Setting up NordVPN on RT-AC86U

[Apnomis]

So thanks to this forum I've swapped my router RT-AC3200 for a RT-AC86U in order to have better performance using VPN on the Router. However I've run into an issue that I didn't experience with the 3200 which setup fine, it was just the lack of hardware acceleration that was the problem.

So I follow the instructions here: https://nordvpn.com/tutorials/asustwrt-merlin/openvpn/

The first bit works fine uploading the settings for the VPN and I can turn it on. However when I go into the WAN settings and specify the DNS I lose internet connection, if I enable the VPN it just hangs on 'Connecting'. This is the same with the NordVPN DNS and even the Google DNS. It only works if I set DNS to auto.

However when the DNS is auto, and the VPN is on, if I go to the NordVPN website the check at the top of the page still identifies my ISP and IP address and says I'm unprotected?

Any ideas?

 

[Sanna1967]

Great tuto here :
https://x3mtek.com/policy-rule-routing-on-asuswrt-merlin-firmware/

 

[Apnomis]

Thanks I looked through that and some other threads and it seems to be working now. The DNS issue seems to have resolved itself, not sure why it wasn't working yesterday.

I wanted to have everything go through VPN apart from two devices that won't function through VPN. I've set DNS to exclusive and Policy Rules (Strict), I've then selected the two devices Source IP from the drop down and left Destination IP blank and Iface WAN, then from what I was reading about how it works I added a new rule of 192.168.1.0/24 destination blank and Iface VPN. This seems to have worked - but not sure if that is the optimal way to do it?

Speeds seem fine over VPN connections too.