Hello all. I've been using OpenWrt since about RC4 or so, so I'd say I'm as familiar with it as the next guy. I am new to VPNs, however. I have a Pocket PC Phone edition, and it has an option to login to a "Work" network via VPN (or a Home network in my case). For the VPN tunnel, my options are "PPTP" or "L2TP". There is no "OpenVPN" option. Can anyone point me in the right direction to get me started to making a self-contained VPN endpoint.  Preferably with DHCP to the clients with the same IP Range as for Wired/Wireless clients. I am using the RC6 release of OpenWRT. I am also using WebIF^2. I have installed pptpd and pptp packages and am wondering: is that all that I need.

A side note: When using Webif^2 to install the openvpn-webif and hswebif packages failed because files in /etc/init.d/ already existed, and the new packages wanted to overwrite them. I deleted the files and then installed them manually. Oh, yeah. Is there some reason that pptpd runs on startup even though it is turned off in webif^2?

I have pptpd running on my Wl-500gx with OpenWrt Kamikaze 2.4 kernel. I think pptpd is enough, but you need the following kernel modules loaded to support MPPE encyption: ppp_mppe_mppc, sha1, arc4
You can set the IP range for clients in /etc/pptpd.conf
e.g.
remoteip 192.168.0.201-204

I tried DHCP, but it didn't work on the first attempt, so i switched to the other solution.

Edit:
Don't forget the iptables routing rules, so your clients have access to your local net or the internet.

(Last edited by MMCM on 7 Dec 2006, 11:36)

A good starting point to configure a PPTP VPN server for OpenWrt is the PPTPDHowto in the wiki.

In webif^2 you have a GUI to configure PPTP client and server.

(Last edited by forum2006 on 7 Dec 2006, 15:10)

Hmm, Howtos. I've been there in the past, but not for PPTP stuff. Thanks. I didn't think to look there. Speaking of the Howtos, could someone put a link to the main howto page somewhere that everyone can find them?

As for everything and everyone else, thanks. I do like to study things out before diving into a project. Too many times, I don't know how to do something, and change a setting to see if it achieves the desired effect. It sometimes does, other times I need to breakout the backup disks (or knoppix! )

Yes, I know that the wiki is maintained by the community. I need to read up on wikis though, first.
"Kid: Now I know. G.I. Joe: And knowing is half the battle" --G.I. Joe TV Show, recurring conversation.
--Aaron

All right, I've installed X-Wrt, PPTPD, all required Kernel modules, and setup a client account. I cannot connect. Perhaps X-Wrt's Webif^2 doesn't configure the firewall to allow WAN connections correctly? I can ping my router, but I can't connect via PPTP.

Any ideas? How can I check if the firewall port has been opened?

Just an aside: I wanted to clarify: I can ping the router from my client over wan interface across the Internet.

MY problem here, is that I don't have any convenient way to travel back and fourth between the outside and inside of my network. I have no car, and all of the signals around me are protected (including mine!). I'd have to walk about 20 minutes to find an open, freely available public hotspot, test the connection, and walk back. I have looked through the howto, but the environment there is setup different than X-Wrt. I'm not entirely sure that I know what info from the howto to change to match X-Wrt's implementation. I realize that Openwrt and X-Wrt are a work in progress, so as much as I would like it to "Just work" when I try to set stuff up, I won't complain.

Thanks for any help,

--Aaron