Configuration help! Asus inside Xfinity wifi modem (screenshots inside)

[JaimeZX]

Hey guys, a little help please!

Visiting my mom from out of town. For Christmas, she gets an RT-AC86 with Skynet and Diversion.

Setting up her OpenVPN server and I'm having some trouble. She's inside an Xfinity wifi modem, which I have "simplified" as much as possible in the settings. Port Forwarding set to UDP/1194 to the Asus.

Noip settings:

^^ probably not helpful. One is my home, the other is my mom's. You'll have to trust me that the hostnames are spelled the same in the website and the router.


Router DDNS:

Not sure if this should be set to "internal" or "external." Google has not been helpful. But the NoIP.com dashboard has changed to 10.0.0.x twice in the last few days so I'm starting to think "internal" isn't right. I've had to manually revert it to her actual external IP and I guess I don't really understand how this system works.

OpenVPN settings:

So I must be missing something. What is it? Thanks!!

 

[Jack Yaz]

Use external - internal won't work properly in a double NAT setup like you have

 

[JaimeZX]

Done! Thanks. That makes sense since in Network Map the router is reporting "WAN IP: 10.0.0.2" Still, if NoIP.com is reflecting the correct IP then there must be something else going on, right?

 

[JaimeZX]

FWIW, the (Android) OpenVPN client I'm testing this with is telling me "server poll timeout trying next remote entry."

I can "ping" the NoIP server name but I don't know if that's pinging NoIP or the local router...

 

[bluzfanmr1]

Wouldn't it work better to put the Xfinity router in bridge mode first? If I'm wrong, forgive me as I am no expert, but when I moved and went from Charter to Xfinity and had to temporarily use their wifi modem/router combo, I had all kinds of issues. Bridge mode was better but then I got my own Arris Surfboard SB6183 and returned the Xfinity modem and its $13 per month fee. Things work smoothly now.

 

[unixwizzard]

Wouldn't it work better to put the Xfinity router in bridge mode first? If I'm wrong, forgive me as I am no expert

You are not wrong.. If someone is using a 3rd party router with Xfinity, the absolute best way to setup is to put the Xfinity gateway into Bridge Mode, then run the NAT, dhcp, firewall, etc on the router.

I used to work at Comcast, and have setup countless home networks like this. IMNSHO, running double NAT is just asking for problems.

Bridge Mode disables the services.. nat, dhcp, firewall,and the local WiFi while leaving the 'xfinitywifi' hotspot active - basically turns the gateway into a plain modem/emta.

 

[JaimeZX]

BRIDGE MODE FIXED IT!!! You guys rock!