VPN Router setup

[FrankPintor]

A colleague got a GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2, with a built-in OpenVPN client, connected as a WiFi extender, and it seems to work fine. It's pocket-sized, so ideal for traveling, but offers only 2.4GHz, so it's possibly not suitable for dense high-interference conditions.

 

[jlynch]

most VPNs use AES (OpenVPN) or ChaCha20 (Wireguard) which require *intensive CPU processing or HW offload*
Most routers on flashrouters use high spec hardware that run open wrt/ddwrt etc and some with hardware offload that were designed to have good crypto performance specifically for VPNs.

Its great that basic/standard routers can run openvpn/wireguard clients but what performance do you get out of it???

What sort throughput can you get out of the rasberry pi 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 @carride ? Tailscale is built on top of WireGuard. From what I read CPU performance is not good for the BCM2711

I use Linksys WRT1900ACS with open WRT which has Marvell Armada 385 88F6820 (which is a type of router also listed on flashrouters)

For example (the true maximums may be less that what is advertised)
https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mv1000/ - advertises 280 Mbit wireguard performance and also uses Marvell Armada
https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt300n-v2/ advertises 45 Mbit wireguard via MediaTek MT7628AN

 

[FrankPintor]

With the GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2, in real-life conditions, 3Mbps, and latency (depends on where the VPN server is, of course), 500ms. But for many VPN applications, high performance is perhaps not the objective?

 

[jlynch]

With the GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2, in real-life conditions, 3Mbps, and latency (depends on where the VPN server is, of course), 500ms. But for many VPN applications, high performance is perhaps not the objective?

Is that wireguard or openvpn performance. if its for defeating geo blocking on streaming services, higher throughput is more important.

 

[carride]

For home reverse tunnel or VPN server connection to home, I am not looking for any high performance. I just need to connect to my OpenHAB and related IOT network devices, and the irrigation controller. Perhaps connect via Remote Desktop to help family with some detail. All very occasionally.

For outbound at home connecting to hosted VPN server I always use the machines VPN client. This discussion was started discussing how to have a VPN client running in a router so that all home (or home office) clients could share the one VPN server account. Everyone has different needs, though I assume one is so that Apple TV, Roku, and smart TVs which cannot be configured with VPN, can instead route through a configured router.

So, for high performance needs, like a busy home office, a good option is to buy a professional grade VPN router. My replies are outside this need. I post only because I imagine some people in this thread have similar needs as me.

 

[FrankPintor]

Is that wireguard or openvpn performance. if its for defeating geo blocking on streaming services, higher throughput is more important.

That data was for the OpenVPN included with the GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2.I have this regarding streaming speeds:



It's not very current, but it gives some idea of the requirements. For me personally, I can use ExpressVPN on my personal laptop, which doesn't noticeably degrade throughput, so I can do high-quality streaming there, but I can't install it on my work laptop, which is why I was wondering about a solution that doesn't require touching either the laptop or the router.