Step by step guide to organize local network and vpn with hyper-v

Question

I have a common question, but I didn't find an answer over the internet.

The idea is simple. I have Windows 2008 R2 dedicated server (I rent it for about $100/month). And I want to organize local network based on virtual computers running Windows Server 2008 R2. The scheme of the network I want is:

• Main (and the only one physical) computer, used to host virtual machines. Has a real IP address like 46.4.x.x
• Windows SQL-server, IP address 10.0.0.1
• Windows WWW-server 1, IP address 10.0.0.2
• Windows WWW-server 2, IP address 10.0.0.3
• Windows machine for other needs, IP address 10.0.0.4
• Linux machine with nginx installed, has real IP and 10.0.0.5

Computers thru 1 to 4 must have internet access, but it can't be reached outside. Linux machine running nginx must be reached outside and within the network.

How to archive this network structure with Hyper-V? Should I use VPN? What type of VPN? Open VPN or any other type? Is there any step-by-step guide I can use? I want to save my time.

Answer 1

This isn't really a question about Hyper-V, but rather about networking. Hyper-V just hosts virtual machines. It creates a layer-2 switch in software to which you can attach virtual NICs that are part of VMs. You can also (optionally) attach each physical NIC from the host computer to those virtual switches. That's all.

So ask yourself how you would accomplish your task if all the machines involved were physical. That solution will apply to your virtual machines as well.

Answer 2

I am not really familiar with the features of HyperV, but in general I would solve this with bridged network interfaces. I don't see a need to use any kind of VPN solution, unless you want to use it to specifically allow access to internal IP addresses from the public Internet. In that case the OpenVPN service should be hosted on the Linux machine, since that is the only multi-homed VM.

You will need two bridges, one for the external IP addresses, and the other for the internal IP addresses. Create virtual interfaces and add them to the bridges. If configured properly, all the hosts on the 10.0.0.x addresses should see each other, and likewise for all hosts on public addresses.

Then use the Linux VM as a gateway/router/firewall, so that you can get access to individual VM instances through the public IP (if this is needed), and for port forwarding to the web servers.

I don't think there is a step-by-step guide anywhere for this kind of thing, as configurations vary wildly depending on user needs.