Greetings from a forum newbie
RELATED BACKGROUND
Seems I don't have "new topic" privileges; but I can respond to a "related" (if unanswered?) topic. So apologies for the necro-post.
I am a private consumer (not a business) with a few routers in different locations about 50-150 miles apart (long story).
In each location, I have an ASUS router of varying age. In general, they are "older and cheap" (since I am not a business). . .and they don't have huge amounts of traffic. I have never needed "latest and greatest" in routers.
I have a few NAS units, and I explored VPN connections to access these NAS units a few years back. Configured OpenVPN on the routers (it comes preinstalled) and . . . .it worked fine. Then - - being security conscious I hid all the NAS units behind a secure router. By secure. . .I mean no WAN connection. Local connection to the secure router ONLY. I then didn't think about open VPN for a few years.
Fast forward to 2025: I decided to create a file server for friends. Remote access needed. I added a new "sacrificial" NAS to the my "open" network for the task, and have setup WebDav and SFTP access. Works fine.
To administrate: I have decided to dust off OpenVPN. Afterall. . I am often away from the location with the NAS. While I am doing network fiddling, I have decided to add a small HDD to each router to serve as a "local" file server - - and build in access via OpenVPN
WORKING UP TO THE CURRENT QUESTION
I have several older ASUS routers in remote locations. (One is a RT-51U, another is RT-AC66U B1, plus two other similar units).
Looks like OpenVPN Server is preloaded into the firmware. . .and one cannot load newer version of OpenVPN Server to make it "current".
Looks like OpenVPN Connect . . .the newest versions. . . doesn't like the options related to older OpenVPN servers.
I just loaded 3.6.0 a few weeks ago onto a laptop. . .works on one router; but complains about "insecure hash" on another (and won't connect).
Just loaded 3.6.0.4074 on another machine. . .and it doesn't like that router also uses "compression". Gah.
Dumped 3.6.0.4074 and loaded 3.3.6.2752 (from who knows where). THAT seems to work.
THE CURRENT QUESTION
I need advice.
Not sure how to proceed.
I would like to have current software. . .. but
* I think the only practical path for that is to replace all the routers with something that allows side-loading of other software.
* Next best solution is to just compromise and run the newest version of OpenVPN client that works with hardware I have
* I really don't want to run OpenVPN on the NAS, or install Rasberry Pi's everywhere to run the VPN. (or maybe I should do the Pi's?)
Thanks for listening.
RELATED BACKGROUND
Seems I don't have "new topic" privileges; but I can respond to a "related" (if unanswered?) topic. So apologies for the necro-post.
I am a private consumer (not a business) with a few routers in different locations about 50-150 miles apart (long story).
In each location, I have an ASUS router of varying age. In general, they are "older and cheap" (since I am not a business). . .and they don't have huge amounts of traffic. I have never needed "latest and greatest" in routers.
I have a few NAS units, and I explored VPN connections to access these NAS units a few years back. Configured OpenVPN on the routers (it comes preinstalled) and . . . .it worked fine. Then - - being security conscious I hid all the NAS units behind a secure router. By secure. . .I mean no WAN connection. Local connection to the secure router ONLY. I then didn't think about open VPN for a few years.
Fast forward to 2025: I decided to create a file server for friends. Remote access needed. I added a new "sacrificial" NAS to the my "open" network for the task, and have setup WebDav and SFTP access. Works fine.
To administrate: I have decided to dust off OpenVPN. Afterall. . I am often away from the location with the NAS. While I am doing network fiddling, I have decided to add a small HDD to each router to serve as a "local" file server - - and build in access via OpenVPN
WORKING UP TO THE CURRENT QUESTION
I have several older ASUS routers in remote locations. (One is a RT-51U, another is RT-AC66U B1, plus two other similar units).
Looks like OpenVPN Server is preloaded into the firmware. . .and one cannot load newer version of OpenVPN Server to make it "current".
Looks like OpenVPN Connect . . .the newest versions. . . doesn't like the options related to older OpenVPN servers.
I just loaded 3.6.0 a few weeks ago onto a laptop. . .works on one router; but complains about "insecure hash" on another (and won't connect).
Just loaded 3.6.0.4074 on another machine. . .and it doesn't like that router also uses "compression". Gah.
Dumped 3.6.0.4074 and loaded 3.3.6.2752 (from who knows where). THAT seems to work.
THE CURRENT QUESTION
I need advice.
Not sure how to proceed.
I would like to have current software. . .. but
* I think the only practical path for that is to replace all the routers with something that allows side-loading of other software.
* Next best solution is to just compromise and run the newest version of OpenVPN client that works with hardware I have
* I really don't want to run OpenVPN on the NAS, or install Rasberry Pi's everywhere to run the VPN. (or maybe I should do the Pi's?)
Thanks for listening.
Statistics: Posted by onesnark — Tue Jan 21, 2025 12:33 am