How Can I Forward Ports on my Router for *Any* AirVPN Server?

[GreyGold 1]

I've searched through the forum and the "How-to's" but haven't found an answer to this.  And I'm not well-versed in networking, as will become obvious.

 

Without AirVPN active, I have a fixed IP adress for my PC.  I can go into my router (Linksys WRT300N with DD-WRT), forward my desired port to that fixed IP, and I'm good to go from then on.

 

With AirVPN active, I receive a different IP address via DHCP when connecting to different AirVPN servers.  In order to maintain my port forwarding, I have to go into my router setup and edit the port forwarding to reflect the new IP adress whenever I connect to a different server.  Is there any way to forward the desired port to *any* local IP address I receive from AirVPN without requiring manual reconfiguration each time?

 

Thanks.

[Staff 9761]

Hello!

 

Yes. It will be easier if you keep the devices connected to your router with static IP addresses. Set a DNAT on the router with iptables according to our "How To" here:

https://airvpn.org/topic/9270-how-to-forward-ports-in-dd-wrt-tomato-with-iptables/

 

Kind regards

[GreyGold 1]

I agree that using static IP addreses would be easier, but when I connect to an AirVPN server, I am issued an IP address via DHCP, so I have no control over which addres I am assigned, and the address changes with each server I connect to.  I previously read the how-to article you referenced, but it doesn't appear to address my issue - or am I missing something?

[Staff 9761]

I agree that using static IP addreses would be easier, but when I connect to an AirVPN server, I am issued an IP address via DHCP, so I have no control over which addres I am assigned, and the address changes with each server I connect to.  I previously read the how-to article you referenced, but it doesn't appear to address my issue - or am I missing something?

 

Hello!

 

You just don't care about the VPN IP in this case. That's the IP address that is DHCP-assigned by the VPN server to your DD-WRT router tun interface. The static IP address we were talking about are the IP addresses in your private network of the devices connected to the DD-WRT router, because those devices are behind the router NAT. We're assuming that you connect your router to a VPN server, not your devices, is this correct?

 

Kind regards

[GreyGold 1]

Hello!

 

You just don't care about the VPN IP in this case. That's the IP address that is DHCP-assigned by the VPN server to your DD-WRT router tun interface. The static IP address we were talking about are the IP addresses in your private network of the devices connected to the DD-WRT router, because those devices are behind the router NAT. We're assuming that you connect your router to a VPN server, not your devices, is this correct?

 

Kind regards

As to my configuration, my PC has a single NIC which plugs into one of the LAN ports on my router.  The router's WAN port plugs into my DSL modem.  I have the router IP set to 192.168.2.1 and my PC's "normal" Ethernet adapter interface set to a static IP address of 192.168.2.10.  My application (e.g., Vuze BitTorrent client) is bound to my TAP-Windows Adapter V9.  Depending upon which AirVPN server I connect to, an IP is assigned by the AirVPN server to that TAP adapter via DHCP of the form 10.4.x.x (e.g., 10.4.53.150).

 

Within my router, if I forward my desired port to IP address 192.168.2.10, the applcation is unable to communicate over that port; however, if I forward the port to IP address 10.4.53.150, normal communication takes place.  But if I disconnect, then reconnect to a different AirVPN server, I a different IP address (e.g., 10.4.53.140) is assigned to my TAP adapter, and communication fails.  I then have to manually reconfigure port forwarding in my router to forward my desired port to IP adress 10.4.53.140, or whatever new IP address was assigned.

 

I am hoping to find a way to have the router detect a change in the IP address and update the port forwarding automatically.  From what I've read, it appears that some sort of configuration of iptables might be the solution, but my experience in networking doesn't run that deep.

[Staff 9761]

Hello!

Are you meaning that you run OpenVPN both on the DD-WRT router AND on your Windows system at the same time?  We asked "We're assuming that you connect your router to a VPN server, not your devices, is this correct?", can you please answer?

 

If you connect ONLY your Windows system (and not your router): no port forwarding is necessary on the router. The listening port of the torrent client must match the remotely forwarded port (i.e. one of the ports you have opened on your control panel in our web site). The port must not be remapped to a different local port (that's due to how BitTorrent clients work).

 

Kind regards

[GreyGold 1]

Hello!

Are you meaning that you run OpenVPN both on the DD-WRT router AND on your Windows system at the same time?  We asked "We're assuming that you connect your router to a VPN server, not your devices, is this correct?", can you please answer?

 

If you connect ONLY your Windows system (and not your router): no port forwarding is necessary on the router. The listening port of the torrent client must match the remotely forwarded port (i.e. one of the ports you have opened on your control panel in our web site). The port must not be remapped to a different local port (that's due to how BitTorrent clients work).

 

Kind regards

 

Sorry I was unclear.  I am only connected to AirVPN through my Windows system.  I do not have OpenVPN or any other VPN client installed or active on any device, including my router.

 

I have bound my BitTorrent client (Vuze) to my TAP-Windows Adapter V9 interface on my Windows system.  I have assigned a specific port (both TCP and UDP) to Vuze and also specified that same port (both TCP and UDP) in my AirVPN "Forwarded ports" settings.  If I do not forward any ports on my router, I cannot connect to any trackers.  If I forward the desired port on my router to any IP address other than the one provided by the AirVPN server, I cannot connect to any trackers.  Only if I forward the desired port on my router to the IP address provided via DHCP by the AirVPN server am I able to connect to any trackers.

 

I do not, to my knowledge, have any other unusual or non-standad settings on my router.  It appears that it is blocking access of Vuze to that port.  If I do not use AirVPN and do not bind Vuze to the TAP interface, I have a similar situation in which I need to forward the desired port on my router to the static IP address of my PC.  This becomes problemmatic with AirVPN, since the IP address it assigns to my PC is dynamic, as I described previously.

[Staff 9761]

Hello!

 

In your environment you must NOT forward ports on your router. Although Vuze is bound to tun, your description suggests that Vuze is exposing your real IP address through your physical interface. You should investigate this anomaly. Vuze must be working (forget about the trackers at the moment, they might block our VPN servers and anyway you don't need them) in the VPN without any forwarded port in the router.

 

Kind regards

[davidpmccarthy 0]

Can I forward port to alternative IP internal IP addresses?

For example, I have IP camera running on 192.168.0.40

My router is 192.168.0.1

I set the camera to listen on port 4188 and port forwarding is configured on airvpn on this port tcp and udp.

 

My satellite broadband does not allow me to port forward to internal IPs by port number.

 

How can I achieve this, or can I?

Prior to satellite broadband, I simply configured the router to push any incoming connections on port x to the same port on 192.168.0.40