openvpn

[jay3712]

I am working on setting up a vpn to access my home network resources from my office. I have been following this howto: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenVPN

My server has a static ip of 192.168.1.200 on the local network given by the router (dd-wrt).

This is the output of ifconfig:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:30:48:dc:77:9a
inet addr:192.168.1.200 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::230:48ff:fedc:779a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3287 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3062 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1611712 (1.6 MB) TX bytes:639010 (639.0 KB)
Interrupt:252 Base address:0x6000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:68 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:68 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:5981 (5.9 KB) TX bytes:5981 (5.9 KB)

This is /etc/network/interfaces:
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp


1) How do I need to change this to add the bridged connection?
2) My server motherboard has two NICs, would it be some benefit to dedicate the second one (eth1) to the vpn?

Thanks!

Jason

[Zeosa]

First, from your interfaces file, you're server doesn't have a static ip, it's getting it via dhcp from the router. You're going to need to set a static ip for the box using an ip thats free on your network. Your interfaces file should look something like this:


auto lo br0
iface lo inet loopback

iface br0 inet static
address 192.168.1.200
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
bridge_ports eth0

iface eth0 inet manual
up ifconfig $IFACE 0.0.0.0 up
up ip link set $IFACE promisc on
down ip link set $IFACE promisc off
down ifconfig $IFACE down


This will assign the static ip to the bridge that you're creating. which you will eventually forward the vpn traffic to via your router.



2) My server motherboard has two NICs, would it be some benefit to dedicate the second one (eth1) to the vpn?


You can do either, but at this point to keep it simple you should probably just concentrate on what you've got so you don't confuse yourself during the setup (the first time is always the hardest). There's a few reasons to do it, 1) if your vpn traffic killing the other traffic on the NIC (pretty much impossible in your situation). or 2) you want your vpn traffic on a seperate subnet from your lan traffic (which complicates the setup a bit)

[jay3712]

Thanks for the reply Zeosa. What does each line in this section mean? Why 0.0.0.0?


iface eth0 inet manual
up ifconfig $IFACE 0.0.0.0 up
up ip link set $IFACE promisc on
down ip link set $IFACE promisc off
down ifconfig $IFACE down


Thanks again,
Jason

[Zeosa]

.


#This line sets the interface to be started manually (no, you don't have to do it yourself)
iface eth0 inet manual
#this brings the interface up with no ip
up ifconfig $IFACE 0.0.0.0 up
#This sets the interface into promiscuous mode for the bridge
up ip link set $IFACE promisc on
#This brings the interface out of promiscuous mode when before bringing it down.
down ip link set $IFACE promisc off
#This brings the interface down
down ifconfig $IFACE down




Once everything is running, your ifconfig output will look something like this:


br0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
inet addr:192.168.1.200 Bcast: 192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::a00:27ff:feb7:2173/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:27388 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1586 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:xxxxx (3.0 MB) TX bytes:xxxxx (242.6 KB)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
inet6 addr: fe80::a00:27ff:feb7:2173/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:xxx errors:xxx dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1592 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:xxxxx (781.0 MB) TX bytes:xxxxx (243.1 KB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xd020

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:20 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:20 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1592 (1.5 KB) TX bytes:1592 (1.5 KB)

tap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:ff:60:a9:95:62
inet6 addr: fe80::2ff:60ff:fea9:9562/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING PROMISC MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:16452 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:xxx (x.x MB)


Thanks again,
Jason[/QUOTE]