VPN confusion

[bjdobs]

I have gone through many faq's trying to find an answer to this question ...

When connecting via VPN client over the internet why are all the other Internet and local services blocked? (The short and simple answer I assume is security but this is not implied or mentioned as being a side effect of using VPN) ... Once I have connected to the host the machine I can no longer see my local network (file sharing) or get email ... am I missing something or is this normal ... if this is normal then I guess what is required is a VPM (virtual private machine) to then be used to connect via VPN so your local fuctionality is not broken.

 

[lgarner]

It depends upon which VPN client you're using, but I suspect that it's set to use the remote gateway as the default. It's been my experience that you should still see computers on your local LAN, but of course I haven't tried all VPN clients.

 

[John Lewis]

When a VPN is established, there is a trusted relationship between the client and the server. If the client is allowed to have other connections, it is possible for non-trusted content to make it's way from the outside world to the client then on to the server.

There are other ways to deal with the issue, but many VPN vendors/admins feel that what you are describing is the best, so that's what you get. Depending upon the client software involved and how it is packaged, you may or may not be allowed/able to change the behavior.