VPN + Internet surfing simultaneously?

[nev_payne]

Heya peps, looooong time no see, I have a question for those budding network people and was wondering if I could get some answers:

We use VPN at work for people outside of the main office to access their e-mail and server drives. However they cannot simultaneously access the internet - and this has become a big annoyance just recently. Is there any way to manipulate the either the VPN or the internet connection to allow for both streams to function?

We would rather not go spending out on 2 physical net connections when 1 will do ofcourse.

Many thanks, and appreciate the help in advance

[Mutley]

Aaah, this is an on-going annoyance for many users of VPN gaining access to work resources. It basically comes down to your vpn concentrator/server and client configuration.
However, as a rule, no, you cannot access non-VPN tunnel resources when you are VPN'd to work. When you are VPN'd, you have tunnelled a secure route through the internet to your work's local area network. To allow VPN clients access to other resources would open a gaping security whole.

Think about it - if you can access the internet outside of the VPN tunnel, the internet can access you, and in effect, your work network....big no-no.

However, some VPN clients allow a configuration which gives you access to local resources - for example a printer. Some allow open access to your LAN, which could be considered dangerous as well.

Soooo, it is annoying, but its just one of those things you have to live with. If you have two computers on your home LAN, if you have one VPN'd to your work, the other should be able to access the internet though.

Hope that helps.

Mut.

[Moby-Dick]

Split Tunneling is generaly considered a bit of a risk - However you should be able to set VPN clients to use a proxy server on your private network which would give you the best of both worlds.

[badass]

Aaah, this is an on-going annoyance for many users of VPN gaining access to work resources. It basically comes down to your vpn concentrator/server and client configuration.
However, as a rule, no, you cannot access non-VPN tunnel resources when you are VPN'd to work. When you are VPN'd, you have tunnelled a secure route through the internet to your work's local area network. To allow VPN clients access to other resources would open a gaping security whole.

Not quite
Most VPN configs drop packets with a hop count over 1

If you are using the Windows 2000/XP VPN client you can enable split tunnels but you have to be prepared to add a static route via the command line for it to work.