New AR300M, Some Issues

Technical Support for Routers
1

Hi, my company has many travelers, and I have been tasked with finding a travel router to recommend to them. After much study, I selected the AR300M, and purchased one for evaluation. I have been testing it, and will also soon write an Amazon Review for it. So far, what an amazing device! I have tested it as a Wisp Repeater. It is working great as a repeater (I’m using it in that mode as I write this).

I am using the latest firmware (2.25).

However, as a new user, I have a few issues/questions, primarily relating to OpenVPN, which is what our company travelers will use: (for possible reference, I have pasted the .ovpn file (from blackvpn.com) that I used below)

  1. After applying the below .ovpn file, OpenVPN shows “connected”, but I can’t browse any sites. Only by inputting a Custom DNS can I connect. I do not want to use a public DNS. But, if I enter my VPN’s DNS, I have to remove it again to use the Internet after the VPN is disconnected.

What can I do/what change can I make so that OpenVPN will utilize my VPNs DNS without my having to enter it as a custom DNS each time?

  1. If I check the “Force VPN” option, Internet will not work, even if the VPN is correctly connected. When this occurs, unchecking this option will allow Internet access.

Is the Force VPN option working at all? Is there something I can do/change to make it work properly?

I appreciate your reply to these issues. .ovpn file follows:

auth-user-pass

remote australia.vpn.blackvpn.com 443 udp

client

dev tun

fast-io

persist-key

persist-tun

nobind

pull

comp-lzo

tls-client

key-method 2

ns-cert-type server

<ca>

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

MIIGVDCCBDygAwIBAgIJAMW28AAiBO9QMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAMHkxCzAJBgNV

BAYTAkhLMQswCQYDVQQIEwJISzERMA8GA1UEBxMISG9uZ0tvbmcxETAPBgNVBAoT

CGJsYWNrVlBOMRQwEgYDVQQDEwtibGFja1ZQTiBDQTEhMB8GCSqGSIb3DQEJARYS

c3RhZmZAYmxhY2t2cG4uY29tMB4XDTE0MDQxNTE2MDUzMloXDTI0MDQxMjE2MDUz

MloweTELMAkGA1UEBhMCSEsxCzAJBgNVBAgTAkhLMREwDwYDVQQHEwhIb25nS29u

ZzERMA8GA1UEChMIYmxhY2tWUE4xFDASBgNVBAMTC2JsYWNrVlBOIENBMSEwHwYJ

KoZIhvcNAQkBFhJzdGFmZkBibGFja3Zwbi5jb20wggIiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUA

A4ICDwAwggIKAoICAQCz5+UWONEZudpWPQBHWg2jpc6hYepUtUhp8XFkPRIFZT1p

RnxpoOqbtlKdZA/4D9enBUkxP48I8JzE+WgDOZ08EdKaAlfpDVriD8tuF1u4Nstp

DWi4EJnsRJgmCQO8BFPX4JZ+/po6ttjBTdAPsBvz8RHxGqu7Q9/Cm1T2dI54pc8r

y415ndRRzs9zyB3yezlPr+swuZWTTP8bSLZAc9eiCLGFrpgGKDR5OhgKs6DI/xWa

G2dXhclSNRKW7lqt+YufcEtX4ZlEin95yJPoWJHC35nOJP5L1mcKdezzDs8Vk4L8

MUB6W+h190IxRqsPs0X4vJrmtOm2ZgGM1AlMtOqPHzE2PmQBaY4Il9ioRVBpmCKO

57fi/DWFShsEeYW5BQ4Shhkja0ucLl1g5bORXtVgwPTqBoWsAHh4LcDlQBIndVT1

QIUHWm/TCDDQPXKWSNmYaSMFhdMqVY2iqwjf/98bh1uWtG39phGa41eibXoAKTGJ

6abKy0G7WXu3mEjT8XLlqcmljZQ1zjAPD31rjceEAJ01EzSoigRc/ZVrZ7z8xVNk

rvIoAi2BMrPJ7fgapGWCWfs0NOWzTyrZDh6ilva1Yz6yB4GjoN58PcEUQj9iBvyK

00tOm5/lTj3d7FKobjNVMR3Ys/jTcV0tPdnMF+uwiPwWXLctAj6pOCsSKQZk5QID

AQABo4HeMIHbMB0GA1UdDgQWBBRxKALS+hm9Vs9vBYV6vNhA6al7XzCBqwYDVR0j

BIGjMIGggBRxKALS+hm9Vs9vBYV6vNhA6al7X6F9pHsweTELMAkGA1UEBhMCSEsx

CzAJBgNVBAgTAkhLMREwDwYDVQQHEwhIb25nS29uZzERMA8GA1UEChMIYmxhY2tW

UE4xFDASBgNVBAMTC2JsYWNrVlBOIENBMSEwHwYJKoZIhvcNAQkBFhJzdGFmZkBi

bGFja3Zwbi5jb22CCQDFtvAAIgTvUDAMBgNVHRMEBTADAQH/MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEB

