We are running several test environments by means of VMware Server 2 on a root server located outside our company's premises. We have to pass through firewalls and proxies for accessing it. Assuming that some of you also want to use VMware virtual machines behind firewalls and proxies, here is a description of how we finally got access working properly:
For VI Web Access and VMware Remote Console, traffic over ports 443 and 902 must pass through all firewalls and proxies so that https and authentication can work. Otherwise you need to tunnel these two ports through ssl:
Install cygwin with ssh and connect-proxy.
These are contained in the cygwin packages "openssh" and "connect-proxy" of the category "Net".
Open a cygwin shell and set up the tunnel with the following command:
# ssh -f -N -C -L 443:localhost:443 -L 902:localhost:902 \
> -o ProxyCommand="/usr/bin/connect-proxy -H <ProxyIP>:<ProxyPort> %h %p" \
> <User>@<VMwareHostIP>
Enter the password for which you should be prompted then.
Launch a browser and access https://localhost.
That's it! You should be redirected to the login screen of VI Web Access. Subsequently the VMware Remote Console should connect and operate as expected. (NOTE: With only port 443 being open through firewalls and proxies you will be able to properly access VMware Infrastructure Web Access but then you will get stuck when launching VMware Remote Console.)
Good Luck!
