Village Hall Migration to plusnet

[#1]

Our Village Hall is being migrated from an adsl service provided by a different ISP to plusnet. The adsl router is a Draytek 2830 and setup to allow remote login using vpn. I gather the plusnet standard router doesn't have facilities for this. The draytek router does have a port for a WAN. The LAN is currently 192.168.10.x. If I setup port forwarding on the plusnet hub with the draytek wan port connected to one of the ethernet ports on the plusnet router would that in effect give the same facilities as we had previously ? I guess there would in effect be two networks one by the plusnet router and a second from the Draytek. The Draytek would have a 192.168.1. ? ip set by the plusnet router (and reserved so it remains the same). 

Sorry if this is a bit garbled but buying a new router is not an option until some revenue can be generated post Covid restrictions.

[#2]

Hi @rjhazeldx 

Welcome to the forum.

port forwarding is not what you are looking to do here, the configuration required to take place the Modem/Router supplied by PlusNet to the same network range, the PlusNet device needs to become the default gateway on the network.  A discussion regarding  DHCP options needs to happen.

Are you staying with ADSL or upgrading to FTTC (VDSL) what is your current IP config of the DrayTek?

Dan.

[#3]

@rjhazeldx 

The adsl router is a Draytek 2830 and setup to allow remote login using vpn. I gather the plusnet standard router doesn't have facilities for this.

Correct.

If I setup port forwarding on the plusnet hub with the draytek wan port connected to one of the ethernet ports on the plusnet router would that in effect give the same facilities as we had previously ? I guess there would in effect be two networks one by the plusnet router and a second from the Draytek. The Draytek would have a 192.168.1. ? ip set by the plusnet router (and reserved so it remains the same). 

In theory that should work, assuming the Draytek WAN is set to DHCP and the IP is set as reserved on the Hub one. I suspect the port forwarding for the VPN  is going to be troublesome though, the Hub one is not the worlds best router for portforwarding. I'm not convinced about setting up the VPN connection details on the Draytek if it has a private IP though ?

A simpler (and better) solution requiring minimum funds would be to get a VDSL modem , either a used BT HG612 from ebay for around £20 or maybe a TP link 9970 ( which can be configured as a modem only ) for around £35.

You then configure the Draytek WAN for PPPoE with your plusnet credentials and connect its WAN port to the modem. That way the Draytek still gets the public IP and your network configuration will be exactly as before. In fact I've used the 9970 in exactly this way previously with a Draytek  2830 when I first migrated from ADSL to FTTC. 

@Dan_the_Van port forwarding is not what you are looking to do here

In order to get the VPN connection to the Draytek, then it will require either some port forwarding OR as I suggested above , a modem in front , so it still has the public IP.

[#4]

@MisterW 

 If I setup port forwarding on the plusnet hub with the draytek wan port connected to one of the ethernet ports on the plusnet router would that in effect give the same facilities as we had previously

Silly me I miss read the question, I fully get port forwarding, ultimately a modem would be the answer.

Dan

[#5]

ultimately a modem would be the answer

Yes, if the hall can run to the cost of a modem then it's MUCH simpler.

You just configure the Draytek WAN2 port for PPPoE, enable it and connect its WAN port to the modem. All the rest of the config remains as is.

@rjhazeldx  since you are using VPN for remote access, I guess you have a static public IP ( or maybe a dyndns account ).

Not sure if you are aware but you can request a static IP from PlusNet, its a one-off £5 charge.

[#6]

First, thanks for the time and thought given to my question.

As we can only access the Hall by special arrangement and it cannot be used in the normal way so I will give my solution a go as it sounds as though it should work. Certainly in the longer term a better router would be simpler but for now every penny is needed for basics.

In practical terms the PlusNet router will only be used for the connection to the Draytek acting in effect as a modem.

I will post an update when I have tested it next week.

[#7]

@rjhazeldx In practical terms the PlusNet router will only be used for the connection to the Draytek acting in effect as a modem

That's the basic problem though, the Hub one routing functions can't be disabled. So the Draytek is going to get a private non-routable IP in the 192.168.1.x subnet for its WAN. Yes. you can try port forwarding the relevant ports for VPN to the Draytek and it might work.  If you do that, then make sure you use the predefined applications on the Hub one Firewall port forwarding for PPTP or IPSEC rather than specific ports. VPN also requires some protocols ( e.g GRE for PPTP ) to be forwarded as well as the ports. The predefined rules include the protocol forwarding automatically.

[#8]

@MisterW 

That's the basic problem though, the Hub one routing functions can't be disabled. So the Draytek is going to get a private non-routable IP in the 192.168.1.x subnet for its WAN

You could around this issue by using a LAN port rather than a WAN, use it more like a WAP. Hub One can be the DHCP server, fixed IP for the DrayTek.

Just a thought

Dan

[#9]

@Dan_the_Van  whilst that would work for 'normal' Wap requirements it won't work in this situation where the Draytek is a vpn server. I'm pretty sure that the Draytek will only accept incoming Vpn connections from one of its WAN connections

[#10]

@MisterW 

It would make sense if it uses the WAN port only

Although I have a TP-Link VR400 which has an onboard VPN I've kept my openvpn server running on a Raspberry PI and works very nicely thank you. 

Dan.

[#11]

I will make sure the port forward is set to the correct protocol before I try it. There are all too many potential complications but it is worth giving it a try for us. 

Thanks for the advice.

[#12]

Tried the setup as described and as you all expected it didn't work. I guess this is because the wan socket on the plusnet router is passive just lets anything through and crucially doesn't give the connected device an IP address. I will get a Draytek 130 which should integrate with the router and minimise setup.

Thanks for the previous replies and advice.