RDP to Desktop VM connected to VPN

rdpvmware-esxivpn

We use a variety of VPN connections (Sonicwall, Cisco, Nortel, all sorts) to connect to client networks.

We make all these connections from ESXi Virtual Machines running Windows XP at our various datacenters.

Me@home –VPN–> VM @ datacenter –VPN–> Client_Network

Because RDP doesn't usually work when the VM is connected to a client network, we're resorting to the VSphere Client to connect to the VMs. Over a VPN to the VM, it's painful.

What are our options to make this less painful?

  1. Changes to the client VPN tunnels (split tunneling) is NOT an option. Many wouldn't allow it.
  2. Change the VM infrastructure? Is there are different VM product or configuration that might work better?
  3. Change the VM? Would adding having the RDP connection listen on a second virtual NIC make any difference?

What would be your perfect solution? What would be worth a try?

Best Answer

There is a way to enable a VNC server port to the VM console by adding some settings to the VMX file (or advanced settings in the VM properties). Information about it is at:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1246

Using the VNC client instead of the vSphere client might be a little less painful. It will should be much faster than the vSphere console (since you can change color depth and such) and once it is setup on the VM, you can connect to it without needing to load up the vSphere client (maybe even creating some VNC client shortcuts to specific VMs by port).

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