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Forum Discussion
VPN, Access Point for remote access
I apologize if this question has already been asked, but I am confused by something. When I am traveling for work, I would like to be able to VPN into my home network and then connect using the inte...
swiftk77 wrote:I am often times in airports and/or hotels and would like to VPN back to my home network and then SSH on my client's servers. Am I thinking about this correctly or is that I am asking not possible?
YES, this can be done! Just today, I set up a DDNS using the Free No-IP.com service. (If I were doing it "for real", I would be inclined to pay because the free DDNS hosts expire in 30 days.) Configured DDNS and VPN on my Orbi. Installed OpenVPN Connect on my Android phone. Generated the configuration file on Orbi. Copied to my desktop. Emailed it to my phone. Installed it into OPenVPN Connect. etc. etc. etc.
Finally. Disconnected phone from WiFi to use LTE for data. Opened OpenVPN Connect, and "voila" connected to my Orbi. Web browser works. Have an SSH client on the phone. Connected to my Raspberry Pi using SSH. (very tiny characters on phone screen!) Shoot. I forgot to send something to the printer! Oh, well. Next time.
So, yes, Orbi allows the owner to create a VPN that can be accessed from "anywhere" and that user can (a) access the Internet as if they were at home, and (b) can access home resources using their local 192.168.1.x IP addresses.
Mind you, this was not all a bed of roses. It took several tries until I got it to work. Like, stupid me did not realize that the "Host Name" defined at No-IP.com had to include ".mynetgear.com" I would for damn sure get the kinks ironed out before trying this from an airport somewhere. Like, maybe set up a Hot Spot on my phone to have an LTE connection at home for testing with the Mac?
Yes, I have OpenVPN working great on my iPhone and iPad. I use it quite often when I'm not at home to connect to my home network and check things.
On the other hand I did not manage to get OpenVPN to work on my Macbook, I -and many others in this forum- reported certificate issues when trying it on Macs or Windows PC's.
OpenVPN installed today on my Windows 10 laptop. (Having never learned) instead of simply following the directions on the Orbi, I went off and looked for the "latest OpenVPN Connect for Windows" and had a merry time failing. Finally, I did what Orbi said to do, and it worked first time. Connected through my phone Hot Spot over LTE, connected to the Orbi with telnet. Connected to my Pi with SSH. Is this slick or what!
(There was a complain about "can you trust this certificate? and I said, "Heck yes. Let's DO IT.")
Who knows, maybe the MacBook will work now as well.