BQUAA4ICAQAgczyIABr/KeRqg/pdYcGrLRcihvuGLFCfvOw3yEvWzVpjV3vugXoY

UK3twZUtyNJAhfUBDyBauzzdJ9nTVnyqnrrsPitrFFqYu5rk6eH5MWTCFljR2e7u

6vBbY3TJLkgC6f6Zfu6Pc5s806iDO1ZXKfw6HtZm9iRZTqO1NaT8HSyeRcmjBd6+

IKGubGBGwkyfRrywH7SwDBgf0wygFy77AOoaN3BJqJ0vMuZzaryr2JpcoTx0g7hk

QvB4oEsFLnxIYretPmk/dF3EsNJa3lvx1qFkS7MZJi37Ipq4h/7897RM7nSOCXR3

SreXmIZSN1nHnlRGLb89yq2VjZzg0xX8Efpl5rzOVFo4+u7rWGIYsttH8dWzm6ao

BWcDcIyonovVj1WrEVW3oCZrxHyfTgqRlomBBkAT7JNVk8yG5COBB4Mo3AMbC41U

LpGVovgAZGv2EockGC9qxJ0n2083MBvYQkDgJewULJMw4jI94i4AICEqjWIu8oVU

OC/CR+qcBLqTD0oaP2yH+xqLD0U5AnwFYc4jqcAii1XJsYsctYf/awLb2RiB5qnk

43m1EKC8A3SuamAMIWs41wmHz5Lb1bDNLXIK7Sk9wJzeSbcGO5MOvFeKIeedU++R

ukDrB5r5M64Vp86WxUnsMeesV14agg2u6vlF9LxrQwxjCdZSvuq2VA==

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

</ca>

key-direction 1

<tls-auth>

-----BEGIN OpenVPN Static key V1-----

b790ea189139a6482df3c54dc1996921

8627b6df4d936641ad96e4a3f34e4cfb

5930684c142c0f3485c7b2633a34165d

d67d005b7148c6b26aea1e6322696e96

d81e9e6fa4b4c9bc394870e2986c59e3

6a21b700fe829d3cd01ca35d94538d5f

7194a27fac3c90f6be605e223a37fbd2

1ef499acd3aeccb79661f6f7029880d1

924b356f68cb1c7f174b55812684037d

886bb8cd81c0e524155148a10eba62e7

065b96328e977db0f5e92f27e19f6f3f

5c9480f2fff0870b4fb902d7fed50c35

7ebc4777fc57ffbca0448d2e2165af71

7182e050804283acb82350d82d0230da

ece1fc4be9eea7bdba08e24e8fa3f1d0

7b39bc883519ff38eaf4514859b824f2

-----END OpenVPN Static key V1-----

</tls-auth>

cipher AES-256-CBC

auth SHA512

verb 3

mute 10

 

2

You have been advised in a previous thread: 404 Page not found - GL.iNet

Really, you are expecting too much to be spoon fed just beacaue you aren’t up to the job!

HTH,
Glitch

3

Glitch:

Thank you for responding. I apologize for not “being up to the job” as you mention. I am just doing my best to evaluate this unit. The company I am advising has close to 100 employees who travel, are potential purchasers, and are relying on my evaluation. After I figure things out, if I advise them to purchase, I would be their support contact (rather than having the multitude contact GLI directly).

My previous thread was asking how to connect, and I followed it and I have successfully connected. My current questions are unrelated to that. They are about DNS issues and the Force VPN option. None of that was asked for nor responded to in the other thread.

However, if you think that asking questions such as this is inappropriate, I can return this product to Amazon, and move on to another product to evaluate after I write my review of this one.

Regards,

Leon

 

 

 

4

Hope everything goes well. Glitch is one of our users who like to help answering questions. I think he is trying to help.

I think your two questions may be just one. Question 2, when you untick the force option when openvpn is connected, does your data really goes via VPN? You can check your IP address via some website e.g. Checkip.org

question 1 is a known problem to solve DNS leaks. But I have no idea why your DNS cannot be resolved. We would like to add the function to disable custom DNS when openvpn is disabled to our firmware release later.

5

Thanks, Alzhao. I really like your product, and hope to make it work well, and in the future to help others. I also on planning to write a review on Amazon, but I want to fully understand it first, and want to be sure i don’t criticize anything that is due to my lack not understanding (as I have seen some other reviewers do). So far, it is one of the most amazing devices that I have ever used!

I think glitch may have misunderstood, or maybe was in a bad mood. Anyway, no hard feelings! :slight_smile:

Actually, I’ve read many of glitches posts, and appreciate all the good information he’s shared. So, if you’re out there glitch, I look forward to some information sharing in the future!

Alzhao, based on your answer, I will do some further testing, and will ask some followup questions later today for you (or anyone) to comment on.

Thanks!

 

6

@lstevens, kindly post how you got it to work with your VPN provider, so as to help others in the future.

I think your DNS issues are something to do with your VPN provider - have you tried their support (they do support OpenWRT, after all).

7

Yes: BlackVPN can be added to then supported list (with the caveat, at least for now, that Custom DNS needs to be entered).

You simply download the .ovpn files from the Android (Manual Installation) section of blackvpns configuration page. Then, after applying them, the GUI will prompt you for user name/password.

Update: Blackvpn support reported back that entering DNS manually is the Norm for them for OpenVPN on routers. So, the recipe is:Download .ovpn files (from the Android/Manual Installation section), drop the file on the GLI GUI, add custom DNS, and connect.

The Custom DNS is a little more effort, but it runs solid after connecting.

 

8

@lstevens, thanks very much for sharing this.