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Remote VPN access with access control
I've just installed a two-station Orbi 770 in an environment that is remote from my office requires using MAC-number based access control to allow only authorized users without constantly changin...
schumaku has provided the key to this issue. Connect to the VPN using "tap" mode (UDP port 12974) (sorry it took me so long to set up the experiment)
Using a Windows computer (because most other operating systems do not support tap) and the OpenVPN client that supports tap (I just installed OpenVPN 2.7.6, because OpenVPN-Connect does not support tap). Connected the Windows laptop to my smartphone Hot Spot and connected the laptop to my Orbi RBR50:
Notice that because the connection is "tap", the laptop was assigned an IP address on the Orbi LAN and has provided the hardware MAC address to the Orbi. The Windows laptop is now on the Orbi LAN and can access the Orbi web interface (192.168.1.1 on my Orbi).
At this instant, Access Control is not enabled (because I decided long ago that it provides no value in my environment). The experiment will need to be repeated with Access Control enabled.
Using VPN in tap mode should allow you to administer the Orbi system remotely and maintain the LAN Setup table to allow only specified WiFi devices on the network.
p.s. Setting up OpenVPN is not trivial, but c'est la vie.
p.p.s. If OpenVPN somehow fails on your model of Orbi, there is another solution. Install a Brume VPN gateway on the network.
https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt2500/
This will allow you to VPN into the local network using either OpenVPN or Wireguard (more efficient, but probably not significant for this type of use)
The Orbi provides wifi access for student tenants at a small apartment building I manage. Access control lets me limit access to my tenants, ...
...so no way around on MANAGING access control if you really want to enable it.
Are you giving them OpenVPN (bridged!) access to your network?
Usign OpenVPN in TAP or TUN mode?
without the inconvenience (to my tenants) of a regularly changing password
Seriously, are you sharing the (one and only!) Orbi admin password to users having access to your managed network by VPN?
But it would be very convenient for me to be able to manage the network remotely, including adding new devices for my tenants when they request it.
New devices (== new tenants) with new MAC address each?
And you seriously share the VPN access, which is clearly done for a single user, based on a shared admin password? ROFL, sorry.
Last but not least? The tables on this consumer class models are limited, the number of IP adddresses, and MAC addresses you can add to the Access Control is limited.
Wrong product, for the wrong purpose. Its clearly a single user, consumer class device. Good luck!
No worries--I'm not sharing admin credentials, or VPN access. But using passwords to control user access to the SSID is problematic in this environment, because PWs get passed around. For years, I used MAC access control on an open SSID (no PW at all) on Linksys, and their cloud interface let me add and remove MAC numbers remotely. But they discontinued the cloud interface last March.