How can I access the internet through a proxy server, when connecting over a VPN?

[Eric Baines]

Access to the internet through a proxy server, when connecting over a VPN

At work, we are using Lumia 640s (GDR2). We are connecting to the work network using a VPN (Junos Pulse), mainly over 4G (when wifi is available we connect, but the connection that is used the most is 4G).

Over the VPN, I can sync to the Exchange server on the network and also access the internal Intranet. This works well - just like a small, portable tablet.

For normal PCs/laptops on the network, access to the internet is via a proxy server. It is normal to specify the name and port of the proxy server in IE (tools, internet options, connections, LAN settings, Proxy server), and when you access the internet, traffic goes to the proxy server, is authenticated by single sign-on and then access is granted.

In the Windows phone, there doesn't seem to be anywhere to set the proxy server name, to allow internet access through a proxy server.

I have heard other people, including students, saying they are having similar problems, but nobody seems to have a solution. I had hoped that GDR2 might present a solution.

Surely it can't be that this most basic functionality is not provided? Does anyone have any solutions that might help?

 

[Qtweeder]

isnt it under Proxy, off/on switch when you click through a currently not-active SSID or hold and choose edit in the wifi list of SSID's? - i can specify server/URL and port, admittedly this is on windows 10 tech preview, but am pretty sure that was there before on 8.1

HTH

 

[Eric Baines]

isnt it under Proxy, off/on switch when you click through a currently not-active SSID or hold and choose edit in the wifi list of SSID's? - i can specify server/URL and port, admittedly this is on windows 10 tech preview, but am pretty sure that was there before on 8.1

HTH

Many thanks for the reply and for trying to help.

If I were connecting directly to the network via wifi, I could use that mechanism, and I think that might work.

However, I'm connecting to the network via a VPN - which could be over public wifi or over 4G. The network used (wifi/4G) is unimportant to the connection as all the data traffic is encrypted, and so data can't get in or out. If I told the wifi connection what proxy to use, that would only be used on the wifi connection - not on the corporate network that I am connecting to.

There is a proxy setting under VPN. However, the documentation says that is for connecting the VPN via a proxy server. I don't; want to do that - I want to connect to the corporate network using a VPN and then breakout of the network to access the internet via a proxy server.

It all sounds very complex, but it is really very, very basic and standard. I just can't believe that MS is aiming at the corporate business and can't do this. There must be a way, and it must be that I'm just being blind in not seeing it.

 

[xibartx]

Split tunneling is not usually allowed through most VPN if security is a concern......are the PCs on the network on the VPN and also allowed to set proxy? or are they just on the internal network itself and allowed such? because they are slightly different scenarios which would be controlled by different processes...

 

[Eric Baines]

Split tunneling is not usually allowed through most VPN if security is a concern......are the PCs on the network on the VPN and also allowed to set proxy? or are they just on the internal network itself and allowed such? because they are slightly different scenarios which would be controlled by different processes...

Many thanks for your reply - it is much appreciated.

No, I'm not after split tunnelling. I want all data traffic to go via the VPN. It is like the VPN is providing the wired Ethernet cable connection from the phone onto the corporate network. It doesn't matter if the VPN is going over the WLAN or over 4G - I have a direct connection onto the corporate network from the phone.

So imagine I have a standard desktop PC in the office, connected via Ethernet cable into my network. My internet explorer browser has its proxy server settings in its connections. The PC talks to the proxy server to get access to the internet. Exactly the same works with a laptop, using public wifi access and a VPN tunnel - I can get internet access via the corporate proxy server.

That is how I want it to be with the phone. The phone has a VPN network connection to the corporate network. All traffic goes over the VPN. For the phone to access the internet, it has to go over the VPN and then speak to the proxy server. All internet access is via the proxy server and is logged on the proxy server.

It works on desktop PCs (or indeed on laptops connecting over the VPN). I'm just struggling to find out how to make it work on the phone over the VPN - and finding it difficult to believe that MS have not provided this mechanism.