User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Programmer's Nook »

Tunneling Firefox through a (work/OpenVPN) VPN


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
Tunneling Firefox through a (work/OpenVPN) VPN
Thread Tools
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-11-11, 10:36

Is there a way I can make Firefox on macOS tunnel through a work VPN? Just Firefox for now, but I might need to do other applications as well.

Really, I'm trying to ditch my work VM (PC) and go all Mac on it. Thing is I need a VPN to connect to resources I manage, like almost everything I do has to be through the VPN. However, there are a bunch of resources that are general browser based connections. Since some of those connections would go through the VPN on my work machine, even my DNS request pass through my company DNS servers.

I have all the O365 Enterprise apps I need available on macOS. RDCMan is the biggest thing I'll miss, but I'm looking at something from Devolutions for that gap.

What I may try to do is put my work VM on my ESXi host and then remote to it for the things I need the VPN for. It would just be nice if I can make it so only Firefox is on the VPN then I can use it for logging into those work resources and leave Safari for my general browsing.

I'm using Viscosity for my VPN client in both the PC and macOS systems if that makes a difference.

Thinking about this more as I'm typing, I would need the remote consoles from vCenter to also be through the tunnel as well as most of the RDP sessions.

Hmmm....

I can just connect my Mac to the corp VPN and it wouldn't be a problem, but then all my personal use traffic on the laptop goes through their DNS and ISP. I'd really like there to be a separation between personal and professional internet access.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-11-13, 16:08



Clearly I'm pushing the edge again.
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
Send a message via ICQ to chucker Send a message via AIM to chucker Send a message via MSN to chucker Send a message via Yahoo to chucker Send a message via Skype™ to chucker 
2021-11-13, 16:16

I read that original post when you made it and… hm.

I don't think macOS has a mechanism for per-process routing.

You could use something like Docker, but on macOS, that's a VM anyway, and you wouldn't really have a GUI, so probably not practical.

There's browser with built-in VPN, such as Opera, but I'm guessing they wouldn't let you pass a custom config.

Your best bet… maybe do in fact run Firefox in a macOS VM?
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2021-11-16, 09:06

At this point I moved my work VM to my hackintosh and just RDP into it for my tunneling needs. I don't like this method, but it is the simplest and offloads the VM to another machine. This gives me longer to live on this 2016 MBP before I feel forced to upgrade.

I also need to figure out how to better set defaults for "work" and defaults for "personal". Focus doesn't change defaults so I might look at scripts or Automator to accomplish this. Really, it is getting way more convoluted than I want, but I don't want to be bound to the VM.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
VPN by iPhone work but at MacBook doesn't work! why ? Jingol Genius Bar 6 2013-09-13 10:38
SSH tunneling ShiggyMiyamoto Genius Bar 22 2008-05-28 11:09
openvpn help ast3r3x Genius Bar 0 2007-10-27 10:13
FireFox stops reacting to input, menus still work ghoti Third-Party Products 3 2006-01-16 09:13
Using ssh tunneling to get around ISP-blocked ports noleli2 Genius Bar 0 2004-07-26 12:53


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 14:53.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova