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AnthonyBEarles's avatar
AnthonyBEarles
Aspirant
Jun 11, 2025

Orbi 970 VPN IP Assignment

A quick preface: I work from home on a dual IPv4/IPv6 stack with a static IP.

 

Whenever I use the VPN (when away from my home office) it only ever seems to apply the IPv6 IP address - never the IPv4 one, so I'm stuck with the IP of whichever network I'm on.

 

As access to a of my work resources is locked to my router's static IP this isn't an ideal situation.

 

I'm on the latest firmware with the latest OpenVPN client on my Ubuntu Linux machine.

 

Is there a router setting I should look out for?

 

orbi 970 series

4 Replies

  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Guru
    Jun 11, 2025

    Something to ask the OpenVPN mfr about. Sounds like a OpenVPN preference 

  • CrimpOn_old's avatar
    CrimpOn_old
    Apprentice
    Jun 12, 2025

    Could you please check to see if the 970 VPN configuration has the same options as the older OpenVPN feature, i.e.

    Would it be convenient to record some additional information?

    • Before starting the OpenVPN connection, use one of the "What is my IP web sites to record the IP of the Ubuntu laptop that is running OpenVPN.
    • After making the OpenVPN connection and verifying that the laptop is connected to the Orbi LAN (such as opening the Orbi router web admin or connecting to some other computer on the LAN), return to the "What is" web site and record the laptop IP again.

    Thanks

    • AnthonyBEarles's avatar
      AnthonyBEarles
      Aspirant
      Jun 17, 2025

      Thanks,

       

      I've done all that. When I look up the IP after connecting I get the IPv6 address of the router but the IPv4 address of the network I'm connected to (tethered mobile network, for example).

       

       

      • CrimpOn_old's avatar
        CrimpOn_old
        Apprentice
        Jun 17, 2025

        The part I like the most about the Community Forum is learning things.

         

        I was able to duplicate this situation on a laptop running Mint Linux 21.3 (based on Ubuntu) with OpenVPN 2.6.12 (installed automatically)

        Orbi Log File clearly shows the VPN client connecting, but it never appears in the Orbi Attached Devices display.  "What is my IP?" shows the IP address assigned by the smartphone Hot Spot and it cannot communicate with any device on the Orbi primary network (192.168.1.x)

         

        I changed the configuration from tap (network tap) to tun ("tunnel) and the port number to 12973 (tap uses 12974 by default, tun uses 12973.  These can be set to any value the user wants, but I tend to stick with the default.)

         

        This time, the VPN client connected (according to the Orbi Log File) and the VPN connection appeared on the Attached Devices display with IP 192.168.2.2 (the default for VPN on my old WiFi5 Orbi is to put VPN connections in a different IP subnet than the primary subnet.  I have no idea what the default is for WiFi7 Orbi routers.

         

        What is my IP? says the laptop has the public IP address of the Orbi router.  The laptop can connect to devices on the primary Orbi network (ping, open web page, etc.)

         

        A fascinating adventure.

         

        Please post how changing from tap to tun works for you.