I recently came across a situation where I needed to use my laptop to give a software code review at a remote office.  I’m not guaranteed that the office will have internet connectivity so I needed to prepare.  Since we’re meeting with someone locally and two other people remotely for this code review, I needed to use GoToMeeting.com to host a meeting for us to discuss the web site.  Simple right?  Nope.

  • The database is in a collocation facility connected via VPN to my office.
  • The development environment is in a Windows XP virtual machine.
  • My laptop is the computer I will have with me.
  • Internet connectivity is not guaranteed.

The chain goes like this: My Touch Pro 2 WiFi router is used for Internet access.  Laptop wirelessly connected to my phone.  On the laptop, I’m Remote Desktoped into my Windows 7 desktop where I am running a VMWare Windows XP SP3 instance.  Inside the virtual machine, I am connected via VPN to the collocated datacenter while at the same time, hosting a GoToMeeting.com meeting from the virtual machine.  I feel like Neo.  Where’s Trinity?  If I told an IT admin that scenario five years ago, he wouldn’t have believed me and he’d certainly laugh at me when I told him that it was remarkably responsive.  Remote access for the win.  Had to share it.