VPN: sonicwall TZ170 and DD-WRT?

September 6, 2012 6:27 AM

Office A has a TZ170, presently configured for VPN through sonicwall's desktop client software. Offices B and C have routers running DD-WRT. Can the DDWRT routers (with both OpenVPN and PPTP clients) provide an always on VPN back to office A? Might this be accomplished by creating a new VPN policy specifically for them in the TZ170? Alternately, could I replace the TZ170 with a new DDWRT, functioning not as router but only as gateway, VPN and firewall?
posted by slagerst to technology (3 answers total)

If you want to avoid headaches your best bet is to replace the DD-WRTs with TZ170s at each office and setup a static VPN back to the home office.

What you're describing can be done - but it will get messy. Keep it simple.

Of course, I may have mis-read this all: do the remote offices tunnel back in to the main office using the SSL VPN software on each client PC?

I would recommend this: TZ170s at each office. If you don't have DHCP servers and/or domain controllers at the remote offices, setup the Sonicwall to handle DHCP and DNS. Have the clients tunnel back through the static VPN setup between the Sonicwalls, not the clients.
posted by tgrundke at 9:17 AM on September 6, 2012

Agree with replacing the DD-WRT based products with similar SonicWall offerings. A professional organization with multiple locations, no matter how small, should be using professional grade equipment. (Just my opinion). SonicWall (now a Dell company), should have an appropriate sized device for you to use in Office 'B' & 'C'. This will make connecting all locations much simpler.
This will also help when working with SonicWall on problem resolution as they do not have to figure out what devices you have attached on the remote ends of the circuit.
(*note* I do NOT work for SonicWall or Dell. I have worked in an environment where management thought it would be a good cost saving idea to implement this type of solution. It is not. As much help as SonicWall techs were, they can't be expected to make their device work with Open Source / non business class hardware.)
posted by GurnB at 10:25 AM on September 6, 2012

My experience with running VPN software on DDWRT is that it really slows down everything. Not something I wanted to run my house on, much less a business.

If each office has their own internet connection, each office should have a Sonic Wall (or similar).
posted by gjc at 4:39 PM on September 6, 2012