L2TP/IPSec VPN client?

[Shasarak]

I'll hope you'll excuse the idiot-newbie question.

I've recently acquired an Asus RT-AC86U router, and am trying out asuswrt-merlin 384.5 on it.

Am I correct in thinking that is NOT currently possible for the router to establish its own L2TP/IPSec connection (as a client)?

It can do L2TP; but there's nowhere to enter a pre-shared key - so does that mean it's L2TP, but not L2TP/IPSec? And does that, in turn, mean that any L2TP client connection the router establishes will be unencrypted?

 

[RMerlin]

Am I correct in thinking that is NOT currently possible for the router to establish its own L2TP/IPSec connection (as a client)?

Correct. Asus started work on implementing client support, but they haven't completed it yet. So far they only recently finalized server support.

 

[Shasarak]

Correct. Asus started work on implementing client support, but they haven't completed it yet. So far they only recently finalized server support.

So, how likely is it that L2TP/IPSEC client support will be added in the future, and do we have any idea of timescale?

 

[RMerlin]

So, how likely is it that L2TP/IPSEC client support will be added in the future, and do we have any idea of timescale?

No idea. At times, Asus has started working on things, only to drop them mid-development for various reasons, so it's impossible to tell. The OpenVPN server spent close to a year in development before they started enabling it on a few select models for instance, while their Tor implementation was never finalized (I had to complete their work to be able to enable it).

 

[wiz]

Well, I am in the process of getting a new router to replace my asus-RT N66u. I was hoping to see any development going on to have l2p/ipsec on the asus routers. Would it be possible to install strongswan on a thumbdrive and go from there? Originally I had Openvpn running that way prior to the point it actually got implemented in the firmware. And if that would be a starting point, is there any model that does the encryption in hardware to get some decent speeds?

 

[unsynaps]

Well, I am in the process of getting a new router to replace my asus-RT N66u. I was hoping to see any development going on to have l2p/ipsec on the asus routers. Would it be possible to install strongswan on a thumbdrive and go from there? Originally I had Openvpn running that way prior to the point it actually got implemented in the firmware. And if that would be a starting point, is there any model that does the encryption in hardware to get some decent speeds?

You have to get an 86U. Only Asus router that supports hardware encryption. Any other router is going to top out around 50megabit.

 

[wiz]

thanks unsynaps!

 

[agilani]

Reviving this old thread. Anyone have L2TP/IPSEC client working on the asus merlin router? Or install strongswan to get this working?

 

[bonezy]

Reviving this old thread. Anyone have L2TP/IPSEC client working on the asus merlin router? Or install strongswan to get this working?

Hi Eric!

I would love to know this too.
As I have written previously, I had switched a lot of router to find my endgame router but since buying my RT-AC86U and installing Merlin, I have never looked up. Works flawlessly with all settings with 2 OpenVPN Clients with exclusive settings for specific IP's and 1 OpenVPN server running on it too. I am currently on the latest stable fw (384.19)

It just so happens that I need to connect to a friend's VPN server now, which is L2TP/IPSEC and I don't know where to enter the IPsec PSK info, there is no option.
Another question is. Can it not run connections to L2TP/IPSEC VPN's without closing everything OPENVPN. When I tried to connect, it shut down all my OpenVPN connections...