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#1 2013-10-01 04:20:27

mencargo
Member
Registered: 2009-05-05
Posts: 58

RPi as Wireless AP & OpenVPN client

Hello, I want to expose a little background and ask some basics just to make sure I'm in the right track...

I'm using a Buffalo WHR-300HP router with DD-WRT and PPTP to connect to a USA server and route some traffic with a USA IP, for things like Netflix, Google Music, etc...
This connection interrupts from time to time and is very annoying, I have to disconnect and reconnect the router from the AC.
I read that OpenVPN is more reliable and would reconnect automatically, right?
So I want to try it but my router doesn't support that. I could use a Raspberry Pi, model B, to connect to the same server using OpenVPN.

Since it's for streaming mostly, I'm concerned about performance and temperature of the RPi so if possible I want to avoid any non-essential processing, like:

Encryption, I don't need it but all guides recommend it... Would you recommend a low encryption or none at all?
Compression, I would think that most streaming content already has some compression, would it be useless or counterproductive?
Any other thoughts?

So, in order to do it I think I need to create an Access Point and after that try the OpenVPN, right?

So I installed archlinux on the RPi, and configured eth0 as static using this guide.
Connected via SSH and, I got a RTL8188CUS NIC and tried to create an Access Point using this guide.
But got disconnected when trying to create the bridge interface.

/etc/netctl/bridge

Interface=br0
Connection=bridge
BindsToInterfaces=(eth0)
IP=dhcp

I suppose I need to create it differently, help please!

Last edited by mencargo (2013-10-01 04:21:11)

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#2 2013-10-01 08:02:49

fukawi2
Ex-Administratorino
From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
Posts: 6,217
Website

Re: RPi as Wireless AP & OpenVPN client

Moving to "Other Architectures"

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#3 2013-10-01 19:46:42

Šaran
Member
From: Bosnia
Registered: 2011-09-03
Posts: 407

Re: RPi as Wireless AP & OpenVPN client

What do you mean your router doesn't support OpenVPN? I know for a fact it does since I have Buffalo G300NH
which is based on same hardware as yours except for high gain antennas. You might be running stripped down DD-WRT
build without OpenVPN or it's broken which is not unusual for DD-WRT (there were many regressions and broken features
when I was using it).
I'd recommend you to switch to OpenWRT Barrier Breaker (or Gargoyle if you prefer easier setup and don't mind running
somewhat outdated build) and setup OpenVPN there. You will get better wireless performance, less bloat, lower load and OS
without broken features.
And if biggest inconvenience with PPTP connection is need to reboot the router, why not bind a script that will reconnect to a button?

On the other hand, if you decide to go down RPi route, get another wireless adapter, preferably something Atheros based.
I have bought RTL8192 based dongle for RPi, but I never got it to work reliably on my Arch PC (read: have stable
connection for more than 10 seconds) so I gave up on it. Even if yours chipset has better driver support, I doubt
wireless preformance will be sufficient for more than one client. Not to mention HD streams and downloads.
RPi definetly has more than enough power to act as OpenVPN server, just compare it's specs to router hardware.
As far as bridge troubleshooting goes, you haven't really given us any information. Logs would be more than useful.

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