If you want to manage VPN settings using web interface. Install the necessary packages.
# Install packages opkg update opkg install luci-proto-pppossh service rpcd restart
Navigate to LuCI → Network → Interfaces to configure PPPoSSH.
Preserve default route to restore WAN connectivity when VPN is disconnected.
# Preserve default route uci set network.wan.metric="1024" uci commit network service network restart
Implement plain routing between server side LAN and client side LAN assuming that:
192.168.1.0/24
- server side LAN192.168.2.0/24
- client side LANAdd route to client side LAN on VPN server.
cat << "EOF" > /etc/ppp/ip-up #!/bin/sh case ${IPREMOTE} in (192.168.9.2) ip route add 192.168.2.0/24 via ${IPREMOTE} dev ${IFNAME} ;; esac EOF chmod +x /etc/ppp/ip-up
Consider VPN network as private and assign VPN interface to LAN zone on VPN client, add route to server side LAN.
uci del_list firewall.wan.network="vpn" uci add_list firewall.lan.network="vpn" uci commit firewall service firewall restart uci -q delete network.vpn_rt uci set network.vpn_rt="route" uci set network.vpn_rt.interface="vpn" uci set network.vpn_rt.target="192.168.1.0/24" uci set network.vpn_rt.gateway="192.168.9.1" uci commit network service network restart
Fetch server certificate from remote VPN server. Beware of possible MITM.
openssl s_client -showcerts -connect ${VPN_SERV}:${VPN_PORT} \ < /dev/null > server-cert.pem
Preserve default route to restore WAN connectivity when VPN is disconnected.
# Preserve default route uci set network.wan.metric="1024" uci commit network service network restart
Disable gateway redirection in the client if you don't need to route all traffic through VPN.
uci set network.vpn.defaultroute="0" uci commit network service network restart
If VPN gateway is separate from your LAN gateway. Implement plain routing between LAN and VPN networks assuming that:
192.168.1.0/24
- LAN network192.168.1.2/24
- VPN gateway192.168.9.0/24
- VPN networkAdd port forwarding for VPN server on LAN gateway.
uci -q delete firewall.oc uci set firewall.oc="redirect" uci set firewall.oc.name="Redirect-OpenConnect" uci set firewall.oc.src="wan" uci set firewall.oc.src_dport="4443" uci set firewall.oc.dest="lan" uci set firewall.oc.dest_ip="192.168.1.2" uci set firewall.oc.family="ipv4" uci set firewall.oc.proto="tcp udp" uci set firewall.oc.target="DNAT" uci commit firewall service firewall restart
Add route to VPN network via VPN gateway on LAN gateway.
uci -q delete network.vpn uci set network.vpn="route" uci set network.vpn.interface="lan" uci set network.vpn.target="192.168.9.0/24" uci set network.vpn.gateway="192.168.1.2" uci commit network service network restart
Set up IPv6 tunnel broker or use IPv6 NAT or NPT if necessary. Enable IPv6 tunnel on VPN server, offer IPv6 DNS, redirect IPv6 gateway.
VPN_POOL6="fd00:9::/64" VPN_DNS6="${VPN_POOL6%:*}:1" uci set ocserv.config.ip6addr="${VPN_POOL6}" uci -q delete ocserv.dns6 uci set ocserv.dns6="dns" uci set ocserv.dns6.ip="${VPN_DNS6}" uci commit ocserv service ocserv restart
Disable ISP prefix delegation to prevent IPv6 leaks on VPN client.
Serve DNS for VPN clients on OpenWrt server when using point-to-point topology.
Route DNS over VPN to prevent DNS leaks on VPN client.
Replace peer DNS with public or VPN-specific DNS provider on OpenWrt client.
