These instructions were made in cooperation with one of our customers, to whom we are very much grateful for having spent their time and effort in helping us out. Here you can learn how to set up an OpenVPN connection with NordVPN on your Peplink / Pepwave router with firmware 8.1.1 or above (with an OpenVPN WAN license). A Balance series router from Peplink was used in the making of these steps.
Note: To use OpenVPN as WAN connection on a Peplink / Pepwave router you will need to update to Firmware 8.1.1 and get an OpenVPN WAN license from your reseller (Product code: LIC-OPN-WAN)
1. Log in to the web interface of your router. To do this open your preferred internet browser and enter the router’s address (It is 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.50.1 for the Balance or MAX series respectively). You will see a pop-up that will require you to enter a username and a password. By default, you can enter 'admin' into both the username and password fields.
2. Once you have logged in to the router's interface, click on Network in the top bar.
in the Network section press on WAN in the left sidebar.
3. There, click on the OpenVPN WAN connection name to open the OpenVPN WAN settings.
4. Now you need to download the OpenVPN client configuration files.
Follow the steps below to find the best server for your connection:
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Log into your Nord Account, and click NordVPN.
- Scroll down to Advanced Settings and click Set up NordVPN manually.
- Select the Server recommendation tab. According to your location, the best server will be recommended.
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By pressing Advanced filters you can further customize the recommended servers by selecting the Server type and the Security protocol.
In case you wish to select a specific server, follow these steps:
- Under Set up NordVPN manually, select OpenVPN configuration files.
- Find the server you wish to connect to by using the Search bar or by scrolling down and download it by clicking Download UDP or Download TCP.
5. Go back to the router interface and click on Choose File.
6.Select the configuration file you had downloaded and then press Open.
We recommend using UDP files as they are generally faster than TCP.
7. Now you need a NordVPN service credentials for the OpenVPN connection to work.
You can find your NordVPN service credentials (service username and service password) in the Nord Account dashboard:
- Click Set up NordVPN manually.
- You will receive a verification code in your email that you use for NordVPN services. Type the code in:
- Copy the credentials using the “Copy” buttons on the right:
8. Fill in the username and password field with the credentials that you just copied.
9. Now uncheck Obtain DNS server address automatically and check Use the following DNS server address(es). Afterwards, fill in the following DNS servers:
103.86.96.100
103.86.99.100
10. Under Physical Interface Settings next to “Uplink Connection Priority” you can set in which priority your physical WAN connections will be connected to the NordVPN OpenVPN servers.
11. Make sure to check “Enable” and click on Save or Save and Apply on the bottom of the OpenVPN configuration window.
* On the Balance series router you will also need to click Apply changes in the top right when the WAN Settings are saved.
12. If you go back to the dashboard you will see that the OpenVPN WAN will start to connect with the NordVPN OpenVPN server.
13. To control what traffic should be routed over the OpenVPN connection you would need to create an Outbound Policy. You can find it under Network or Advanced for the Balance series or MAX series respectively. Press on Outbound policy in the left sidebar and click on Add Rule.
14. You can set up a simple priority rule with OpenVPN being with the highest priority.
To use a kill switch for when the OpenVPN disconnects, you will need to use enforce instead.
15. Make sure you drag the new rule to the top so that it is applied first. Then, click on Apply changes in the top right corner.
