How To Set A Static IP?

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mashby

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Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:53 am

Post by mashby » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:55 am
I'm having some issues with a VPN server I'm working with and I'd like to set a static IP for my connection to see if that resolves it. However, I can't seem to figure out how to do that in Viscosity.

Anyone care to point me in the right direction? :oops:

Thanks in advance!

/mashby

MasterYous

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Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:41 am

Post by MasterYous » Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:24 am
Assuming you're talking about setting your OpenVPN *client* to *point* to a static IP, then yes, you can do that in Viscosity - it's one of the most basic things you can configure. From the Viscosity icon in your menu bar, open Preferences > Connections, then select your connection and click "edit". You should see "Remote Server" underneath "Connection". Edit the remote server field to contain the static IP address of your remote OpenVPN server.

Again, this is assuming that you want to point Viscosity to a remote server using a static IP, which is what I gathered.

James

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Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:01 pm
In addition to the above, if you are talking about setting the IP address the client (Viscosity) receives to be a static IP address, then you can use the "ifconfig" command to set the IP address and netmask yourself. For example, add something like so to the Advanced commands section (under the Advanced tab when editing your connection in Viscosity):

ifconfig x.x.x.x y.y.y.y
--ifconfig l rn
Set TUN/TAP adapter parameters. l is the IP address of the local VPN endpoint. For TUN devices, rn is the IP address of the remote VPN endpoint. For TAP devices, rn is the subnet mask of the virtual ethernet segment which is being created or connected to.
You'll also have to make sure that this IP address isn't being overridden by the server. If you are in control of the OpenVPN server you can push out this IP address statically instead of setting it at Viscosity's end. Otherwise you'll need to un-tick the Pull options checkbox (under the Options tab), however this can bring on other issues.

See the OpenVPN documentation for more information about the ifconfig command.

Cheers,
James
Web: https://www.sparklabs.com
Support: https://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparklabs

mashby

Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:53 am

Post by mashby » Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:56 am
Thank you James, that is exactly what I was look for. And thank you for going into so much detail!

revin

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Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:10 am

Post by revin » Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:16 am
James wrote:
In addition to the above, if you are talking about setting the IP address the client (Viscosity) receives to be a static IP address, then you can use the "ifconfig" command to set the IP address and netmask yourself. For example, add something like so to the Advanced commands section (under the Advanced tab when editing your connection in Viscosity):

ifconfig x.x.x.x y.y.y.y
--ifconfig l rn
Set TUN/TAP adapter parameters. l is the IP address of the local VPN endpoint. For TUN devices, rn is the IP address of the remote VPN endpoint. For TAP devices, rn is the subnet mask of the virtual ethernet segment which is being created or connected to.
You'll also have to make sure that this IP address isn't being overridden by the server. If you are in control of the OpenVPN server you can push out this IP address statically instead of setting it at Viscosity's end. Otherwise you'll need to un-tick the Pull options checkbox (under the Options tab), however this can bring on other issues.

See the OpenVPN documentation for more information about the ifconfig command.

Cheers,
James
Hi, I followed this instruction to set a static IP address with no luck:
Say I want my static IP to be x.x.x.x, tried adding each of the following line, none works:
ifconfig x.x.x.x // grammar error
ifconfig x.x.x.x 255.255.255.0 // won't work
ifconfig x.x.x.x x.x.x.x // won't work
ifconfig x.x.x.x y.y.y.y // y.y.y.y is VPN server address, won't work
ifconfig x.x.x.x y.y.y.y // y.y.y.y is VPN's HUB address, won't work
also tried to disable VPN's DHCP completely, only resulting Viscosity unable to connect

I'm running softether-vpnserver-v4.22-9634-beta-2016.11.27-linux-x64-64bit
managed using softether-vpn_admin_tools-v4.22-9634-beta-2016.11.27-win32
connecting from Mac OSX 10.10.5 using Viscosity 1.6.8

And I also noticed something weird in my routing table, not sure if it's caused by Viscosity or SoftEther
related link: http://www.vpnusers.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 685#p19685

James

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Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:55 am
Hi revin,

Setting ifconfig locally in Viscosity will not override the server if it is also pushing out its own ifconfig command: the one the server is sending will be used. For your ifconfig setting in Viscosity to take effect you'll need to stop the VPN server from sending an IP address.

Typically in these scenarios it's better to change the settings on the VPN Server to always send the same IP address instead. For an offical OpenVPN server you can use the "client-config-dir" command to specify a directory where you can put text files with a custom ifconfig command for each connecting user so they get the same IP address each time. The "ifconfig-pool-persist" command can also be used, but please note that these is reset on server startup/shutdown.

