Explain Like I'm 5- Raspberry Pi, GLiNet and VPNs

VPN
1

First, I’m sorry for adding to the continuous stream of VPN/Hiding location questions. I have tried my best to follow Chris’s Wiki VPN instructions and have got some questions.

1: Raspberry Pi - Does it matter which one I buy? Does anyone have any recommendations? the cheaper the better but hiding my location is priority (and ease of access, because as my title suggests, I’m not well versed in this subject area).

Can someone explain the concept and reason for the raspberry pi to me like I’m 5?

From what I can gather the VPN runs off it, so it stays at home while I am not there, and that is how my location will be shown as my home, is that correct?

If I don’t already sound uneducated in this area, I will now… This is where you really need to explain it like I’m 5 because everything I see online is too complicated and I need to understand the basics first. The Raspberry Pi’s that I can see online just look like a little panel, no screen or anything. How do I set anything up on it? what do I plug it into or download to run the VPN off it? Do I need to do some kind of coding to work it? (fortunately my brother is a computer coder so I can get him to help out if so)

2: WireGuard vs Open VPN-

Based off what I have researched WireGuard seems to be the best VPN particularly for speed. However, my priority is my location not being leaked. Anyone have any recommendations WireGuard vs OpenVPN?

3- I will be working from a work laptop which runs its own VPN which I have to connect to in order to access certain systems. If I use Raspberry Pi and GLiNet Router while simultaneously running the work laptops VPN…Will this work? Will it effect my ability to access these work systems?

4- My work laptop won’t allow me to hide my location on the laptop settings. It says ‘this system is managed by an administrator’. I have disconnected all bluetooth, radios, etc. If I follow Chris’s VPN tutorial and set up the server, client, router, the kill switch, etc, will this override the fact that the laptop location settings are stuck on ón’?

Thanks in advance, and I apologise again for adding another VPN question to digital nomads!

2

You read the Wiki and have constructive questions, that’s pretty awesome.

3

Thanks for reading the Wiki, I am happy to answer some more questions.

  1. It is best to use a raspberry pi with a dedicated ethernet port. However it may be even easier to use 2 GL routers. I am working on a guide that uses this set up. This video goes through the server process which would replace the need for an RPI.

  2. Both wireguard and OpenVPN provide the same level of encryptions and stability, so in terms of leakage both will work fine.

  3. Yes this will work. The only impact will be to latency which should not be an issue. A weak wifi signal would have the same impact.

  4. You will need to disable wifi on your laptop and only use a wired connection between your laptop and VPN router. The location function on your browser uses wifi settings to determine your location. If it can’t find any wifi settings then it will default to your IP.

4

1

The Raspberry is essentially a tiny non-laptop computer. It has USB, HDMI, power and network ports. To set it up you connect it to a monitor, keyboard and internet like you would with a tower PC. After everything is set up you no longer need to keep the keyboard and monitor connected.

And yes, all traffic when you’re connected to the VPN abroad will first go back to the raspberry Pi in your home and then to the internet from there.

If all of this sounds overwhelming to you and you don’t mind spending a few bucks you can also buy a VPN service where all of this is done for you. Or rent a cheap server in the cloud and set up the VPN on there.

The latter option is especially relevant if you have slow/unreliable internet at home.

I‘m sure your brother who’s a programmee will be able to advise you here.

Wireguard is the better choice

I haven’t tried this but it should work without any special config. The traffic would then look like this:

Your laptop abroad → GLiNet → Raspberry at home → company VPN server → target

Not sure.

5

Raspberry Pi let you set up a server at home you can connect to it from anywhere in the world.

When you are abroad, you need a router that pre-configured to automatically route all the traffic to your raspberry pi and your laptop connect to this router.

This is really about trying to show your home IP to your IT department so it doesn’t trigger any red flags.

6

The laptop belongs to the company. Presumably (given your description of settings) it is remote managed. Unless you make absolutely no mistakes, you’ll get caught. Chances are good you’ll make a mistake. It may or may not be a technical mistake. Could easily be an operational mistake. That list is endless.

