VPN Basics

[Citymj]

I have been an occasional VPN user for at least 20 years, but recently I have realised that I do not fully understand modern VPN configurations, and I wonder if anyone knows of a good RELIABLE article that sets out a full checklist of all the things that need to be attended to.

There are lots of articles of the type "How to configure the ASUS nnnn to work with Supersecret's VPN SERVER", but they all seem to leave me puzzled over what they ask me to do, or what their special software actually does.

My preferred VPN provider is actually ExpressVPN, which is easy to use with Windows, but hard to configure on the Raspberry Pi, even though the preparations seem OK.

My interim conclusion is that I simply need to understand VPNs more thoroughly, so where should I look?

All thoughts truly welcome

MJ

[Slarti]

http://www.internet-computer-security.com/VPN-Guide/IPSec.html

I've been meaning to work through this as some of their other stuff has made sense to me.

Slarti

[Citymj]

Slarti,

Thanks very much for the link above. It looks as if they have some extensive knowhow of the field.

At first glance, their Windows experience seems to stop with Vista, but perhaps W8 & W10 offer little that is new, but no doubt different in some way.
# # # #

I am currently pursuing the possibility of updating a spare router so that it can provide VPN services to any attached device. Has anyone tried this approach? It is not a trivial step as the router,s memory has to be fully reflashed. The methodology is called DD-WRT, and there are extensive references to it.

MJ

[Infrasonic]

Not VPN specific but the linked articles go into some depth on routers, re-flashing et al.

The author seems a bit of a wizz on the router front.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/04/ ... m-scratch/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/ ... wn-router/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/ ... mpetition/

[Citymj]

I thought a sort of progress report might be in order!

I have managed to connect from a standard edition of Win7Pro, a standard edition of Ubuntu 16.04 and a standard edition of IOS 10.1 to any ExpressVPN server that I choose. The connections seem to be both stable and fast.

Of course, each OS needs to be on the right hardware, an Intel based PC for the first two, and an iPad Air2 for the third.

It is not very easy to share the connections with anything else on the local network, and since I don't know what the setup applications actually do, I am little the wiser overall.

The massive references already suggested still await me, but I have found that some things do not work. In particular an earlier version of Ubuntu suitable for my ten year old laptop simply does not respond t ExpressVPN , and Raspbian for the RPI is similarly inadequate.

What did surprise me is that the Ubuntu 16.04 which did work is actually running as aVirtual Machine within Win7, which shows what a splendid job VMWARE have done.

One thought that I would offer at this point is that the Pi3, with 1000 megabytes of RAM and (in my case) 32GB of fast file space, has quite enough power to run the necessary applications, but because of its specialised graphics arrangements there has been a reluctance to port all of the key components of the Debian/Ubuntu OS.

My next task is to discover how Home Theatre servers send music and video to individual players and TVs over the Ethernet, because if there is a standard and efficient way of doing so, most of my remaining problems should be considerably eased.

MJ

[Citymj]

Continuing the monologue, which I hope is of interest to many here, I have come to an interim decision on the approach that I will take.

This is driven by the realisation that the robust and easily implemented VPN solutions only seem to be available for the most popular OS/Hardware combinations. Once one steps outside that narrow selection, the chances of success drop dramatically, while the associated technical difficulties grow exponentially.

Accordingly I have chosen a TV Stick/Streamer which a) fully implements release 6.0 of Android, and b) offers high processing power, a large file memory and the ability to drive 4K Ultra HD screens.

I do not expect to have this new hardware in my hands for a fortnight, and will then have to install and configure before testing that the standard Android VPN facilities actually work.

So expect the next progress report early in January. Meanwhile, please pray for at least limited success!

MJ

[comicsans]

I have recently purchased one of these to plug directly into the DSL modem and have the whole house covered, no matter the hardware/software (Apple TV I'm looking at you!), with the VPN connection, then use my other two licences whilst out and about with ExpressVPN on my iPhone plus one for the Mrs.

https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC66U/
https://www.expressvpn.com/support/vpn- ... h-openvpn/

Would this do the trick? I'm yet to fully set mine up, just too busy with work, but I will when I get chance.

[Citymj]

COMICSANS:

I was very attracted to the idea of using a high Tek router, but as you no doubt have discovered, the cost is on the high side.

But one questions n has troubled me: can you still decide to have some devices or channels directly connected, while others use the VPN, or does everything have to go the VPN Route together?

For instance, my email stops working when I switch to VPN, as do other utility services, so it is good to have some choice over where individual services are directed.

(By the way, my hardware supplier assures me that ExpressVPN will work with their gear, but I wait to see for myself HOW it works. )

Do let us know how the router performs in practice. I have added a couple of inexpensive but good quality Homeplugs to ensure that my Streamer is not hampered by WiFi constraints. Next step is to upgrade my ADSL service while cutting the cost, as and when I can get my ISP to process the order.

