ASUS DSL-68 Open vpn problem

[Paulbaker1954]

I am trying to setup an ASUS DSL-AC68U router just as an access point behind my main isp router using PIA Open VPN.

I know this is not the best solution for this as this does not have ready options for bridge mode or access point in the Merlin firmware but I have some valid reason for doing this.

Please no comments as to why I don’t just use the 68U as main internet access and run the VPN Client on there as I DO NOT want every connection in the house going through VPN.

I have nothing in the WAN settings
have disabled DHCP
Have set a static IP of 192.168.0.203 (ISP router is 192.168.0.1
Gateway is also set at 192.168.0.1

I can now access internet using a wired or wireless connection through the ASUS no problem but cannot get the OVPN Client running. The log seems to show it can’t resolve the DNS address of the server.


I have tried using

push “dhcp option DNS 10.0.0.241”

but this results in another error in the log complaint about the format of the command I think

I can ping both the address name of the vpn server from a cmd window so I can’t understand why the OVPN client cannot find it

I am not a networking expert but have tried all sorts and just getting nowhere

 

[ColinTaylor]

This will not work. The OpenVPN client only works when the Asus is being used as a router (i.e. it has a valid WAN connection).

 

[L&LD]

And note that all devices do not necessarily have to go through the VPN either.

 

[CaptainSTX]

You need to put the DSL-AC68 as a double NATed router. Simple process and will have no impact on speeds or latency.

 

[Paulbaker1954]

This will not work. The OpenVPN client only works when the Asus is being used as a router (i.e. it has a valid WAN connection).

Not sure what you mean here, given that I can access the internet no problem using the ASUS as an access point surely means I have a valid WAN connection. I have had this working in a similar config using an old ASUS non modem router and the VPN client worked fine

 

[ColinTaylor]

"the internet" and "the WAN connection" are two different things. The way the VPN client is designed is that it routes the VPN traffic through it's WAN connection. You said you don't have the router's WAN connection configured (but maybe I misunderstood you), so the traffic will go nowhere.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Not sure what you mean here, given that I can access the internet no problem using the ASUS as an access point surely means I have a valid WAN connection. I have had this working in a similar config using an old ASUS non modem router and the VPN client worked fine

When you put a router into the AP or Media Bridge mode you disable most of the router's functions. You can access the Internet because in the AP mode you just added another set of radios to your network and your access is going through the WAN connection on the primary router.

 

[ColinTaylor]

When you put a router into the AP or Media Bridge mode you disable most of the router's functions.

... Including the VPN client (unless the DSL- model behaves differently than the RT- model in this respect). So I'm assuming he's running it in router mode with the WAN disconnected, which is why it doesn't work.

 

[CaptainSTX]

WAN disconnected, which is why it doesn't work.

In the AP mode you do have the option of making the WAN port a member of the LAN but the end result is the same no connection to the WAN.

 

[Paulbaker1954]

Ok am learning all the time here but still confused.

I am sure I had a configuration similar working before on a non modem ASUS router set up as an access point but I fail,to recall how I did it.

in any event the Merlin software is different on the DSL68U as there are no options for access point or bridge mode so you have to do everything manually.

so to set this up it’s an access point I made the following changes in the LAN section

• disabled dhcp,
• set a static ip (191.168.0.202] on same subnet as main sky router (191.168.0.1]
• Set the gateway as main router (192.168.0.1)
• Left the WAN setting as DSL (but it’s not connected anything

This got me internet access all good

now on this DSL 68 there is an option to set the primary WAN as dsl or Ethernet or USB. So I set this as Ethernet on the LAN1 port. I guessed that doing this sets up th LAN1 port as a WAN port.

I then plugged the cable from this port to a LAN port on the main router

sadly then nothing worked and I could not even get back to the router admin page as I think somehow I ended up with some ip comflict.

so it seems you can assign a LAN port as a WAN port but I am then not sure how to correctly set the router up as an access point with this assigned

 

[ColinTaylor]

in any event the Merlin software is different on the DSL68U as there are no options for access point or bridge mode so you have to do everything manually.

Merlin doesn't make firmware for the DSL- routers. I guess you're using GNUton's build.

now on this DSL 68 there is an option to set the primary WAN as dsl or Ethernet or USB. So I set this as Ethernet on the LAN1 port. I guessed that doing this sets up the LAN1 port as a WAN port.

I then plugged the cable from this port to a LAN port on the main router

sadly then nothing worked and I could not even get back to the router admin page as I think somehow I ended up with some ip conflict.

Yes, this won't work because the IP address range on the WAN side must be different to that on the LAN side.

You need to set the Asus' LAN IP address range to be something that isn't 191.168.0.x (e.g. 192.168.1.1) and enable DHCP. In other words exactly the same as the default settings other than setting LAN1 as the WAN.

See this post: http://www.snbforums.com/threads/dsl-ac68u-asuswrt-merlin-builds-for-dsl-routers.55985/post-496222

 

[Paulbaker1954]

Colin, you are a star thanks. Setting the LAN as you suggested worked. I had a few issues with setting DNS servers correctly but all now working fine.

I apologise for any confusion over firmware as this is running ASUSWRT not Merlin (think I had a brain freeze in earlier posts)

Anyway here are the screenshots of how i set this up in case anyone else need this in future