is 6.0 or better.

Question regarding VPN...

My wife uses a VPN connection to her office at work.

I've noticed that, when connected, she can't browse the Internet with the browser on her local desktop. Once the VPN connection is terminated, she can.

I presume this is because her computer becomes part of their network and her IE doesn't know how to get outside to the rest of the Internet.

My question:

Is this normal behavior?

Cheers,

m

[Linthade]

Well, let's see...

It's a cable connection at the house that we're connecting VPN through. No other concurrent connections, if that's what you mean.

It's a CISCO VPN Utility (the name escapes me at the moment.) That establishes the connection.

Any thoughts?

Any chance she works for American Express?

We have a few A.E. offices that we support that have the same problem. When the VPN client is attached, it overrides the default gateway (as mentioned above) and eliminates any ability to surf elsewhere. Whats worse is that it also interferes with local IP based printing.

*lin*

[cartman101]

I have set up a Cisco VPN to our office, and have the same problem.
I think that it is part of the Cisco security, therefore cannot be overridden.

Same problem occurs using windows XP VPN connections to Cisco firewall.

I think you will just have to live with it.

Sorry

Mike

[silencio]

You do have to live with it. If you were able to connect to the internet through your machine while a VPN connection was established you would have what's called a split tunnel. That's a huge security risk.

Many large companies with VPNs also use a proxy server for security. In order to browse the internet while connected to the VPN you need to add that proxy server to your internet explorer settings. When you're off the VPN you would then need to remove it.