Employee not able to access OpenVPN server when connecting from home

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Employee not able to access OpenVPN server when connecting from home

lachlanw

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#306723 16-Aug-2023 12:21

We have an employee who is regularly on the road and remotes into our network via an OpenVPN server on our synology NAS. However he gets a connection timeout when on his home Wifi. He is on a Netcom 2296 and ISP is Contact. Any thoughts on possible issues?

michaelmurfy

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#3116707 16-Aug-2023 12:51

You need to provide more information. Does it otherwise work via tethering for example?

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lachlanw

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#3116746 16-Aug-2023 14:00

When he is on the road on motel Wifi he hasn't had any issues which is why I (probably foolishly) assumed it was something to do with the router or provider. Unsure about tethering, will ask him to check. The other staff members and I all remote in no issues. Sorry is that helpful? 😬

bagheera

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#3116770 16-Aug-2023 14:26

what their home lan ip address range, it not the same as the as the office?

lachlanw

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#3116793 16-Aug-2023 15:10

His local ip range is 192.168.20.1 to 192.168.20.254

I am unsure what our exact range is, but the majority of addresses I've seen get assigned between 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.256

In the Open VPN settings the dynamic ip address is set to 192.168.2.1

Not sure if this is causing an issue.

michaelmurfy

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#3116815 16-Aug-2023 15:32

To be honest there isn't much to go by here.

Connection timeout = port is likely blocked. As you mentioned motel WiFi this may have something to do with it. You need to check if the port is live.

Wombat1

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#3116819 16-Aug-2023 15:43

Does he have anything on his home network for parental control? This has caught me out before and have not been able to access VPN's in the past.

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robjg63

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#3116821 16-Aug-2023 15:50

michaelmurfy:

To be honest there isn't much to go by here.

Connection timeout = port is likely blocked. As you mentioned motel WiFi this may have something to do with it. You need to check if the port is live.

The OP said "When he is on the road on motel Wifi he hasn't had any issues".

So the issue is only from the user's home.

Maybe worth seeing if you can try a different router at the user's home.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

lachlanw

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#3116823 16-Aug-2023 15:53

Thanks everyone, Michael Murfy the issue he is able to access via the VPN fine when he is on the road (ie in Motels) however he can't access it when he is at home.

marpada

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#3116921 16-Aug-2023 21:25

It's not uncommon to configure OpenVPN to listen on port 443 TCP instead of the default 1194 so it doesn't get blocked by firewalls.

rphenix

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#3117209 17-Aug-2023 15:10

Netcomm routers tend to be on 192.168.2.1 as a default IP. With most common range used being 192.168.2.0/24 and 192.168.20.0/24. I know you said the Employee is using 192.168.20.0/24 I wonder if the Netcomm could be using 192.168.2.1 as a backup IP (other brands like Draytek do this).

To be honest for business ranges I avoid 192.168.x.x (and 10.1.1.0/24) its got too many complications with other private networks.

As you using TCP instead of UDP for OpenVPN no harm moving the OpenVPN instance to 443 as others have stated if its port blocked. I used to run multiple instances of OpenVPN default being UDP and fall back to tcp 443 for road warriors that cannot connect over UDP.