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Access LAN Server Behind VPN by Hostname Rather Than by IP

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:25 pm
by pascals
I have followed the guide to Setting up an OpenVPN server with Tomato router and Viscosity.

The guide is very clear, and I can now successfully connect and access a server in my home LAN by its IP (for example: 192.1.168.100) from the internet. That server has a fixed IP defined in the Static DHCP setting of Tomato (say, for example, that is hostname is "synology"). How can I access that server by its hostname "synology" instead of just its IP address?

I don't know much about networking, but it's probably something to do with the fact that the address assigned by the VPN server (10.8.0.6) is on a different subnet than the LAN server I'm trying to access by hostname. Just in case it's relevant, the Tomota "Basic > Network" LAN br0 IP Range is defined as 192.168.1.150-199.

I'm aware that I can define a hosts file on the client machine, but I'd like to use Tomato's DHCP. I'm sure there is an answer somewhere, but I apparently haven't googled for the right terms...

Thx for any help!

Re: Access LAN Server Behind VPN by Hostname Rather Than by IP

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:30 pm
by James
Hi pascals,

It depends on how you normally resolve your file server's name. There are typically two approaches:

1. The router runs a DNS server that automatically creates a DNS entry for all DHCP clients. If this is the case make sure your router's internal IP address is listed as the DNS server for your connection in Viscosity.

2. You're resolving the name using mDNS (aka Bonjour). You can either switch to the above approach, or you can setup your router to act as a mDNS repeater. You're best asking how to do this on a Tomato router support forum or mailing list, as I'm afraid it's not something we're familiar with.

Cheers,
James