I am troubleshooting in order to get OpenVPN client settings to work in Linux guest on Windows 10 Pro host with the VPN server on the Internet. I have the latest versions of everything installed in guest and host, which is running on a laptop with two network adapters. I would like to have the Linux guest set up to use bridged network connection with exclusive use of one of the host's network adapters, and it is through this adapter that I would have the OpenVPN connection bonded. Currently, I have the network assigned to this adapter by Windows host as a public, not private, network; and I have the Windows' host configured with Network Discovery disabled.
What I am wondering is whether it would be necessary to have the adapter running on a private network instead of a public one and whether I need to have Windows host with Network Discovery enabled before I can even hope to get the VPN connection operational. Any informed ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
OpenVPN and Network Discovery
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BillG
- Volunteer
- Posts: 5106
- Joined: 19. Sep 2009, 04:44
- Primary OS: MS Windows 10
- VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
- Guest OSses: Windows 10,7 and earlier
- Location: Sydney, Australia
Re: OpenVPN and Network Discovery
Things don't become VirtualBox issues just because the machine is running as a vm under VirtualBox. If you are using bridged mode networking, a problem like this is identical whether the machine is a vm or a physical host on the LAN.
Looking at it as a network problem, I can't see why making the network private will have any effect on the performance on a VPN connection. VPN was designed to operate across the Internet. All file-sharing information would be included in the encrypted and encapsulated payload of the VPN packets and would be unaware of the state of the network used to transport it. The whole point of a VPN connection is to make the client behave as if it was directly connected by a (slow) direct link regardless of the underlying transport link.
Looking at it as a network problem, I can't see why making the network private will have any effect on the performance on a VPN connection. VPN was designed to operate across the Internet. All file-sharing information would be included in the encrypted and encapsulated payload of the VPN packets and would be unaware of the state of the network used to transport it. The whole point of a VPN connection is to make the client behave as if it was directly connected by a (slow) direct link regardless of the underlying transport link.
Bill
Re: OpenVPN and Network Discovery
Hi, BillG.
I appreciate your input; it was helpful. I also understand your point about the question not necessarily being related to Virtualbox per-se merely because it arises while using Virtualbox. However, it is not entirely true that "bridged mode networking... is identical whether the machine is a vm or a physical host on the LAN" because I am running into an issue as a result of the way that Virtualbox identifies my network adapters to select from in the GUI, while on Windows 10 Pro with the latest version of Virtualbox.
I have two network adapters attached to separate USB ports on this machine. In Windows' Network Connections Adapter Properties dialogue, these two adapters have the very same "Device Description" and drivers. Consequently, when I use the drop-down selection box in Virtualbox in order to select one of the system's attached NICs, I do not see this adapter listed twice, but only once. Since I am aware of no way to alter this adapter's description, though I have looked around at it a bit, I cannot distinguish which one I want the VM to use in this case; nor am I even sure whether it might select different ones at different times. I'm just not certain how it would handle the issue since it already seems to have failed to see them separately.
Incidentally, I managed to get around the problem by making use of a different adapter in place of one of these. I also got this VM to function with OpenVPN now, running on Linux guest, thanks in part to your earlier response, which at least allowed me to eliminate some of the possible pitfalls to consider. I am not a networking expert, and confirmation is helpful at times. Thanks, again.
I appreciate your input; it was helpful. I also understand your point about the question not necessarily being related to Virtualbox per-se merely because it arises while using Virtualbox. However, it is not entirely true that "bridged mode networking... is identical whether the machine is a vm or a physical host on the LAN" because I am running into an issue as a result of the way that Virtualbox identifies my network adapters to select from in the GUI, while on Windows 10 Pro with the latest version of Virtualbox.
I have two network adapters attached to separate USB ports on this machine. In Windows' Network Connections Adapter Properties dialogue, these two adapters have the very same "Device Description" and drivers. Consequently, when I use the drop-down selection box in Virtualbox in order to select one of the system's attached NICs, I do not see this adapter listed twice, but only once. Since I am aware of no way to alter this adapter's description, though I have looked around at it a bit, I cannot distinguish which one I want the VM to use in this case; nor am I even sure whether it might select different ones at different times. I'm just not certain how it would handle the issue since it already seems to have failed to see them separately.
Incidentally, I managed to get around the problem by making use of a different adapter in place of one of these. I also got this VM to function with OpenVPN now, running on Linux guest, thanks in part to your earlier response, which at least allowed me to eliminate some of the possible pitfalls to consider. I am not a networking expert, and confirmation is helpful at times. Thanks, again.