web access through vpn client

[Martin P. Hellwig]

mark.seagoe at gmail.com wrote:
> On May 1, 5:57 pm, "Martin P. Hellwig" <martin.hell... at dcuktec.org>
> wrote:
>> mark.sea... at gmail.com wrote:
>>> Hi;
>>> I am trying to retrieve financial data off website for stock market
>>> analysis.  Just hobby not for pay.  I actually am impressed that
>>> urllib2 and BeautifulSoup work pretty well to do what I want, and the
>>> first little routine actually gets the data from the web page...
>>> except if my VPN client is turned on.
>>> I've looked around for a solution but can't find... perhaps I'm not
>>> entering the right search words.  I don't even know where to start.
>>> Can anyone suggest some good reading, or basic idea how to approach?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Mark
>> When the VPN client is on, can you actually still browse the 'classical'
>> way to the website in question?
>> I ask this because many cooperate VPN clients have a way of shutting
>> down all other access besides to the VPN server (which is very annoying
>> but I can see the logic behind it).
>>
>> If that is the case your VPN network might have a webproxy which needs
>> to be configured to continue browsing when connected to the VPN. For
>> python you can automate this by checking for access to the proxy and use
>> it if it is there.
>>
>> --
>> MPHhttp://blog.dcuktec.com
> 
> Yes when Cisco AnyConnect VPN client is connected, I can browse w/
> IE.  I think the packets get encrypted and possibly go to my company's
> server and out from there, because then also Outlook connects to my
> company, Communicator works, etc.  With VPN off I can browse and
> Python can get URL, but no connection through my company's server & no
> encryption.
> 
> Where can I find out more about how to configure the webproxy, if the
> info is handy?  Thanks!
> 
> Mark

Most likely your IE gets automatically configured for using a proxy when 
the VPN is made, just check your IE settings ounce you are connected to 
the VPN particular the Connection / LAN-connection settings.
Or query what is set in the registry at :
'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings'

And use the content (if set) as the proxy address in the urllib module.

You might find this module useful for that:
http://docs.python.org/library/_winreg.html

-- 
MPH
http://blog.dcuktec.com