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RBR750 port forwarding stopped working
Port forwarding seemed to have stopped working on my router for my VPN server using port 51820. It is on the latest FW V7.2.6.31, it was working after update but suddenly stopped and hasn't worked si...
I have been using the OpenVPN server bundled with the Orbi router for years. My guess is that investing $85-$90 in a bume 2 VPN device is some combination of:
- Wanting the option to run a VPN Client on the LAN rather than install VPN software on multiple devices, and
- Wireguard is generally believed to be more efficient than OpenVPN, but not supported by Netgear on Orbi routers.
To see "what's going on", I installed Wireguard server on a Raspberry Pi. (relatively painless) and forwarded port 51820 to the Pi. Generated a Wireguard client configuration and used the QR code method to install it on a smartphone. (Much more convenient than configuring OpenVPN on devices with cameras.) Hot Damn! I now have two VPNs that can be used to connect to the Orbi LAN from the internet. Not particularly impressed with the debugging/log information generated by the Wireguard app for Android. May check out Wireguard for Windows laptop.
Thanks for bringing attention to this curious VPN device.
Correct, also want it on a separate device unless you're Vlanning everything on your Orbi for more security I wouldn't want it to access anything on the main router.
Wireguard is also faster/seamless than OpenVPN and integrates with more 3rd party VPNs if going that route. Also better for travel purposes, you can have another gl-inet router connect as a client to home server then broadcast without using 3rd party on every device which is usually faster as well depending on speeds you're paying for.
Works the same as app on phone, just need to upload config file and should work as long as its setup correctly. Also use cloudflare DNS instead of ISP for speed and security as well.
Installed Wireguard Client on Windows 11. Used same user configuration as on phone (even though Wireguard wants each device to have a separate configuration file. What's that about? I could see different users having unique config files, but each device?). Also worked, "no problem." The laptop log file is much more detailed than the Android app log.
One significant difference I see between using the VPN host that is part of the router firmware is that connecting via VPN creates an entry in Attached Devices with a unique IP address numbering scheme. This also appears in the Orbi log.
When connecting to Wireguard that is running on a device on the LAN, there is no record of the VPN connection and the traffic appears to be coming from the Wireguard Host device.
This screen shot of the Orbi log shows where I opened the Orbi web admin interface at 16.47 with the laptop connected via Wireguard VPN. (Through the Raspberry Pi with IP address 192.168.1.30). Then at 16:57 I opened the web admin from a desktop computer on the Orbi LAN at 192.168.1.2
As far as the Orbi knows, both of these connections were from the Orbi LAN. Neither is identified as being "remote".
