Cannot connect to Open VPN on RBR350

[dishbai]

Just picked up an RBR350 set. Everything's installed fine so far, speeds are great. However I'm struggling to get the Open VPN working.

Have set up an account with no-ip, which all seems to be working fine. Turned on the DDNS in the settings, provided username and password, again all connected fine.

Turned on the VPN, downloaded the .ovpn file to my iPhone, but when I try and connect (whether via mobile data or connected on the same wifi), no joy. I also tried to manually override the DDNS server with the WAN IP address, but again, no joy.

I can see from the Open VPN app log that its just timing out when it tries to connect.

Which would suggest a firewall issue or port forwarding issue, except the VPN server is in the router itself so presumably that's not an issue. Obviously there's not many settings to play with here, so not sure what else to do. Everything's up to date and been its been rebooted. Any ideas?

[FURRYe38]

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

Not sure if this is helpful:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6-AX-and-WiFi-6E-AXE/RBK352-OpenVPN/m-p/2186004

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6-AX-and-WiFi-6E-AXE/Netgear-Orbi-AX6000-Open-VPN-Not-Con...

[dishbai]

Firmware reports as V4.4.1.29 3.10.80. 

Unfortunately I can't see the manufacturer of the modem as its just a white box affixed to the wall with no details on the visible side. However its not a router, just a modem with a single port out to connect to your router of choice. Also, probably should have mentioned, with my previous router I was able to connect to both an open VPN and a wireguard server running on a Raspberry Pi, so I don't think the modem is blocking anything.

[CrimpOn]

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@dishbai wrote:

when I try and connect (whether via mobile data or connected on the same wifi), no joy. I also tried to manually override the DDNS server with the WAN IP address, but again, no joy. I can see from the Open VPN app log that its just timing out when it tries to connect.

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OpenVPN will not connect when the client device is on the Orbi LAN.  The router is waiting for connections on the WAN port and will not accept a connection from the LAN side.

The default setting for OpenVPN is to use UDP rather than TCP to avoid the overhead of TCP: Today's internet is so reliable that missed packets are less of a concern than effiiency.

Here is a picture of my OpenVPN settings:

Because it uses UDP, any of the "Are ports open?" web site will not report that OpenVPN is running.  One experiment you can try is to change OpenVPN to use TCP.  After selecting "Apply", download a new copy of the .ovpn file to the iPhone.  Then, connect to a test site, such as Shields Up!, https://www.grc.com/shieldsup and verify:

• That the public IP address is what it should be, and
• That TCP ports 12973 and 12974 are open.