Modify the VPN connection using NetworkManager on Linux desktop client.
nmcli connection modify id VPN_CON \ ipv4.dns-search ~. ipv4.dns-priority -50 \ ipv6.dns-search ~. ipv6.dns-priority -50
Prevent traffic leaks on OpenWrt client isolating VPN interface in a separate firewall zone.
uci -q delete firewall.vpn uci set firewall.vpn="zone" uci set firewall.vpn.name="vpn" uci set firewall.vpn.input="REJECT" uci set firewall.vpn.output="ACCEPT" uci set firewall.vpn.forward="REJECT" uci set firewall.vpn.masq="1" uci set firewall.vpn.mtu_fix="1" uci add_list firewall.vpn.network="vpn" uci del_list firewall.wan.network="vpn" uci -q delete firewall.@forwarding[0] uci set firewall.lan_vpn="forwarding" uci set firewall.lan_vpn.src="lan" uci set firewall.lan_vpn.dest="vpn" uci commit firewall service firewall restart
Generate password hash for a new VPN client. Set up multi-client VPN server. Use unique credentials for each client.
# Configure VPN service VPN_USER="USERNAME1" VPN_PASS="PASSWORD1" uci -q delete ocserv.client1 uci set ocserv.client1="ocservusers" uci set ocserv.client1.name="${VPN_USER}" uci set ocserv.client1.password="${VPN_HASH}" uci commit ocserv service ocserv restart
Automated VPN server installation.
URL="https://openwrt.org/_export/code/docs/guide-user/services/vpn/openconnect/server" cat << EOF > openconnect-server.sh $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=0") $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=1") $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=2") $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=3") EOF sh openconnect-server.sh
If VPN gateway is separate from your LAN gateway. Implement plain routing between LAN and VPN networks assuming that:
192.168.1.0/24
- LAN network192.168.1.2/24
- VPN gateway192.168.9.0/24
- VPN networkAdd port forwarding for VPN server on LAN gateway.
uci -q delete firewall.pppossh uci set firewall.pppossh="redirect" uci set firewall.pppossh.name="Redirect-PPPoSSH" uci set firewall.pppossh.src="wan" uci set firewall.pppossh.src_dport="22" uci set firewall.pppossh.dest="lan" uci set firewall.pppossh.dest_ip="192.168.1.2" uci set firewall.pppossh.family="ipv4" uci set firewall.pppossh.proto="tcp" uci set firewall.pppossh.target="DNAT" uci commit firewall service firewall restart
Add route to VPN network via VPN gateway on LAN gateway.
uci -q delete network.vpn uci set network.vpn="route" uci set network.vpn.interface="lan" uci set network.vpn.target="192.168.9.0/24" uci set network.vpn.gateway="192.168.1.2" uci commit network service network restart
Serve DNS for VPN clients on OpenWrt server when using point-to-point topology.
Route DNS over VPN to prevent DNS leaks on VPN client.
Replace peer DNS with public or VPN-specific DNS provider on OpenWrt client.
Modify the VPN connection using NetworkManager on Linux desktop client.
nmcli connection modify id VPN_CON \ ipv4.dns-search ~. ipv4.dns-priority -50 \ ipv6.dns-search ~. ipv6.dns-priority -50
Prevent traffic leaks on OpenWrt client isolating VPN interface in a separate firewall zone.
uci -q delete firewall.vpn uci set firewall.vpn="zone" uci set firewall.vpn.name="vpn" uci set firewall.vpn.input="REJECT" uci set firewall.vpn.output="ACCEPT" uci set firewall.vpn.forward="REJECT" uci set firewall.vpn.masq="1" uci set firewall.vpn.mtu_fix="1" uci add_list firewall.vpn.network="vpn" uci del_list firewall.wan.network="vpn" uci -q delete firewall.@forwarding[0] uci set firewall.lan_vpn="forwarding" uci set firewall.lan_vpn.src="lan" uci set firewall.lan_vpn.dest="vpn" uci commit firewall service firewall restart
Automated VPN server installation.
URL="https://openwrt.org/_export/code/docs/guide-user/services/vpn/pppossh/server" cat << EOF > pppossh-server.sh $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=0") $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=1") $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=2") $(wget -U "" -O - "${URL}?codeblock=3") EOF sh pppossh-server.sh