Help with setup. DD-WRT on Linksys w/ OpenVPN as second wireless router. Primary is ISP provided Livebox 2.

[Dodolander]

I am attempting to setup an OpenVPN router for my home. My ISP has provided me with a Livebox 2.

My goal is to be able to connect via my OpenVPN service with all of the devices in my home. The ISP router is not up to the task. Unfortunately, DSL is the only choice for broadband on this little island, so I have the dual headaches of PPP connection and the need for the Livebox to act as my modem.

I travel regularly for work, so I am accustomed to using a VPN service (currently Strong), but I have never found it necessary to setup an OpenVPN router. I am also accustomed to cascading routers in a home network environment. But, now that I am trying to add VPN functionality, my skills seem to be faltering.
I originally posted this thread as an open ended request for help and got no bites, so let me try starting with a direct question. Can I enable the DD-WRT router to act as a DHCP forwarder and still expect consistent remote IP assignment via OpenVPN? Alternatively, should I setup the secondary router as a proper bridge or the primary to utilize DMZ?

This type of setup is usually not that difficult (though I generally avoid DSL services) and I feel like I must be missing something. Any help appreciated!

 

[bill001g]

It depends on what type of vpn you want to run. The router (ie the dsl router) will need special support to pass IPSEC or pptp though. SSLVPN is just a port forward so that tends to work easier. If you need IPSEC or PPTP you are better off seeing if you can bridge the DSL router and get it to act as a modem and then run PPPoE on the DD-WRT device as well as the vpn tunnel.

With dd-wrt you can get pretty much anything you want to work with DHCP but I suspect if you cascade the routers you are going to want to use a lan address behind the dd-wrt. Maybe you could use the dsl router as the dhcp but then you would be obtaining the ip via the wan port. Then again the concept of wan/lan does not apply as much on dd-wrt since you can route and not nat addresses if your choose.