Creating a VPN to stream ALL my TiVo Roamio channels away from home

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See if it can via Tomato. Google search your model with tomato.

 

Did you have to update your RT-AC56U? I don't see that it supports OpenVPN. I'm hesitant to mess with anything that is in place as I can't afford to have the network down should I fail. I think I'd still leave the Cisco's in place for routing.

With TAP, how is DHCP and NAT handled??

 

I updated mine with Merlin FW, but the regular FW from Asus offers OpenVPN too, just a few less options.

I use TUN so not sure about TAP.

I really have forgotten a lot since setting up, sorry. (Lyme Disease sux!) Best thing to do is read, read, read!

 

Well, I have TUN set up with the Cisco routers, and that isn't working. So, what did you do to make it work?? TAP seems to be the answer.

I've been read, read, reading for months trying to get this figured out......

 

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It was really just a matter of connecting the two together, one as server the other as client and downloading the server's auto generated certs for the client to connect. It may have been TAP I used, I'll have to check it all when I get home from work tonight.

If you go to Merlin's website you can download the FW files and read about all the settings also for Asus routers with his FW.

www.Asuswrt.lostrealm.ca

 

I'd also still like to hear how HDRyder9 has two Cisco routers connected, since that is what gave me hope that I could get what I have working.....

I'll read up on Merlin in the mean time.

 

My Netgear R6700 routers appear to have OpenVPN support built in, but I can only see how to put them in server mode, and not client mode. I ran into this originally when I was attempting to set up the site-to-site VPN with these routers, but couldn't come up with any way to do it. That is when I bought the Cisco routers, which set the VPN up fine, but I have two subnets.

 

HDRyder9 - The VPN settings for the RV042 look the same as those for the RV130, so it must be some other settings you have to make it work. The instructions say that the two ends must be on separate subnets, which makes the TiVo discovery not work. The only setting I see that might change this would be to set one end to be a router instead of a gateway and then set it to use DHCP Relay to the router on the other end. I could try this, but I'd rather be at the end I'm changing, in case something goes wrong and I can't access the router remotely.

 

I reconfigured the VPN to use 192.168.0.0 on both ends. It let me do that without complaint. The far end, which is 192.168.1.0 didn't have an issue. The near end, which is 192.168.0.0 puts the router in a state where it is no longer communicating via the web interface. It is still alive and routing but apparently the VPN is keeping it so busy that it doesn't have time to service the web service. This happens even if the VPN is not connected, but enabled. To get out of this state I have to unplug the WAN cable, wait a bit, web interface comes back, disable the VPN. So, I'm still not sure how you are getting both ends on the same subnet.

I should add....I'm using 255.255.255.0 as the mask, if that would make any difference.

I didn't get far enough to try setting the far end DHCP to point to the near end.

 

Is slingbox out of the question? It's a very simple, not too expensive solution that is plug-n-play. Unless you're just dead set on getting VPN working Slingbox just works.

 

For many people Slingbox doesn't work because they can't hijack their TV all the time. If you have a second TV with a Mini attached to it that might be easier to do. But for me, we have one main TV and I can't simply watch stuff via Slingbox as other people may be using it at the same time.

 

I don't have a Slingbox, but know people who do, and there are limitations that won't make it work for me. And, my wife is used to using the TiVo, and adding in another device is out of the question.

I didn't see NYHeel's response before posting this. He hit the nail on the head. There are permanent residents at both locations.

 

Understood. I went the mini + slingbox route for that very reason.

 

Try manually entering the IP address of the other TiVo at each end. That option is at the bottom of Showcases on older models, but now it's Add an App at the bottom of Apps & Games.

Both TiVos should be on static addresses so that they never change. This used to work over a VPN because the TiVo Beacon protocol supports a "directed" mode that uses specific TCP addresses instead of UDP broadcasts. I don't know if it still works.

From what I know about Cisco router-router VPNs, it isn't possible to have both ends on the same subnet. Recent Cisco IOS versions have some options to support mDNS (Bonjour), but it's a real ***** to get it working. I spent nearly a week reprogramming our Catalyst switches and the wireless controller at work just to get a ChromeCast dongle to work across multiple VLANs.

 

brewman - I like your mini/slingbox suggestion, but I need this to be bidirectional, so would need to get two slingboxes and two minis. Then I'd have to train the users on how to access the slingboxes, which from my understanding takes a phone/tablet/PC to do it, with no direct access from a TV. My wife doesn't even get how to find the DVD player. I'm pretty much resigned to designing a solution that is accessible from the TiVo itself.

ggieseke - My frustration is that I see posts where people say they have it working, but with no details. I feel like I'm just missing some setting that will get it all to work. I did find the Add An App setting on the TV here (a Premier). But, now I have to get the VPN working again to try it out (the far end isn't communicating). I had looked for that setting before, but hadn't found it (or I've tried it and it didn't work). I have static addresses set up on my end, but I'd been changing the addresses around so much on the other end that I had not yet locked them down. If this work, I'll do that.

 

DavidDeLano,

Good Luck (you're going to need it). Not only are you trying to tackle technology issues, but you're also fighting user ability issues which can be even more frustrating. I don't envy you.

 

Some interesting developments. I have the VPN back up and functional, but with separate subnets as before.

I went to the TiVo itself and tried to add an app.....I can't add an IP from the other subnet. I edited the Network setting, though, to have a subnet of 255.255.254.0. I can now add an IP from the other subnet, but when I try to access it, it gives me an error message that the application is not currently available and to try again later.

In checking the network settings, it's interesting to note that the Broadcast IP is now 192.168.1.255, not 192.168.0.255. I still can't see the other TiVo as a device.

I set the subnet to 255.255.0.0, and now the Broadcast IP is 192.168.255.255, which I think means it should broadcast on both subnets.

Now, in the apps, ALL the TiVo device IPs show up (I didn't have to add them), the TiVo Roamio, two Minis, and the MoCa. I get the same error that the application is currently not available if I select any of the IPs. Nothing new has shown up in the Devices listing, but I also know that the Broadcasts aren't sent out all the time, so will check back on it in the morning.

Any thoughts from here? Is there something I need to do to enable the apps on the far end? Is the Broadcast IP of 192.168.255.255 going to help out at all?

David