Networked Home Office Printers, ethernet and VPNs?
May 13, 2007, 7:13 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lower Merion Township, PA, (an inner-ring suburb to the Socialist Workers City/State of Philadelphia, PA)
Posts: 596
Networked Home Office Printers, ethernet and VPNs?
I'm trying to figure out how to get a printer with an Ethernet connection to be accessible from a company laptop I have, when a VPN client is running on said laptop.
The printer is connected via Ethernet to a router, and it has (and I can change it) a static IP address. The laptop is also connected to the router, from which it gets an IP address. With no VPN client running on the laptop, I can print to the printer. However, when I run a VPN client to my corporate office, the printer is not accessible. The local IP address the printer has is not visible in the VPN 'tunnel' than extends from my laptop to where the VPN tunnel ends on a switch somewhere on my corporate network.
I'm looking for a workaround for this. I've read about two possibilities, but have not tried either one yet. 1) there are so called link local ip addresses that are not switched (commonly referred to as 169.254/16...Link-local addresses will not route off the local link), and maybe the VPN/secure packets in the router can get to these local IP address this without being routed to my corporate network. Not sure and haven't tried it yet. Second, someone suggested experiment with port forwarding and or NAT on the router. Not sure how that would work, either. Anyone with insights into making this work?
The printer is connected via Ethernet to a router, and it has (and I can change it) a static IP address. The laptop is also connected to the router, from which it gets an IP address. With no VPN client running on the laptop, I can print to the printer. However, when I run a VPN client to my corporate office, the printer is not accessible. The local IP address the printer has is not visible in the VPN 'tunnel' than extends from my laptop to where the VPN tunnel ends on a switch somewhere on my corporate network.
I'm looking for a workaround for this. I've read about two possibilities, but have not tried either one yet. 1) there are so called link local ip addresses that are not switched (commonly referred to as 169.254/16...Link-local addresses will not route off the local link), and maybe the VPN/secure packets in the router can get to these local IP address this without being routed to my corporate network. Not sure and haven't tried it yet. Second, someone suggested experiment with port forwarding and or NAT on the router. Not sure how that would work, either. Anyone with insights into making this work?
May 13, 2007, 8:44 am
#2
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: AA, United
Posts: 280
It is actually protocol dependant.
So if your company is using PPTP as the VPN transport you are going to be basically out of luck.
If you company uses IPSEC to secure the tunnel and they have allowed local lan access then it may work. you will have to find out what the local lan addresses that they allow are and move all of your gear to that subnet. This is often not allowed by your network security guy, who works in the office and doesn't care about your needs.
What kind of VPN client are we talking about here?
So if your company is using PPTP as the VPN transport you are going to be basically out of luck.
If you company uses IPSEC to secure the tunnel and they have allowed local lan access then it may work. you will have to find out what the local lan addresses that they allow are and move all of your gear to that subnet. This is often not allowed by your network security guy, who works in the office and doesn't care about your needs.
What kind of VPN client are we talking about here?
May 13, 2007, 10:13 am
#3
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Portland
Programs: UA 1K, AK Gold 75K, etc. etc.
Posts: 1,660
Most of the routers you buy for home use the 192.168.0.xxx subnet. One problem with working at home while on vpn, is that plenty of devices on your work network will be on that subnet.
I have been successful by changing my home network to the 10.254.25.xxx subnet. I set my router to have the IP address of 10.254.254.1 , and then all the devices on my home network get 10.254.254.xxx ip addresses. This has worked for me to allow my to use my home printers as wireless network printers while using a VPN connection into work.
I have been successful by changing my home network to the 10.254.25.xxx subnet. I set my router to have the IP address of 10.254.254.1 , and then all the devices on my home network get 10.254.254.xxx ip addresses. This has worked for me to allow my to use my home printers as wireless network printers while using a VPN connection into work.
May 13, 2007, 11:38 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Lower Merion Township, PA, (an inner-ring suburb to the Socialist Workers City/State of Philadelphia, PA)
Posts: 596