VPN connection to home LAN for iOS

[DFC-Neo]

Hello all,
I have a network at home and I would like to have the possibility to connect my iPad/iPhone to this LAN when I am away from home.
Why? With our cable TV provider we can watch TV and stuff recorded on the PVR box from any iDevice inside the home network. I would like to be able to access this also from outside the house when I am not in the LAN.

At the moment we have some generic fiber cable modem (I will check modell when I get home). The LAN port is connected to a Linksys E1700 router which is the main router for the home network. In the network there is an Apple TV (4th gen) and a Time Capsule (older model) and a bunch of Mac/iOS devices.

I have though about 3 possible solutions (but maybe there are others as well?):
1. Replace the E1700 with a router that has a VPN server included. or is it possible to install DD-WRT on the E1700 and make it capable of VPN?
2. Use the time capsule as a VPN server (not sure if that is possible)
3. Use my macBook as a VPN server. But this would require that the MB is always on, which is not a preferred solution.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You need to research that Linksys model thoroughly to see if a proper VPN server is possible regardless of the firmware you run on it. I have a Linksys WRT1900AC (v1) and it will not allow me to run a "send all traffic" type VPN server no matter what firmware (I've tried OpenWRT and DD-WRT).

My solution is to swap it for pre-configured old router (D-Link) when I'm away. My VPN server is run on my Mac.

Time Capsule won't work as a VPN server.

Hopefully, someone here can chime in with direct knowledge of your router model or at least a different model that can easily be configured.

 

[satcomer]

Just buy a Synology DS416play and use it's App Store to get a VPN App and keep your iTunes on the NAS. This way you don't have to keep a Mac on in your house!

 

[BrianBaughn]

Just buy a Synology DS416play and use it's App Store to get a VPN App anspd keep you iTunes on the NAS. This way you don't have to keep a Mac on in your house!

The OP would still need to know if his router will allow a VPN server.

 

[DFC-Neo]

thanks for your answers so far.
It believe my router is able to forward VPN traffic. Found some settings like that.

I don't need a full blown NAS like the Synology. But no problem to buy some hardware if needed. Any suggestions for a cheap VPN server?

 

[DFC-Neo]

Just checked a little more.
The E1700 router I have now has DynDNS support and allows VPN passthrough (IPSec, PPTP & L2TP). Will that be enough to get a VPN tunnel through if I just have some VPN endpoint inside my network?

 

[BrianBaughn]

VPN passthrough usually refers to the situation where you, behind the router, can access a VPN server located somewhere else on the internet. My Linksys WRT1900AC allows that. You'll probably have to find anecdotal evidence about whether or not users can have a VPN server behind a particular router.

Or...try to set one up on your Mac, do the proper port forwarding on the router and see if you can connect from the outside (using your smartphone with wifi "off").

 

[DFC-Neo]

That was a very good idea
I set up my Mac with DynDNS from no-ip.com and iVPN. The VPN-passthrough on the router did not work. But after forwarding the correct L2TP ports I could connect my iPhone through the VPN with the Wifi off. I could use AirPlay to stream to my AppleTV.
But it seems the cable provider is smarter than that The App which allows me to watch movies on my iPad that are recorded and stored on the DVR does not recognize the iPad as being in the same network as the DVR.