RV320 - setting up to use PPTP (with automatic IP, DNS and server name as address)

[David-D]

Hi, I have a Cisco RV320 router

I want to set it up to use a PPTP connection

I am having 4 problems setting it up:

(I am not a professional in networking just a simple home user...)

1. They said I should have the router obtain the IP address automatically but I don't see how to do this on the router
2. Same for the DNS, it should obtain automatically
3. They provided me an address for their server (e.g. vpn@server.com), not an IP, but the router doesn't seem to allow that rather only numbers for an IP address
4. I also need to set it to "No encryption" but I don't know where that setting is

If anyone can help I would really appreciate it

Thanks,

David

P.S. Elsewhere I have an Asus router and the setup was rather easy as all these settings were right on the WAN settings page and I was able to set it as described above.

[Richard Burts]

David

The RV320 is not something that I have much experience with, and if someone else in the forum does have experience with it I hope they will jump in on the discussion. But here is what I think about your questions.

1) To have the router obtain the address automatically you generally just set the router interface to use DHCP. Then when the router interface is connected and becomes active it will send a DHCP request and be assigned an IP address.

2) When you set the router interface to use DHCP it should also learn the DNS server address as part of the DHCP negotiation.

3) If you are learning the address via DHCP then I am not clear what they expect you to do with their server address. Perhaps it is called for in the setup for PPTP?

4) I am not sure about the no encryption and guess that it is specified in the setup for PPTP.

Anyone else in the forum want to jump in?

HTH

Rick

[David-D]

Hi Rick, thank you for the reply

1. I am not sure what you mean by setting the router to use DHCP. However, In the WAN settings there are a couple connection types:
   
   It kind of looks like Obtaining an IP automatically does not work with PPTP (or any of the other options. Correct?
2. Same as above
3. Let me clarify. When I wrote above that I want to obtain IP automatically, I was referring to my IP (which can obviously change since I don't have a static IP).
   Here in question #3, I am referring the IP of the VPN server I am connecting to. They supplied me with an address name, not an IP.

I hope this clarifies a little better what I am looking to do

Any help will be appreciated

Thanks,

David

[Richard Burts]

David

1) It looks like my suggestion about using DHCP may be what is first in the list you show (Obtain an IP automatically). But they do have an option for PPTP as a separate option and so that might need to be what you select. If you do select that option is it possible that it will take you to a page for setting up PPTP and that might have an option for automatic address learning?

2) perhaps the same

3) if they gave you the server identification as a name and the configuration requires a 4 octet IP address then perhaps you can ping the nam (using your PC or some device that has Internet connectivity) and from the ping get the IP address to use.

Wish I had more authoritative answers, but this is the best I have at this time. Still hoping someone else in the forum will jump in.

HTH

Rick

[David-D]

Thank Rick

Let me explain myself a little better

I was already after that step (sort of). I chose PPTP from that list and it brought me to a settings screen for PPTP. In that screen is asks for several settings as can be seen in the screenshot below.

Username and password are fine

The problem is with the others:

1. WAN IP Address - this is my IP which I would like it to obtain automatically

2. Subnet Mask - same as above

3. Gateway - same as above

4. PPTP Server address - expects an IP but I would like to give it an name address

Any further help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance,

David

[Richard Burts]

David

I have spent some time looking through the documentation for RV320 and it gave me some insight and raises some questions. First I would like to clarify how you intend to use this router. Is the provider you want to access using PPTP the provider who will supply your outside connection? Or are you obtaining a regular Internet connection from some ISP and then using PPTP to access the other provider? In other words is PPTP your primary connection or is PPTP something you will use sometimes but not your primary connection?

I find instructions for a Gateway to Gateway VPN. But that is encrypting traffic and you mentioned wanting to set no encryption. So I don't think that Gateway to Gateway is what you are looking for. And I find instructions for setting the router up as a PPTP server to allow remote users to connect. But I don't think that is what you are trying to do, Is it? Without having a better understanding of what you are attempting to accomplish I am not clear where to look. Can you clarify your situation?

HTH

Rick