VPN & my router

**Bula** · 17-04-16, 09:06 PM

Howdy, i'd like to know if i can do the following.
I have a VPN service that i like most probably use when i think i need to . But i do have one service on my network that i would like to make always appear behind a VPN. But i don't know how to do this. The device is just plugged into my normal bigpond router and when i log into it from 'off network ' i can see the IP address. So how to i make my VPN disguise this IP address?

Any help from some expertise out there may be very useful & give me piece of mind.

**Bula** · 20-04-16, 11:28 PM

bumped my head

**DB44** · 21-04-16, 03:01 PM

You are not very specific about your setup. Is the service you are referring to on a separate device? Is this device only to run this service? Does your VPN run on your router or on another device.

Assuming the answers above are yes, you can run vpn software on the device hosting the service. Alternately, you can have another device, say a raspberry pi, connecting to the VPN and sharing its Network Connection. You then use that device as the gateway for the device providing the service. Possible, but not trivial to set up.

Can't be any more specific without full details of your network and what you want to do.

**Bula** · 21-04-16, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by DB44

You are not very specific about your setup. Is the service you are referring to on a separate device? Is this device only to run this service? Does your VPN run on your router or on another device.

Assuming the answers above are yes, you can run vpn software on the device hosting the service. Alternately, you can have another device, say a raspberry pi, connecting to the VPN and sharing its Network Connection. You then use that device as the gateway for the device providing the service. Possible, but not trivial to set up.

Can't be any more specific without full details of your network and what you want to do.

Ok i have a video machine HDMI out, Network / Ethernet cable port / connects to the internet. What i play on it i don't want who it is that is watching it to see my Ip address. Alas yes it can be viewed from a network connection anywhere with a user name and password, but when they log in my public IP appears at their end. I want to mask this.
In relation to My VPN, i run my VPN through either my computer via an App or on my Kodi machine when i use it. I would love to know how to make my router run through my router and make everything masked. Thanks.

**tristen** · 21-04-16, 09:03 PM

Any VPN you use will only hide your IP address when YOU connect TO another server, i.e. the server will see the IP address of the VPN and not your IP address.

Anybody wishing to connect to your "video machine", which in this case is acting as a server, HAS to know your IP address in order to initiate a connection.

**irwazza** · 22-04-16, 07:42 AM

What VPN provider are you using? Do they allow port forwarding?

**lsemmens** · 22-04-16, 09:55 PM

I would love to know how to make my router run through my router and make everything masked.

I think spells it out. If you can convince a router to talk to itself, all you will be doing is running around in circles and achieving precisely.........NOTHING!

**fandtm666** · 23-04-16, 08:05 AM

setup port forward on the router and assign a weird port number on the box , then when you
want to watch it you will need to have that port number otherwise
you wont see it.

**DB44** · 23-04-16, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by diavalo13666

setup port forward on the router and assign a weird port number on the box , then when you
want to watch it you will need to have that port number otherwise
you wont see it.

Good advice. But I think this may go a little beyond the OP streaming for just his own use.

**fandtm666** · 23-04-16, 04:05 PM

wheter he is streaming fox or what ever if he wants to be invisible he will need to
run a dns and port forward so i would

1: setup a dns addy ie paranoid.dyndns.org
2: then log in and update his current ip with the dydns
3: setup a port forward in my router ie 666 192.169.169.1
4: then give ppl the ip paranoid.dyndns.org 666 paranoid paranoid

now anyone with that addy will connect and see what is on show and at no point can
get the public ip he currently has .It will connect to the router asking for port 666
and as such will be directed to the stream box

**zfa** · 27-04-16, 07:57 PM

Whilst it's possible to have a single device use a VPN connection on your router the method to do so would depend on the router itself. At a high-level you would simply need to configure some routing info - the IP of the device in question routed to go out of the VPN interface as next hop, all other devices just out of your WAN interface. This is normally done either via a static route or maybe by setting up rules using something like iptables depending on your firmware. The problem you're going to have is making sure your VPN provider actually allows inbound connections as many won't. You need to set up some port-forward with the VPN provider instead of on the WAN interface of your router as you would be doing presently and this is where you would most likely then hit problems.

However I'm going to come out of left-field here, and work from what I think are your requirements (people connecting externally to a device on your network not knowing your home IP) rather than expand on your idea for the solution (one device connecting to a VPN):

If the device you want people to access is exposing it's service via HTTP/HTTPS then you could have your home network fronted by a CDN, and access via this instead of directly so your actual IP address is never seen, only the CDN is. Probably the best would be to use CloudFlare as it is likely free for your use level. You would set up a domain at CloudFlare and create a record pointing to your house (this works even if you use a dynamic IP address as CloudFlare can be updated as this changes using their API). External visitors would then be told to access your device by using the CloudFlare name and not your home IP. This name resolves to a CloudFlare IP address (pretty anonymous) they'd proxy traffic to you. You're effectively now hidden form the people being given access. If you want to remain even more hidden you could restrict access to your service (using a firewall, say) so only access from CloudFlare (ie the proxied traffic) is allowed and direct access is dropped. Then even if people were to guess your home IP address and hit you directly they wouldn't see your service. It could only be accessed by the CloudFlare name and here it is masked and shows as their IP address.

EDIT: If you do go the CloudFlare route then obviously you need a domain name - make sure oyu don't leak informaiton here by using whois protection at your domain registrar. I recommend NameSilo for domain registration as not only are they about the cheapest and one of the best out there but they throw in this privacy protection for free.