Access Intranet Site from Home

[end3r]

Hi,

I am not sure what is the best solution for my problem so I really need your advice. Here it goes...
I have an intranet setup at work and I am acessing a web app from let's say IP 192.168.0.40.

The intranet computer from which I am accessing it also has TeamViewer installed on it. This way I can easily create a remote desktop connection from home and access the intranet IP.

My question is how could I access the web application on IP 192.168.0.40 without having to create a remote desktop connection and just accessing that address from the browser on my home computer ?

Thanks,
Ender

[JorgeM]

Private IP addresses are not routable on the internet. When you RDP to that system on the network, you must be accessing a public avaiable IP. This public IP is mapped to the private IP (192.168.0.40) at the edge router/firewall using a port forwarding rule. for example in the case of RDP it would be something like this...

Public IP/Port 3389 --> 192.168.0.40/Port 3389. So from the internet when you open an RDP session and connect to the public IP, the NAT device will map you to the internal host.

For a web site, you would have to do the same for port 80
Public IP/Port 80 --> 192.168.0.40/Port 80

You should be cautious opening these ports. Consult with your network security administrator (assuming that's not you).

The more ports that are open to the internet, the more opportunity you are providing a malicious hacker to gain access to your system via a vulnerability in that network service.

[end3r]

Thanks for answering!

I was actually looking for a workaround like the TeamViewer or something.
I don't have privileges to open ports and stuff like that. I can only use one computer from the intranet and from there I can access the actual server.
So the scheme would be like this:

(SERVER <- PC <--)--- HOME PC
This is accomplished by using TeamViewer but it's pretty inconvenient since it remotely controls the desktop and prevents other users from interacting with it.

So, is there a simple way to access the SERVER by configuring this intranet PC/ installing apps/ etc. ?

[JorgeM]

Ok, so there are some applications that get around the port forwarding option because the app that is running the application within the network establishes a connection outbound first and then allows you to connect back in on that established connection. I'm not familiar with TeamViewer, but I assume its like the other products out there such as gotomyPC.

That's not an option for a web site at this time, because there is no service out there for your website to perform this same process. Can it be done, yes. I assume that this service doesnt exist because it isnt something that you would generally do when implementing web services. This service works well for things like remote desktop.

In any event, at this time, if you want to use a browser to get into your network, your two options are basically...

1. Port Fowarding
2. VPN connection

Does your office network have a VPN connection? If so, then you would first make your VPN connection, then open a browser to access the internal resource.

[end3r]

I think the VPN will work for this case. One more question here, if I create the VPN connection will I be able to access the other computers (e.g. SERVER) from the intranet ?

I'll get back with more details after I'll try.

Thanks!

[JorgeM]

If you are at home and connect to the corporate office via VPN, then it depends on how the VPN server is configured. For most implementations, yes, the VPN connection will allow the remote client access to the internal network. however, that is not always the case. Speak with your VPN administrator. For you not to deal with port forwarinding, either the VPN server has a public IP address, or port forwarding rules are already in place for the VPN server.

Once you are connected, the remote client is basically treated as if it was on the local area network. the VPN tunnel basically creates a layer two connection between you and the VPN server. When the packet leaves your computer, it appears on the internal network. So what you can access once you connect really depends on the configuration.