NETGEAR Nighthawk R6900 Router Manual PDF (Setup & Configuration Guide)

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Set Up a VPN Connection

A virtual private network (VPN) lets you use the Internet to securely access your network when you aren’t

home.

Figure 15. VPN provides a secure tunnel between your home network and a remote computer

This type of VPN access is called a client-to-gateway tunnel. The computer is the client, and the router

is the gateway. To use the VPN feature, you must log in to the router and enable VPN, and you must

install and run VPN client software on the computer.

The router currently does not support iOS or Android VPN client software.

Note

VPN uses DDNS or a static IP address to connect with your router.

To use a DDNS service, register for an account with a host name (sometimes called a domain name).

You use the host name to access your network. The router supports these accounts: NETGEAR, No-IP,

and Dyn.

If your Internet service provider (ISP) assigned a static WAN IP address (such as 50.196.x.x or 10.x.x.x)

that never changes to your Internet account, the VPN can use that IP address to connect to your home

network.

Specify VPN Service in the Router

You must specify the VPN service settings in the router before you can use a VPN connection.

To specify the VPN service:

1.

Launch a web browser from a computer or WiFi device that is connected to the network.

2.

Enter

http://www.routerlogin.net

.

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A login window opens.

3.

Enter the router user name and password.

The user name is

admin

. The default password is

password

. The user name and password are

case-sensitive.

The BASIC Home page displays.

4.

Select

ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > VPN Service

.

The VPN Service page displays.

5.

Select the

Enable VPN Service

check box.

By default, the VPN uses the UDP service type and uses port 12974. If you want to customize the

service type and port, we recommend that you change these settings before you install the OpenVPN

software.

6.

To change the service type, scroll down and select the

TCP

radio button.

7.

To change the port, scroll down to the

Service Port

field, and type the port number that you want to

use.

For information about configuring the type of access, see

Use VPN to Access Your

Internet Service at Home

on page 216.

Note

8.

Click the

Apply

button.

Your settings are saved. VPN is enabled in the router, but you must install and set up OpenVPN

software on your computer before you can use a VPN connection (see

Install OpenVPN Software on

Your Computer

on page 212).

Install OpenVPN Software on Your Computer

You must install this software on each computer that you plan to use for VPN connections to your router.

To install VPN client software:

1.

Visit

openvpn.net/index.php/download/community-downloads.html

.

2.

In the Windows Installer section of the page, double-click the

openVPN-install-xxx.exe

link.

3.

Download the file.

4.

To install the Open VPN software on your computer, click the

openVPN-install-xxx.exe

file.

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5.

Click the

6.

Read the License Agreement and click the

I Agree

button.

7.

Leave the check boxes selected as shown in the previous figure, and click the

8.

To specify the destination folder, click the

Browse

button, select a destination folder, and click the

9.

Click the

Install

button.

The window displays the progress of the installation and then displays the final installation window.

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10.

Click the

Finish

button.

11.

Unzip the configuration files that you downloaded and copy them to the folder where the VPN client

is installed on your device.

For a client device with Windows 64-bit system, the VPN client is installed at C:\Program

files\OpenVPN\config\ by default.

12.

For a client device with Windows, modify the VPN interface name to

NETGEAR-VPN

:

a.

In Windows, select

Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections

(or

Network and Sharing Center

).

The network information displays.

b.

In the local area connection list, find the local area connection with the device name

TAP-Windows

Adapter

.

c.

Select the local area connection and change its name (not its device name) to

NETGEAR-VPN

.

If you do not change the VPN interface name, the VPN tunnel connection will fail.

Use a VPN Tunnel

After you set up the router to use VPN and install the OpenVPN application on your computer, you can

open a VPN tunnel from your computer to your router over the Internet.

For the VPN tunnel to work, the local LAN IP address of the remote router must use a different LAN IP

scheme from that of the local LAN where your VPN client computer is connected. If both networks use

the same LAN IP scheme, when the VPN tunnel is established, you cannot access your home router or

your home network with the OpenVPN software.

The default LAN IP address scheme for the router is 192.x.x.x. The most common IP schemes are

192.x.x.x, 172.x.x.x, and 10.x.x.x. If you experience a conflict, change the IP scheme either for your home

network or for the network with the client VPN computer. For information about changing these settings,

see

Manage the LAN IP Address Settings

on page 144.

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To open a VPN tunnel:

1.

Launch the OpenVPN application with administrator privileges.

The

OpenVPN

icon displays in the Windows taskbar.

You can create a shortcut to the VPN program, then use the shortcut to access the

settings and select the

run as administrator

check box. Then every time you use this

shortcut, OpenVPN automatically runs with administrator privileges.

Tip

2.

Right-click the

OpenVPN

icon.

3.

Select

Connect

.

The VPN connection is established.You can do the following:

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