TP-LINK TL-R600VPN SafeStream Gigabit Broadband VPN Router Reviewed
- Thread starter foudl
- Start date
All is not what it seems
I too saw the tutorial and bought two of the units. While waiting for the second unit to arrive at the remote site. I was able to connect to an existing vpn router there with little trouble. But that is far as it went. I am unable to ping any resources at the remote site. I am hoping that it will work well with it's mate once it arrives.
I too saw the tutorial and bought two of the units. While waiting for the second unit to arrive at the remote site. I was able to connect to an existing vpn router there with little trouble. But that is far as it went. I am unable to ping any resources at the remote site. I am hoping that it will work well with it's mate once it arrives.
The TL-R600VPN supports site-to-site IPsec VPN tunnels. That is how it was tested, connecting to a ZyXEL Zyxel ZyWALL 110 using 3DES encryption and SHA-1 authentication.
Read the VPN Config Guide.
Read the VPN Config Guide.
I'm not really up on the terminology, nor do I claim to be anything near a guru.
I understand that your test was from basically a generic to generic VPN router and it tested good.
My experience so far isn't quite like that. Aside from the authentication and encryption the TPL600 shows a bidirectional link connected. The test bed was comprised of using OpenVPN server running L2TP installed on a synology NAS, where we couldn't reach any devices beyond the VPN server. The TPL600 was the originating end using their recommended simple policy setups.
We then set up a test using the TPL600's PPTP server and using the OpenVPN service on the Synology NAS established a bidirectional PPTP Link.
The client end being (Synology NAS) was able to connect to the assets in the host location, while the host site was able to ftp, telnet and logon to the Client.
What I don't understand is what the difference is in how the packets are routed between the two vpn tunnels. Being a novice, I just thought the encapsulation, encryption and authentication were the only differences between the two and the routing was the same.
I appreciate you taking the time to help straighten me out on this.
I understand that your test was from basically a generic to generic VPN router and it tested good.
My experience so far isn't quite like that. Aside from the authentication and encryption the TPL600 shows a bidirectional link connected. The test bed was comprised of using OpenVPN server running L2TP installed on a synology NAS, where we couldn't reach any devices beyond the VPN server. The TPL600 was the originating end using their recommended simple policy setups.
We then set up a test using the TPL600's PPTP server and using the OpenVPN service on the Synology NAS established a bidirectional PPTP Link.
The client end being (Synology NAS) was able to connect to the assets in the host location, while the host site was able to ftp, telnet and logon to the Client.
What I don't understand is what the difference is in how the packets are routed between the two vpn tunnels. Being a novice, I just thought the encapsulation, encryption and authentication were the only differences between the two and the routing was the same.
I appreciate you taking the time to help straighten me out on this.
Thanks for your question!
Synology NASes support PPTP and OpenVPN client connections. They can connect to a PPTP and/or an OpenVPN server.
The TP-Link TL-R600VPN can function as a PPTP server.
PPTP and OpenVPN are different technologies used to connect to a remote network. They use different encapsulation, authentication, encryption protocols, but essentially produce the same result. Both PPTP and OpenVPN enable a remote device to access the LAN side of another network. Once the tunnel is established, the routing is basically the same.
When you enable the PPTP server on the TP-Link and configure the Synology NAS as a PPTP client to connect to the TP-Link, you are enabling the Synology NAS to remotely connect to the LAN side of the TP-Link. When the PPTP connection is established, the Synology NAS will have an IP address (192.168.0.200) on the TP-Link LAN. PCs on the TP-Link LAN, which also have an IP address in the 192.168.0.0 range, will be able to connect to the Synology NAS as if it were local.
I hope this answers your question!
Doug
Synology NASes support PPTP and OpenVPN client connections. They can connect to a PPTP and/or an OpenVPN server.
The TP-Link TL-R600VPN can function as a PPTP server.
PPTP and OpenVPN are different technologies used to connect to a remote network. They use different encapsulation, authentication, encryption protocols, but essentially produce the same result. Both PPTP and OpenVPN enable a remote device to access the LAN side of another network. Once the tunnel is established, the routing is basically the same.
When you enable the PPTP server on the TP-Link and configure the Synology NAS as a PPTP client to connect to the TP-Link, you are enabling the Synology NAS to remotely connect to the LAN side of the TP-Link. When the PPTP connection is established, the Synology NAS will have an IP address (192.168.0.200) on the TP-Link LAN. PCs on the TP-Link LAN, which also have an IP address in the 192.168.0.0 range, will be able to connect to the Synology NAS as if it were local.
I hope this answers your question!
Doug
Tom Carson
New Around Here
Is there a manual how to set up using windows 10?
This stuff is pretty new to me...
Aloha,
This stuff is pretty new to me...
Aloha,
Apologies for resurrecting an already zombie post, but I've got a PSA for people with this router.
TP-Link apparently released a HW version 3 sometime early this year (2017). I first noticed references to it on their support site some time in February. In addition to "updated" documentation, they released the initial firmware image, which is dated Aug. 3, 2016.
I've got a HW version 2 of this router, which hasn't seen a firmware update since August 2014. I stopped using the router mid 2016 because of the apparent lack of support. Back when they transitioned from hardware version 1 to version 2, their support recommended everyone with version 1 update to the version 2 firmware to fix some big issues. This made me wonder if the new firmware for version 3 was compatible with hardware version 2.
Since I wasn't using it, I decided to take a chance and try updating it. I plugged in the router, did a factory reset, uploaded the new firmware, and was delighted to see the newer firmware is successfully installed with the older hardware. I did another factory reset after the update to make sure everything was written over correctly. Outside of a newer GUI (which is substantially less buggy and more performant than the old firmware), there don't appear to be any new features nor any older features changed or removed.
I haven't done any extensive testing on it yet, but with 'newer' software I'm thinking about using it again. Just thought I'd share for anyone who might still be using these.
Edit: Sorry, forgot to include a link to the site.
http://www.tp-link.com/us/download/TL-R600VPN_V3.html#Firmware
TP-Link apparently released a HW version 3 sometime early this year (2017). I first noticed references to it on their support site some time in February. In addition to "updated" documentation, they released the initial firmware image, which is dated Aug. 3, 2016.
I've got a HW version 2 of this router, which hasn't seen a firmware update since August 2014. I stopped using the router mid 2016 because of the apparent lack of support. Back when they transitioned from hardware version 1 to version 2, their support recommended everyone with version 1 update to the version 2 firmware to fix some big issues. This made me wonder if the new firmware for version 3 was compatible with hardware version 2.
Since I wasn't using it, I decided to take a chance and try updating it. I plugged in the router, did a factory reset, uploaded the new firmware, and was delighted to see the newer firmware is successfully installed with the older hardware. I did another factory reset after the update to make sure everything was written over correctly. Outside of a newer GUI (which is substantially less buggy and more performant than the old firmware), there don't appear to be any new features nor any older features changed or removed.
I haven't done any extensive testing on it yet, but with 'newer' software I'm thinking about using it again. Just thought I'd share for anyone who might still be using these.
Edit: Sorry, forgot to include a link to the site.
http://www.tp-link.com/us/download/TL-R600VPN_V3.html#Firmware