I have the Cisco VPN installed and working under XP, I can connect and am able to access the VPN resources. I was hoping that when I connected to the VPN in XP that somethow the bridge network connection being used by Ubuntu would also be able to send its traffic across its connection but that is not the case.
Next, I thought that if I changed the bridge connection in Windows to bridge the Ubuntu adapter and the Cisco adapter that I would be able to communicate across the VPN with Ubuntu and with Windows. This was a total fail, I lost network connectivity on both sides.
Before pressing on I wanted to know if what I am trying to do is even possible, If it is then I can pursue working towards a proper configuration. Just to complicate things there is an anomaly about my office VPN which may be contributing to the problem, or maybe the problem in its entirety.
What is different about my VPN connection to the office (at least it is different than any other VPN I have used) is that I lose all of my local connections (printers, servers on my local net, NAS devices, etc) when I connect to the VPN. This has nothing to do with VirtualBox or the bridging and is 'normal" according to the people who set up the office VPN. I guess it is an extra layer of security but it is a pain in the rear.
If it is possible to do what I am attempting in a "normal" VPN installation then I can approach the VPN people and see if they can work with me to get this functioning. If it is something that I am doing wrong then I can continue to press forward and try to get this work. If it is something that is just not possible, well then I can just move on. I just want to understand which direction to take.
Thanks
g