"Destination port unreachable" with ping

[mimosa67 1]

I am connecting to AirVPN using openvpn in a LibreCMC router.

 

In the past, I have found the connection sometimes doesn't work for a few minutes after rebooting the router, and ping gives me the above message.

 

For the past several days, this behaviour is constant, and I am unable to use the VPN. I tried a different AirVPN server, to no avail; I thought it might be a DNS problem and tried using static DNS, also no help.

 

Is it possible my ISP is blocking VPNs? I have read that one solution to this is ssh tunneling, but haven't looked into how to do this yet because I imagine it could be quite complex and then if it still doesn't work, the fault might well be an error in how I've set it up. In any case, this might be barking up the wrong tree altogether.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? Have others experienced this recently?

[zhang888 1066]

Can you provide connection logs?

[mimosa67 1]

I'm not quite sure where to get these (from my main Linux box, or the LibreCMC router) nor which bits I should blank out to avoid telling the world sensitive network data.

 

Meanwhile, it seems my ISP does apply updates from time to time that blocks VPNs. I've been trying various fixes, so far without success.

 

EDIT Solved by switching to TCP and following these instructions (except the first one, obviously ):

 

 

1. Type 192.168.0.1 in Internet Explorer.
2. Enter Username/Password (Phone Virgin Media if you don't know).
3. Goto Advanced Settings (at the bottom of the page).
4. Goto (Security) "Port Forwarding".
5. Select "PPTP(TCP:1723)" in Service and Click "Add Rule" followed by Apply.
6. Goto (Security) "Firewall".
7. Uncheck all boxes except "PPTP Pass-Through".
8. Click Apply.

 

Are there any possible security implications, though?

[zhang888 1066]

The PPTP and L2TP passthrough that you allowed have no meaning with AirVPN, which is based on OpenVPN.

There are no security implications by allowing such traffic pass by your router, but if you actually use PPTP it is

broken for many years and considered insecure.

[mimosa67 1]

Thank you for your help. I wonder why they do this - VPN use is not illegal in my country. However, this would be enough to stump most non-technical users. Searching mostly turns up the instruction about unticking boxes in the firewall settings, but not adding that rule - which as you say has nothing apparently to do with openvpn.