What is a VPN router?

VPN Router is actually a normal router that has firmware that directly connects to VPN service helping all devices connected to that router to use that VPN service. This helps you pay for one VPN connection while all devices within the network use the VPN connection. Saves money, eh?

Although it is possible to flash (if it runs a variation of Linux) your usual router to become a VPN router, I will suggest you to avoid doing any such thing as it is quite complex and you might end up messing up your already running router.

Recently, a lot of companies have started to launch routers that are capable of connecting to VPN services directly without any hassles. This helps you route all your traffic within your network through the VPN server henceforth hiding your IP address for all the devices inside your network.

Main features

Basic features of such VPN routers:

• Connect to any famous VPN service from around the Internet via the VPN router using VPN tunnel connections.
• Serve the VPN connection to other VPN devices in your network.
• Use wireless network for your network within your VPN router.
• Have the freedom to configure everything yourself using the famous DD-WRT open source firmware or use the pre-built firmware for that specific VPN router.

In the weeks to come, I will review some of the famous VPN routers present around the planet so as to make your life easy. Then you will be able to choose from the best possible VPN routers.

Salman Siddiqui is an expert technical analyst and regularly blogs on his tech. blog CompuWorld. His vast experience of freelance writing is backed by his passion to swim against the tide. You can grab him on Twitter.

Installing VpnTunnel OpenVPN Tomato

Step 1. On your router address, 192.198.1.1  go to VPN tunneling and then to Client.

Step 2. On Basic tab of Client1

• Start with WAN: Unchecked
• Interface Type: Tun
• Protocol: UDP
• Server Address / Port: You put the address of the vpntunnel.se : melissa.vpntunnel.se 1194
• Firewall: Automatic
• Authorization mode: TLS
• tls-auth: Disabled
• Create Nat on tunnel: Checked

Step 3. On Advanced tab:

• Redirect Internet Traffic: Checked
• Accept Configuration DNS: Disabled
• Encryption cipher BF-CBC
• Compression: Enabled
• TLS Renegotiation Time: -1
• Connection Retry: 30
• Custom Configuration:

float
client
dev tap
proto udp
script-security 3
ns-cert-type server
cipher BF-CBC # Blowfish
auth-user-pass / tmp / openvpn-auth.conf
; VPN Server
remote-random
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 1194
persist-key
persist-tun
; Loggingcomp-lzo
verb 1

Next, click Save to update the configuration.

Step 4. Download the ca.crt file that contains all the necessary configuration data.

Step 5. On  Keys tab, copy the file content and paste it in the textbox

Click Save to update the configuration.

Step 6. Then you go in the Administration (right) and select Script.  In the Init tab, you copy this file:

echo <<username
password >> > / tmp / openvpn-auth.conf

The Username is your username and password in your VPN  password.

Click Save to update the configuration.

Step 7. In Administration->Firewall:

To create NAT rules to open ports on your router copy this:

iptables-I FORWARD-i br0-o tap0-j ACCEPT
 iptables-I FORWARD-i tap0-o br0-j ACCEPT
 iptables-I INPUT-i tap0-j REJECT
 iptables-t nat-A POSTROUTING-o tap0-j MASQUERADE

Click Save to update the configuration and click reboot the router to reconfigure.

Step 8. In order to start the VPN, click Start Now. You are done with VpnTunnel OpenVPN Tomato.

Enjoy!

What router are good for running VPN?

Anyway, this time, I wanted to focus on router hardware that is a good fit for running VPN on them. Frankly speaking, although I have a little two computers home network, I never worried installing the VPN client on my router – especially because the second computer is used by my wife who only cares about accessing the internet for doing e-mail, browsing, and Facebook So I was better off having a VPN software installed on my own computer for my own purposes.

But in case you want a centrally managed VPN implementation for your own network, be it a home network, or a small organization network, then having the VPN layer implemented on the router side is definitely the way to go.

Here again, there are a lot of options: you can think of the very powerful Cisco or Juniper routers that are designed specifically for running multiple VPN tunnels. Or you can go for the “lighter” VPN routers that are designed for SOHO use.

My criteria on how to choose VPN routers

For this article, I won’t even consider those big guys in town that are meant to connect to multiple locations in the world; let’s just focus on the SOHO (Small Office Home Office) segment. So here are my criteria on how to choose VPN routers:

• It should be easy to install. You don’t have to be an IT expert to set it up, nor should you have a great understanding of all the different options. In fact, considering that I would have already chosen a VPN provider, chances are that I would have been given credentials and protocols to be used, so the VPN router should be able to implement them. This should be an easy one since most of the protocols are implemented into all those hardware nowadays.
• It should have the right connection that goes with my internet connection. This can be the tricky part: internet connection solutions can come in a variety of “flavors”. Some providers will give you a box that is pre-configured for the internet connection. All the devices in my network would then need to connect to this box either via WiFi or via Ethernet connection.At this stage, I may want to check if that ISP box allows some bridging feature with my VPN router. Otherwise, that box would have to implement some network address translation (NAT) and it may cause you some troubles- in your case, check with the VPN router provider how would that be implemented. Other providers allow you to have your own router directly connected to an ADSL jack. This is a perfect fit since you can choose a VPN router that can connect to an ADSL jack. Then you do all the internet connection and VPN configuration on the same router.

As an option, and if you don’t have yet a WiFi router in your organization, you may want to request a router that also acts as a WiFi access point. This can come handy for a small entity (your house for example).

Finally, here is my selection of hardware-based VPN routers.

How do you choose VPN routers? Let us know in the comments below.