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Trouble changing from running openvpn on machine to openvpn on Merlin

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whitenack

Occasional Visitor
Hi all,

TL;DR - How to you set up OpenVPN so it assigns a client a specific IP address? I am messing something up when I switch from starting the VPN on the client vs setting up the client file in the router.

I am a total noob with all this so be patient. I'll try to make this as clear as possible.

I have an office with a domain server and several client workstations. For disaster planning, I have a duplicate server set up as a clone and have placed it offsite. I use the Windows Server DFS utility to sync the two together. At the office, we have an Asus RT-AC68W so I set that router up to be an openvpn server. I generated the client file from the router and took it to the offsite server and loaded it onto the system. When connecting, it gets assigned an IP address as if it were still on the office network (and the same IP address it was assigned when I first set up the server while it was onsite). This works, but it could be better. After every power cycle, I have to go back in and log into the vpn manually. This offsite server sits in my basement for protection and is out of sight and out of mind. I would like something that is more durable.

I purchased a RT-AC66U for the offsite location. At first, I used the stock firmware and loaded the vpn client file into the router and made the connection. This worked, but it assigned every device at my offsite location a VPN IP address, and made all the devices view-able from the office network. This is less than ideal, so I did some reading and learned that the Merlin firmware allows you to specify which clients use the VPN.

So I load Merlin onto the offsite router and plug in the client vpn file. One trouble right off the bat is I am using TAP, and evidently I can't use the "Set Policy Rules" option on TAP. (I am pretty sure I have to use TAP in order for the offsite server to sync because it has to think it is on the same network). Regardless, I continue just to see if I can get something going. I make the connection, and I see that I am connected successfully on both the client router and server router. However, I don't see the device(s) showing up in the client list of the server VPN router and the server manager screen doesn't show seeing both servers.

Can anyone help me out?
 

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