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Forum Discussion
Solved
RAX80 VPN on Mac
Is there any documentation on how to get the native MacOS VPN client connected to VPN on the RAX80? The documentation on the router itself is for OpenVPN and doesn't seem to be up to date. I couldn't get OpenVPN to work (however it does work from my phone). But it seems redundant to use a separate client when VPN is supported natively on MacOS.
bmfkai wrote:
Is there any documentation on how to get the native MacOS VPN client connected to VPN on the RAX80?No, because Netgear is using OpenVPN, what is not compatible with the Apple supplied IPSec which comes in three variants on Mojave (10.14):
- L2TP/IPSec
- IPSec/IKEv2
- Cisco IPsec
The first two represent the "real" standardized VPN with available IETF RFCs, Cisco is obviously partially proprietary. There was some rumour that Apple might support some SSL VPN natively, but this has never happened for now.
OpenVPN is SSL/TLS based, so some parts of the transport are IETF RFC'ed, but not the overlaying system - so a complete different technology - requiring dedicated clients, as nicely documented and explained e.g. with OpenVPN (commercial) Access Server -> Connecting to Access Server with macOS
5 Replies
- [for whatever reason this forum wouldn't let me edit my initial post after sitting idle for only 2 minutes... so here's an edit as a reply...]
Edit: I managed to get OpenVPN working... the config had the wrong extension for one (needs to be .ovpn), not sure why the router serves up a .conf file instead (assuming "non-Windows" means Mac or Linux) and still directs users to use OpenVPN. I also had to change the config to use TUN instead of TAP and change the port appropriately. Maybe TAP is no longer supported by OpenVPN? If that's the case then the documentation and files provided by the router should be updated to reflect this.
I would still like to know how to get this working with the native VPN client though, if possible.Hi bmfkai - I'll check with the team and provide an update as soon as possible.
~Christian
bmfkai wrote:
[for whatever reason this forum wouldn't let me edit my initial post after sitting idle for only 2 minutes... ]This capability is not enabled on the "Nighthawk Routers With WiFi 6 (AX)" community section, indeed. Complained several times already ... Christian_R please.
- Well it makes sense for continuity and context, now that I think about it. But it's still annoying. I guess some users can't be trusted to leave context pure? Doing it this way could lead to other users not finding what they're looking for in longer threads for the simple lack of reading through everything. But then again I suppose that's what the "accept as solution" is for. Two schools of thought I guess.
bmfkai wrote:
Is there any documentation on how to get the native MacOS VPN client connected to VPN on the RAX80?No, because Netgear is using OpenVPN, what is not compatible with the Apple supplied IPSec which comes in three variants on Mojave (10.14):
- L2TP/IPSec
- IPSec/IKEv2
- Cisco IPsec
The first two represent the "real" standardized VPN with available IETF RFCs, Cisco is obviously partially proprietary. There was some rumour that Apple might support some SSL VPN natively, but this has never happened for now.
OpenVPN is SSL/TLS based, so some parts of the transport are IETF RFC'ed, but not the overlaying system - so a complete different technology - requiring dedicated clients, as nicely documented and explained e.g. with OpenVPN (commercial) Access Server -> Connecting to Access Server with macOS
