OpenVPN simpleton question

[Ockingshay]

hello, I'm very new to all this and I'm looking to see if It's possible to use vpn abroad.

I've got Openvpn setup and working. I can successfully connect and browse my lan.

I thought by using vpn I could be abroad and still use my hometown local services. But every time I try, the service knows I'm not in the uk. I haven't changed any of the default advanced settings in my asus ac87u router other than using a username and password.

Is this possible and I'm just missing a setting, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Thanks

 

[Etz]

You probably are using split-tunneling right now (as default settings do this).

Set "Direct clients to redirect Internet traffic" to "yes" under Advanced Settings.
It will then redirect all your traffic trough VPN, which means you show up "as home" to local hometown services.

 

[martinr]

No such thing: simpleton question. All are valid.

Now, it works for me, for example, I can get BBC iPlayer when I'm abroad by connecting to my Openvpn server on my router and then coming back out again (unencrypted) to the BBC as if I were physically sitting behind my router.

So first thing to do, next time you are abroad is connect to your Openvpn server and then open your browser and enter the address whatsmyip.org. You should see, if all's well, the IP address of your router back home and not that of the gateway you are connected to abroad. And when you disconnect and then go to whatsmyip.org again, this time you should see the IP address of the gateway abroad.


My advanced Openvpn settings page looks like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/534872/OpenVPN Advanced Settings.jpg

Note the block of 4 near the bottom beginning with Push LAN to clients.

Does yours differ in any way?

Also note, and this is a Merlin tip, if you are using Openvpn on Windows to access your router remotely, you must open the Openvpn program with Administrator rights or else it doesn't work properly, which is also why a quick check with whatsmyip.org is a good idea. Of course, you could test that from a non-home network in the UK before going abroad. (You'll understand why I hesitate to tell anyone to connect to their nearest public wifi.)

Of course, you need to know your router's public IP address when using whatsmyip.org or at least recognise the typical IP address it gets.

 

[Ockingshay]

Thank you gentlemen, I had the same settings as you martinr, but what i failed to do was create a new .vpn file when i applied the various settings. Is there a guide to what all the options are? I would like to try and understand it all a little better.

Thanks again for your replies.

 

[Etz]

Merlin itself recommends this guide: http://www.howtogeek.com/60774/connect-to-your-home-network-from-anywhere-with-openvpn-and-tomato/

As AsusWRT was breeded from Tomato, same general rules apply, only GUI itself differs.