A shot on the dark - proxy via 7800N ?

[joecav]

Hi all

This may be a really stupid question, so prepare yourselves...

Is it possible to use the 7800N to provide a proxy server? I'm abroad a lot and sometimes need a UK presence on the web (for example, some airline or online shopping sites won't accept bookings from non-UK or non-euro IP addresses, and some download sites also won't work). Several times I've been stuck working abroad without essential access.

I have a 7800N permanently turned on in the UK, with a static IP address. Can it accept internet page requests from me, forward them under its own IP address, and return the results back to me ?

I've achieved the same end by using Remote Desktop to operate my home PC in the UK, but this requires the PC to be on as well, which is a bind. It's also slow.

So is it possible using the 7800N alone ?

Thanks

[PistolPete]

Yes - configure VPN on the 7800n and then VPN into the router and then back out to the internet from the UK.

[joecav]

Hi PistolPete

thanks for the suggestion. Can I seek some clarification ?

The router is already configured for VPN and to tunnel through to my PC in the UK, using the port forwarding function/menu. This is OK, and needed for me to run remote desktop, but what I want to do now is cut out the PC from the loop.

Are you suggesting that I use the VPN server and VPN client menus to set up a VPN through to the rest of the internet ? If so, what would the settings look like ?

Thanks

Joe

[PistolPete]

I'm a little confused. Have you configured the VPN server on the router, or have you simply setup port forwarding to your PC?

[joecav]

Hi

I've set up Port-forwarding so that incoming VPN connections on Port 1723 get redirected to the PC, which has a fixed address of 192.168.2.222

VPN client and VPN server are not set up or used, as they're not needed for a direct tunnel through to the PC.

Does that clarify what I've done so far ?

Thanks

Joe

[PistolPete]

Yes it does. If you configure the VPN server on the router, then you would be able to terminate a VPN session on the router directly which should then allow you to either access your PC on the LAN side, or route out to the internet (giving the appearance that you are in the UK).

This picture shows what you are currently doing, and the bottom how it would work with the VP server on the router configured.

[joecav]

Hi

If that were possible it would be great.

I'm sorry to be so obtuse but the Billion manual is pretty unhelpful on how to configure VPN.

What would the settings need to look like on the PPTP, the PPTP account and client pages ? Say if my UK ISP uses a gateway of xxx.xx.xxx.xxx and a DNS server of yyy.yy.yyy.yyy, my fixed IP address for the router is aa.bb.cc.dd ?

What other settings would I need to know ? For example, the IP address of the computer which I'm using from abroad to access the router in the UK ? Or is the solution independen of where in the world I'm accessing from ?

Many thanks

Joe

[PistolPete]

Leave the client page alone, you are setting up the server.

On the PPTP page, enable it and set the IP address range to start a little higher than your DHCP range. (If your DHCP is 192.168.0.2-100, then start at 192.168.0.200)
On the PPTP Account page, give you account a name, a username and a password and make sure it's set for remote access.

From your foreign PC, you need to setup a PPTP VPN connection, the VPN server will be aa.bb.cc.dd, username and password will be as above.

[joecav]

Hi once more

Had a go but didn't succeed. Here's the screenshot of my PPTP account setup:

PPTPhome.jpg

PPTPaccount.JPG

And the network tab of the Properties for this connection on my PC

JoeProxyProperties.JPG

One thing occurred to me - both this PPTP server and VPN calls direct to my UK PC via Port Forwarding are using Port 1723. Could they be in conflict ?

Sorry to keep asking, but I'm mightily confused !

Thanks

Joe