Recently, I was gifted an Asus RT-AC68U router and have also set up my first attempt at a home server using Windows 10/11 Pro. I know that its not the preferred OS for using as a server, but all of my 6 machines (including the server) are running it, and that’s where I’m at. I aspire to learn the better ways to do it, but am only comfortable with Windows for now. I would consider myself a more advanced user, but I don’t really know all of the cool things you can do with the command line for example, nor much about networking/VPNs or routers for that matter.
My goal is to set up a VPN for remote access that I can manage myself on the server, and I have been reading up on VPN’s as well as fiddling with the VPN settings on the router. I was able to get a VPN connection to the router using “PPTP”, but I would much rather use OpenVPN as I have used it before to connect to a server I use sometimes. When trying to set up OpenVPN on the router I have been getting lost a bit because the settings on the router don’t line up with the tutorials that I have seen. I presume it is called different things by different manufacturers. I couldn’t even determine if the PPTP VPN connection simply secures my connection, allows for access away from home, or if the router even has a remote VPN function at all.
I guess I should start by asking what the checklist of things I need would be. I have the server, and I have installed OpenVPN Connect. I’m not sure if I can use that to host if I configure it correctly, or if OpenVPN Server might be a separate installation. I also have the router.
What else do I need? What software can I use? Do I need to pay for any kind of 3rd party service?
I hope that all makes sense. Thanks in advance! Let me know if there are any questions or if more info is needed.
