Configuring a PPTP VPN Server in DD-WRT
Continuing my journey to provide remote access to my home network, I configured DD-WRT with a PPTP VPN. I still had the same NetworkManager configuration from when I tested PPTP with my WRT54GL.
Services
VPN
PPTP Server
PPTP Server: Enable
Broadcast support: Enable
MPPE Encryption: Enable
DNS1: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
DNS2: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Server IP: LAN.subnet.xxx.90
Client IP(s): LAN.subnet.xxx.91
Authentication: Local User Management (CHAP Secrets)
CHAP-Secrets: my_vpn_name * some-secret-pass-phrase *
Apply Settings
Save
The PPTP connection worked great. I remotely connected to my home network. I could work the same as though I was connected at home.
I tested Remmina to use VNC to connect to my office desktop.
A wake-on-lan command booted the living room media player.
While I was connected in this manner I could access the router’s configuration web page from the LAN side. This is nice because I would not need to configure GUI remote access to the router.
From the perspective of using my laptop remotely, I noticed no desktop differences from working at home. The only clues of a difference was the NetworkManager icon and the ifconfig command showing a ppp0 device. I did not try to open large files. I would expect some latency doing so, but during my test the text files I opened were no problem. The VNC connection was fine as well. I have VNC servers configured for medium resolution.
This was a proof-of-concept test. Although I expect to use VPN only occasionally, using PPTP with MS-CHAPv2 authentication is considered a security risk. Another option is to configure the PPTP VPN using RADIUS for authentication. That said there are other vulnerabilities with PPTP.
A PPTP VPN provides me a Plan B. Plan A is OpenVPN.
Posted: Category: Tutorial, Usability Tagged: DD-WRT
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