OpenVPN Server & Client across NATs

[DaHai8]

I hope this is the right forum for this post. If not, I will remove/move it.

I have an OpenVPN/SSL RPi Server on one home network behind a Router/NAT and another OpenVPN/SSL RPi Client on another Router/NAT. They both use Port Mapping via UPnP to connect to each other over the Internet.

I'm looking for a better/cleaner/more robust solution since UPnP is not supported on all Routers, Public IP Addresses can/do change, and router's occasionally don't respond to UPnP requests and have to be rebooted. Plus enabling UPnP is a security risk.

It looks like a simple P2P Server service would work for me, but I can't find any software/info on how to set one up or how to configure OpenVPN/SSL on the RPi.

I have a public Internet server that can run PHP, Perl, etc.that I can set up for a P2P host. I just can't find any clues as to how to do this either.

I'm hoping someone can point me to a resource, or resources, I can read to figure this all out.

Thanks!

[ghans]

What stops you from enabling DynDNS and static portforwarding at the server site ?
Running an OpenVPN server on a site not under your control defeats the purpose IMHO.

Alternatively get a VPS and setup your OpenVPN server there (might be forbidden depending on hosting provider though).

ntop n2n or freelan might be worth a look too.

ghans

[DaHai8]

I'll take a look at freelan. I don't have a public server capable of running N2N Service.
The Server is mine, the remote site is not. So access to the Router's Static IP and Static Port Mappings is not possible.
The VPS services I've found are expensive for my non-existent budget.
Thanks for your reply!!

[ghans]

An OpenVPN client can be behind an "uncontrollable" NAT - that is not a problem. Only the server needs to have portforwarding and DynDNS.

ghans