Turning on VPN access to Orbi remotely

[ChiffaNe]

I have the following situation:

I had an old Orbi RBR50 set up back in my home country with DDNS and VPN enabled and configured, allowing me to connect to my home network from wherever. 

After I moved I bought a new Orbi and for continuity sake I moved the DDNS name from mu old Orbi to the new one. Unfortunately I did not realize this would disable the VPN access on my old Orbi. I can still access it via the Netgear Orbi app remotely though. 

so now I’m stuck, I can’t turn on the DDNS and VPN on my old Orbi via the app unfortunately and I can’t connect via vpn to do it via the web interface. Is there any way around it? Can I access the Orbi web interface piggy backing on the Orbi app?

[CrimpOn]

 Internet port.If OpenVPN was running on the old Orbi, it should still be enabled.   If you can determine the current public IP address of the old Orbi router*, you could edit the OpenVPN client configuration file to use the actual IP address rather than the DDNS name.  After connecting, you could modify the DDNS entry on the old Orbi so that changes in the public IP address will be tracked.

* Actually, if the Orbi 'app' still connects to the old Orbi, then the public IP address can be found on the Router Settings,, Details page

[ChiffaNe]

I tried this already and the connection is not getting established so my assumption is that the VPN got turned off automatically. 

[CrimpOn]

Oh, geez.  I would not expect the Orbi to spontaneously disable OpenVPN. Mine has persisted through several firmware updates. Is there someone who can access the Orbi web interface locally to bring up the OpenVPN page and see if is remains enabled?

[ChiffaNe]

I am trying to organize that and all those guys don’t have a clue on IT, so it will be fun trying to explain this over the phone. If I can get someone there I can have them just register a new ddns name and then turn it back on, so that’s not an issue. Will take a while though so I’m trying to see if I can manage myself, I still have the app access, maybe there is a hidden advanced mode there or smth. 

and wrt to persisting - yeah it persists over upgrades and stuff, but I seem to remember setting up DDNS is a prerequisite to enable OpenVPN, so kinda makes sense it’s turned off when I disabled DDNS. 

[CrimpOn]

Most of the OpenVPN clients I use can produce a pretty detailed log file.  It is unfortunate that OpenVPN defaults to UDP (rather than TCP).  If it was TCP, then connection attempts being rejected would be a clear indication that OpenVPN is not running.  UDP packets just "go" and no response could mean almost anything.

[ChiffaNe]

Any other options I could use? Seems pretty strange that I have access to the config via the app but can't turn on VPN for an arbitrary reason that the setting isn't there.

[CrimpOn]

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@ChiffaNe wrote:

Any other options I could use? Seems pretty strange that I have access to the config via the app but can't turn on VPN for an arbitrary reason that the setting isn't there.

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Aha.  The Orbi app (modern looking. slick. colorful. made for smartphones. etc. etc.) does not include any features on the Orbi web interface Advanced Tab. None.  OpenVPN is one of the "Advanced Settings" on the web interface.  It's not "arbitrary". It's on purpose.

The app is probably really useful to the vast majority of residential customers who just want to "turn this on and begin using it" but who already have WiFi enabled devices that are set to use a specific WiFi network (SSID/password).  In a few minutes, they are up and running, and then never look at the app again.