However please note that SoftEther is not using the offical OpenVPN implementation: they have their own custom implementation that doesn't have full support for all OpenVPN options. I'm afraid I have no experience with it, so I'm unable to suggest what options it may have available that are similar to the OpenVPN options above.

Cheers,
James
Web: https://www.sparklabs.com
Support: https://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparklabs

revin

Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:10 am

Post by revin » Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:07 pm
James wrote:
Hi revin,

Setting ifconfig locally in Viscosity will not override the server if it is also pushing out its own ifconfig command: the one the server is sending will be used. For your ifconfig setting in Viscosity to take effect you'll need to stop the VPN server from sending an IP address.

Typically in these scenarios it's better to change the settings on the VPN Server to always send the same IP address instead. For an offical OpenVPN server you can use the "client-config-dir" command to specify a directory where you can put text files with a custom ifconfig command for each connecting user so they get the same IP address each time. The "ifconfig-pool-persist" command can also be used, but please note that these is reset on server startup/shutdown.

However please note that SoftEther is not using the offical OpenVPN implementation: they have their own custom implementation that doesn't have full support for all OpenVPN options. I'm afraid I have no experience with it, so I'm unable to suggest what options it may have available that are similar to the OpenVPN options above.

Cheers,
James
Hi, thanks for the reply.

I do see that you mentioned disabling Pull options in an earlier post, but I just don't want to mess-up my other configurations.
I'm interested in why disabling DHCP will cause Visosity to be unable to connect, because I thought that will enable me to override IP settings. And sadly it seems the built-in DHCP server in SoftEther is not providing static IP support.

I'm not using OpenVPN because my company uses ancient OSes like CentOS4, where I just can't get a decent OpenVPN Access Server installed.

I'll try to setup a local bridge, as suggested by the SoftEther forum.

About the routing table problem, any thoughts? Or am I misunderstood something? Relevant info:
http://www.vpnusers.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 685#p19685

During experiment, also found a default route 192.168.254.254 is added(see attachment)
but my SoftEther HUB address is 192.168.254.1, and 192.168.254.254 is not even in DHCP pool
I'm wondering if this is normal? If not, does it caused by SoftEther or Viscosity?

Image

Cheers~

James

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Posts: 2312
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Tue Feb 21, 2017 2:23 am
I do see that you mentioned disabling Pull options in an earlier post, but I just don't want to mess-up my other configurations.
While ignoring the pushed ifconfig option would cause the client to ignore the IP address assigned by the VPN server, it's unlikely the server will accept the one you assign yourself instead. As the server must setup the appropriate routes etc. it's likely traffic using a different address than it expects would be dropped.
I'm not using OpenVPN because my company uses ancient OSes like CentOS4, where I just can't get a decent OpenVPN Access Server installed.
I'd recommend looking at installing the standard version of OpenVPN instead of OpenVPN-AS as it'll still typically run on old Linux variants. I've linked our guide for the latest version of CentOS - you may like to see if the process is similar for older versions.
http://www.sparklabs.com/support/kb/art ... viscosity/
I'll try to setup a local bridge, as suggested by the SoftEther forum.
It sounds like they may be recommending switching from a routed (tun) to bridged (tap) based setup, where IP addresses are assigned by a DHCP server instead of the VPN server. Such a setup should work (Viscosity supports DHCP over tap), but again, I'm afraid I don't know anything about the options available or implementation details for how SoftEther handles this.

Cheers,
James
Web: https://www.sparklabs.com
Support: https://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparklabs

revin

Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:10 am

Post by revin » Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:28 pm
James wrote:
I do see that you mentioned disabling Pull options in an earlier post, but I just don't want to mess-up my other configurations.
While ignoring the pushed ifconfig option would cause the client to ignore the IP address assigned by the VPN server, it's unlikely the server will accept the one you assign yourself instead. As the server must setup the appropriate routes etc. it's likely traffic using a different address than it expects would be dropped.
I'm not using OpenVPN because my company uses ancient OSes like CentOS4, where I just can't get a decent OpenVPN Access Server installed.
I'd recommend looking at installing the standard version of OpenVPN instead of OpenVPN-AS as it'll still typically run on old Linux variants. I've linked our guide for the latest version of CentOS - you may like to see if the process is similar for older versions.
http://www.sparklabs.com/support/kb/art ... viscosity/
I'll try to setup a local bridge, as suggested by the SoftEther forum.
It sounds like they may be recommending switching from a routed (tun) to bridged (tap) based setup, where IP addresses are assigned by a DHCP server instead of the VPN server. Such a setup should work (Viscosity supports DHCP over tap), but again, I'm afraid I don't know anything about the options available or implementation details for how SoftEther handles this.

Cheers,
James
I end up writing my own vpn server and client software...but thanks for the help, I'm really appreciated.
My networking environment is rather complicated, so I need dedicated software to do the job.
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