Remember, your company doesn’t have to prove that you are living somewhere you have agreed not to. They only have to suspect that you are. At that point it comes down to risk management and the bean counters will want your management to justify your continued employment in the face of that risk. Unless you’re the Linus Torvalds of your field that won’t end well for you.

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Thanks! I’ve been reading, re-reading, Googling, YouTubing, asking chat bots, everything. It’s sure made me realise I know nothing about computers!

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I was just thinking that! Kudos to the OP!

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Absolutely. You are this sub’s hero — read the wiki and sidebar, went as far as they could, need more help.

I’m curious about the same thing: I might be the tech god to my parents but I really avoid getting too deep into technical stuff, I find it annoying. I’d love to buy an off-the-shelf kit for this that I just plug in but I don’t think it’s possible.

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Thank you for making the wiki, it really is a life saver.

1- Wow no way! 2 GL routers sounds much easier. I was literally just looking at the WireGuard/OpenVPN client and server options on my GLiNet admin panel (admittedly I was just trying to wrap my head around it all).

Would the second GL (the server) just be the exact same type of GL as the router you suggested using? And I would just leave the server GL at home plugged in?

And would the GL server be able to run as WireGuard or is it OpenVPN only?

I really appreciate all your help, your guide has been the only (understandable) piece of information I can find about this process!

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Hey Chris- been doing a lot of digging around like OP. Hope you could still get to this message amongst all your pint drinking in Edinburgh.

My issue is figuring out how to do #1 - Specifically, I can’t seem to run a VPN server off my Slate. I have followed the process in the video you sent (and followed countless other documented sources online), but when I try to connect my OpenVPN client using my VPN’s config, it says the connection has timed out and won’t connect.

Any ideas where to troubleshoot?

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Also another question: when I am running the VPN server, is my Slate going to be running in “repeater” mode off the wifi? From what I’ve read, this doesn’t seem right and would be a much slower connection. However, when I try to connect my Slate to my Spectrum modem via ethernet, it doesn’t get an internet connection either. So the only way to actually have the router with internet connection is to have it be connected via wifi.

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I feel a like I’m at my wit’s end trying to solve this. Would appreciate any insight. Cheers!

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1- That explanation makes a lot of sense, thank you! Do you know if I can just use any of the raspberry pi’s? Like will This one work?
I will definitely look into both of those options too thank you, anything that makes this easier helps!

2, 3, 4 - awesome thank you again!

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Thank you so much! I have a GLiNet router which is what is recommended in the subs VPN guide! I’m just hoping I can wrap my head around the raspberry pi!

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Any examples of mistakes that could be made so we can brainstorm risk responses to be implemented?

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If you need more support, reach out to me via chat and if I have time I will do my best to get you set up.

I am working on more guides to improve the step by step instructions, but they are very time consuming.

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Thanks, this is a relief because I was sure I was going to annoy people with more VPN questions!

Hopefully someday something like that will be available. I’m just hoping when my Raspberry Pi arrives I can wrap my head around it. From what I’ve seen on YouTube, the process of setting it up is going to baffle me!

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Disclaimer, I’m a bit tipsy after a few pints at a mini DN meetup in Edinburgh and I’m typing this on my phone so sorry in advance for the typos.

The idea is you buy two of the same GL routers. One you set up as the server at your home location. It does the same thing as the raspberry pi but it does the tricky parts behind the scenes while you just have a nice gui to work with.

When you set up the server it will give you an option to download the config file which is why you then upload onto your client, which is just another GL router that you carry with you everywhere you go.

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  1. Change your slate’s IP to the same range as your main router.
  2. Did you set up port forwarding rules?
  3. Did you put your public IP in the OpenVPN config?
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I wouldn’t use the Pi Zero. Lower CPU power and apparently no ethernet port. According to Google:

„It’s best to run PiVPN and WireGuard on a Raspberry Pi 4, but if you have at least a Raspberry Pi 3 B+, that should be fine. This is because only the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and Raspberry Pi 4 have gigabit ethernet, which is preferable for PiVPN and WireGuard.“

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it will take some skills to setup the raspberry pi as your VPN server