MJ

[GN100]

I have an Asus RTN10P router that is set up as a VPN router. I bought this preconfigured from a company recommended by Express VPN and I have an annual sub with with them. The router is connected constantly to the VPN although it has been known to drop out occasionally and require rebooting. I find that I can also connect at least two further devices without problem e.g my laptop may be on a VPN to one country whilst my PC can be connected to another country. I haven't tried any more connections than that.

I bought the router preconfigured more than a year ago after having tried to set up my own VPN router with the Tomato? software but found this to be beyond my ability level and worse still very frustrating. With a little help from the VPN helpline I set up the VPN router as a bridge fed from one port of my main router. Apologies for lack of detail but once set up it worked and I have forgotten much of the detail. The VPN router wasn't cheap but it plus an annual sub to Express VPN has worked very well. Incidentally Express VPN's helpdesk is excellent. I found that 24/7 someone would reply from a far country/timezone with a very comprehensive reply to my query.

GN

[comicsans]

Well an update is due. I have managed to connect up the router and get the OpenVPN working. However, huge hit on the download and upload. With VPN: 6.3 up and 7 down. Without: 53 up and 16 down. I was informed to try PPTP however I cannot get the router to connect to the internet with the credentials and online help desk proved unsuccessful in helping me. The computer Application for Express VPN appears to be connecting to the OpenVPN protocol and from what I have read consumer grade routers just aren't powerful enough to compute the necessary information at a decent pace. I think I will stick with the App, loads nice and easily and works at a decent speed, very little lost on up and down speeds!

So anyone want a ASUS RT-AC66U router?

[GN100]

I had never thought to check my VPN router speeds as it normally just sits behind the TV and gets on with a list of downloads I give it in the morning, so speed - as long as there is some - is not an issue.

However, prompted by your post I checked and found:-

Through VPN router d/l 4.23 Mbs, u/l 0.32 Mbps
Through non VPN router d/l 5.02 Mbps, u/l 0.52Mbps

Using App On PC via non VPN router d/l 4.4, u/l 1.52Mbps.

All those figures are representative of my connection on a good day so no real hit seen. The 1.52 Mbps upload via the App surprised me but I can't think of a reason why.

GN

[comicsans]

Well that's a negligible hit in terms of degradation of speed. My speed takes a real hit and as we stream everything, HD TV, radio, work from home with some monster files etc then its just not acceptable. I'm sticking with the App as it's all working fine at the moment.

What router are you using out of interest?

[GN100]

It's an Asus RTN10P. As I mentioned I bought it pre set up and the only change I had to make was to set it as a bridge feeding off one of the outputs from my main router. Express help desk gave me the settings and from then on it worked.

I think that router is no longer available

GN

[GN100]

Just a quick thought. Your non VPN speeds are far greater than mine - is it possible that achieving my speeds doesn't work the VPN router very hard but your sort of speeds may push it much harder? Could be worth a question to the help desk.

GN

[comicsans]

I'm on Plusnet Fibre, so yes the speeds might be swamping the router in terms of work undertaken for encryption etc. I have read that the CPUs in the routers can struggle (as a Floating Point processor found in graphics cards would be more suitable), but that's a steep drop in terms of raw speed.

I think I will do without and just go for VPN on the computers and phones using the App.

Good luck with your set up in the new year, I'd be interested to hear how you get on and what setup you have.

[Citymj]

As the OP of this thread, I promised to report on the impact of new hardware that eventually arrived last month.

It is a TV streamer type system based on a full implementation of Android 6.0, with some impressive performance specs.

The key outcome is that the implementation of VPNs as standard applications works very well. My testbed is actually ExoressVPN, but I have little doubt that the other leading VPN Apps would install and function similarly, as indeed they do under Windows, Linux, and iOS.

My TVBox has a powerful processor so the VPN performance penalty turns out to be about 20-25% over a link which unencrypted would run at about 30 megabits/sec.Unfortunately my internal network links are not that efficient and so I am losing performance within my apartment, but I hope to resolve this by installing a better ADSL service.

Readers may recall that I started with an intention of installing the KODI entertainment system on the latest Raspberry PI, but the inability to install standard VPN Apps on the RPi made this approach impractical.

The one non-standard enhancement that I have added is a 64GB high performance micro SD card to triple the local device file storage and make local backups flexible and very quick. Otherwise there would be every likelihood of losing key configuration data (as I have already managed from simple ignorance). The only embarrassing aspect is that the tiny card requires a rubber band to hold it in place because of an OEM fault on the device.

I now have a considerable amount of work to do to understand and configure the KODI system, but the VPN aspect seems to be OK.

AS you will realise, I am an optimist

MJ

[Clavain]

HI Citymj,

Not really adding to the thread apart from to ask which Box did you go for? I am starting to look for Android/Kodi boxes and would be interested in what you went for.

Thanks,


C

[Citymj]

which Box did you go for?

I am very conscious of my ignorance of these matters, so I made an early decision to avoid implying any endorsement of specific products. For example, today I asked how to restore the initial KODI configuration and was told most helpfully to consult the relevant forums.

I will do so when I have the time to spare, and eventually I may be able to help with product selection, but not today or anytime this month!

Sorry
MJ