Connecting using VPN

This article describes how to connect to your private cloud after you have a point-to-site VPN gateway set up.

To establish a site-to-site connection between your on-premises network and your private cloud, use Cloud VPN or Cloud Interconnect instead. For more details about Cloud VPN and Cloud Interconnect, see Choosing a Network Connectivity product.

Before you begin

This process requires you to have a point-to-site VPN gateway. For details on creating one, see VPN gateways.

Connect to VMware Engine using point-to-site VPN

To connect to VMware Engine from your computer, you need a VPN client and a connection profile. Examples of VPN clients are OpenVPN GUI for Windows or Viscosity for macOS and OS X.

Get a connection profile

A connection profile, sometimes known as a VPN configuration file, includes certificates and other instructions for a VPN client. Download your connection profile from the VPN gateway that you plan to use to connect to your VMware Engine network.

For example, OpenVPN Access Server provides connection profiles either as setup files or as part of pre-configured VPN client installers. You can then connect to OpenVPN Access Server using that connection profile. Connection options include the following, among others:

Example: Importing the VPN connection using Viscosity

  1. Extract the contents of the VPN configuration from the downloaded zip file.
  2. Open Viscosity on your computer.
  3. Click Add and select Import connection > From file.
  4. Select the OpenVPN configuration file (.ovpn) for the protocol you want to use, and click Open. The connection now appears in the Viscosity menu.
  5. In the Viscosity OpenVPN client, connect to the VPN by selecting the connection from the Viscosity menu. The menu icon updates to indicate that the connection is established.

Example: Connecting to multiple private clouds using Viscosity

A point-to-site VPN connection resolves the DNS names of the first private cloud that you create. When you want to access other private clouds, you must update the DNS server on your VPN client.

  1. Access the VMware Engine portal.
  2. Go to Resources.
  3. Click the name of the private cloud you want to connect to.
  4. On the Summary page of the private cloud, under Basic Info, copy the private cloud DNS server IP address.
  5. Right-click the Viscosity icon in your computer's system tray, and select Preferences.
  6. Select the VPN connection name, and click Edit to change the connection properties.
  7. On the Networking tab, enter the following information:
    • Servers: private cloud DNS server IP addresses, separated by a comma or space
    • Domains: the domain gve.goog
    • Select the Ignore DNS settings sent by VPN server checkbox.