Infrastructure Client over SOCKS/HTTP proxy

[webhead]

I'm trying to setup remote access for users with Infrastructure Client 2.5.0 in windows to a Virtual Center Server 2.0 and/or ESX servers 3.5.0 using a proxy or tunnel. Using IPSec VPN is not an option so I'm trying to either tunnel over SSH or use a proxy (HTTP or SOCKS).

Looking at the connections from the client, it uses port 443 normally. I've been able to enter <host_ip>:<port> for the name of the server in the client and get the summary tables but can't open the consoles. That is, using SSH port forwarding, I can enter 127.0.0.10:7443 and get that to connect to 10.1.1.10:443. But opening a console causes VI client to open the ESX servers actual IP address and port 903. What I'm trying to do it get it to use 127.0.0.11:7903 vs 10.1.1.11:903 for the actual server.

I thought I could do this using either a http or socks proxy server but can't figure out how to tell VI client to use the proxy.

Is it possible to get this to work using these tools or is there a better way? I'm guessing that web access will be the answer but console is not working with that when I have a proxy server set. When trying to open the console, the plugin bypasses the proxy settings and tries to connect directly.

TIA

[kjb007]

The ports are set from the client side, so I'm pretty sure you can't change that. Since there's no way to enter the port for the console, you can't change that. If you're configuring port forwarding over ssh, you'll need use some jump server on the remote side. Have you tried a dynamic forwarding (ssh -D 903 remoteserver). This may work, on a per-esx host basis, but it won't solve your problem.

It may be easier to have some sort of RDP tunnel over your ssh to a jump host, and then run the client local from that.

-KjB