How to Use Netgear Nighthawk VPN

[camb]

First, thank you Nayr from your VPN Primer.

I have a Netgear Nighthawk router and wanted to take advantage of the VPN service for security and ability to view remotely while on my workplace network. I currently have opened ports for remote viewing. I'm still not totally sure how to set this up or what to expect.

Here are my questions:

• Will turning on the VPN prevent devices and services such as Sonos, Wireless Printer, Phillips Hue, etc. from working?
• Is there a cost to using Open VPN on my Nighthawk? It seems like there is a free trial up to a certain amount of MB after which point I need to pay for a plan. Is that accurate?
• How do I configure OpenVPN on Nighthawk and remote viewing devices so I can turn off port forwarding...while still not having issues connecting to the internet at home or on guest network.

Netgear won't provide support since I'm at the 90 day mark with the router. Their help articles don't seem to address my questions.

Thank you.

 

[nayr]

#1st subject in primer
#3rd subject in primer
#7th subject in primer



just copy the config file to your phone and load it up w/an openvpn app

 

[tangent]

Will turning on the VPN prevent devices and services such as Sonos, Wireless Printer, Phillips Hue, etc. from working

No turning on the vpn server won't effect these devices. Without turning off upnp and and port forwarding it won't make you any more secure. The devices you listed don't depend on port forwarding or upnp, they connect to the internet and perform nat traversal connecting to these companies servers. Your printer really doesn't need to connect to the internet.

 

[Arjun]

Disable upnp and port forwarding

Follow the VPN Server Instructions (OpenVPN) listed in Advanced--> Advanced Setup--> VPN Access

Make sure to configure everything on your PC as an administrator

Configure for Internet and Home Network
Use TCP -- and ports on display

Should be all set, just configured mine the other day on a Nighthawk R7000

 

[Arjun]

Everybody is jumping on the same boat

#1st subject in primer
#3rd subject in primer
#7th subject in primer



just copy the config file to your phone and load it up w/an openvpn app

 

[randyth]

I also want to suggest asus-wrt . It really beats the stock firmware on all points (I'm currently using it on my r7000 with openvpn).

 

[JasonS]

I just finished setting up my VPN on the nighthawk r7000.
installed openvpn... turned off upnp... no port forwarding... openvpn client on my laptop runing...
my question is... if I forget to connect to openVpn, or if my son's iPad forgets to connect to open VPN or a guest logs into my guests account on the router without a VPN client running on his device... and we log onto the router and start surfing, how will this effect the security of the network and security cameras

 

[fenderman]

I just finished setting up my VPN on the nighthawk r7000.
installed openvpn... turned off upnp... no port forwarding... openvpn client on my laptop runing...
my question is... if I forget to connect to openVpn, or if my son's iPad forgets to connect to open VPN or a guest logs into my guests account on the router without a VPN client running on his device... and we log onto the router and start surfing, how will this effect the security of the network and security cameras

When you are at home you dont want or need to connect to vpn.....when you are remote you wont be able to connect to your network unless you start the vpn client.