openVPN question

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A_S

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Andrew
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Hi might be a bit too techy for here but ive posted elsewhere and got no reply

Currently hosting my lightroom raw files on my NAS and looking for a way to access remotely.... so set up openvpn and tailscale. Both work perfectly remotely and all good on that score

I just have a question about going through open VPN on my Local network (LAN) as apposed to remotely (WAN).

How does openvpn work when I am physically sitting next to my computer?

Currently I have my lightroom raw files set up as a mapped network drive in windows pointing to the VPN. So in theory when remote it goes:

My PC --> through internet to my DDNS --> through VPN on my NAS --> to NAS share with lightroom raw files

My question is - what is the routing when on the same local network?

Obviously the most efficient and quickest way to access these files locally is My PC - -> windows SMB/ Wifi to router --> into NAS -> NAS share with lightroom raw files

Is openVPN clever enough to do this?

OR

Does it still go via the DDNS and WAN? I.e putting the data transfer through the VPN?
 
If you're connecting to the VPN, it doesn't matter where you (and the NAS) are physically located, you'll be getting your files over WAN.
On the LAN, you'd use the same login credentials, but the NAS's local machine name/share to assign the drive letter.
 
Tori_T said:
If you're connecting to the VPN, it doesn't matter where you (and the NAS) are physically located, you'll be getting your files over WAN.
On the LAN, you'd use the same login credentials, but the NAS's local machine name/share to assign the drive letter.
Click to expand...

I thought that would be the case - which is a pain as I don't want to have to keep remapping the drive for obvious reasons (that its a hassle)

Thanks
 
Why are you setting up openvpn and tailscale and why are you using ddns?

If you are using tailscale you don’t need ddns and don’t need to open ports to the internet. My understanding is that tailscale will also look to your local network before reaching out across the wan.
 
I thought routers are smart enough to loop back requests.

So data transfers should be at your LAN speed rather than your WAN internet speed. At least when I did it with Synology drive and giving it DDNS URL (not the Synology quickconnect name), I was getting gigabit LAN speed rather than 10 Mbps internet upload speeds back then.
 
ecoleman said:
Why are you setting up openvpn and tailscale and why are you using ddns?

If you are using tailscale you don’t need ddns and don’t need to open ports to the internet. My understanding is that tailscale will also look to your local network before reaching out across the wan.
Click to expand...

DDNS is required for open VPN - to ensure you constantly have the correct local IP.

Reason i have both is that I wanted to test whether hosting via openVPN or tailscale is quicker - as I'd heard mixed reviews about tailscale speed.

I also want the VPN for connecting to when abroad anyway - I'll route my traffic through it when I want to watch BBC or skygo etc
 
wyx087 said:
I thought routers are smart enough to loop back requests.

So data transfers should be at your LAN speed rather than your WAN internet speed. At least when I did it with Synology drive and giving it DDNS URL (not the Synology quickconnect name), I was getting gigabit LAN speed rather than 10 Mbps internet upload speeds back then.
Click to expand...

this is what I was wondering and if I needed to set up anything, such as static routing to ensure it works as such
 
Tailscale is faster than openVPN as it’s based on WireGuard which is known to be faster.

I stopped using tailscale because the app on my phone drained the battery very quickly so switched to WireGuard via my UniFi UDM Pro.

Another option which I’ve been playing with is Cloudflare Tunneling which also works quite well.
 
You could create a simple shell script and stick it in startup.
Try to mount the NAS drive using the local address. If you're out'n'about this will fail.
Check for the existence of a known file on the NAS drive, and if it exists, you're connected locally and you can exit the script.
If it doesn't, try to connect using the VPN address.
Check for the existence of the file again. If it doesn't exist, report a connection failure.
 
A_S said:
this is what I was wondering and if I needed to set up anything, such as static routing to ensure it works as such
Click to expand...
Try to run a file copy test and see what's your transfer speed when at home connected through VPN?

Assuming you don't have same internet speed as your LAN.
 
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