What IP address should my iOS device have? (Newbie)

Galena

I'm using an OpenVPN server on my home router (T-Mobile CellSpot variant of ASUS RT-AC68U), and OpenVPN Connect 1.0.5 on my iPhone.

Away from home on a public WiFi network: when I connect, OpenVPN Connect's screen looks good to my untrained eye, and a small VPN icon appears in the iPhone's status bar.

The only test I can think of is to use a browswer to go to a "what's my IP?" web site. I think I should see my home WAN IP; but what I get is the local public Wi-Fi net IP.

Is my premise correct, and is something wrong? Or if my premise is incorrect, how can I test that the VPN is working?

Galena

More info: While on the public net I can ping and access the subnet that my home router VPN is configured to provide, so the VPN seems to be working OK. (The router is configured to not respond to WAN pings outside the VPN.) I was on a different public net yesterday and got an IP address that didn't DNS-resolve.

As counterpoint, I tried using a commercial VPN server and the IP address I see from that is the same, at least in the high-order 24 bits, as the VPN service advertised.

So I'm still mystified by the IP address I'm seeing when using my home router's VPN.

Traffic

Galena wroteThe only test I can think of is to use a browswer to go to a "what's my IP?" web site. I think I should see my home WAN IP

That is correct, if your VPN is working correctly ...

Galena wrotebut what I get is the local public Wi-Fi net IP.

Which means your VPN is not working (or configured) correctly ...

Galena wroteSo I'm still mystified by the IP address I'm seeing when using my home router's VPN

If the IP address you see is the public WiFi IP and not your home WAN IP then your VPN is not working or not configured correctly.

Probably best to post your server config and log files.

Galena

Here are the server settings: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7e4mrl7y2rt8ga6/VPN%20settings.png?dl=0

Today I went to a Whole Foods, connected to their Wi-Fi with my iPhone, checked the IP at whatsmyip.com, and then connected to my home router's VPN via the OpenVPN app. Within OpenVPN the connection looked OK to me. But then I again checked the IP at whatsmyip.com and got the same result, i.e., the Whole Foods Wi-Fi WAN IP. I then disconnected via OpenVPN. When I got home I had this in the server log (the first line shows the IP just mentioned):

Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 TLS: Initial packet from [AF_INET]69.239.135.24:52763, sid=492c0c4e ed146e02
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 VERIFY OK: depth=1, C=TW, ST=TW, L=Taipei, O=ASUS, CN=TM-AC1900, emailAddress=me@myhost.mydomain
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 VERIFY OK: depth=0, C=TW, ST=TW, L=Taipei, O=ASUS, CN=client, emailAddress=me@myhost.mydomain
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 PLUGIN_CALL: POST /usr/lib/openvpn-plugin-auth-pam.so/PLUGIN_AUTH_USER_PASS_VERIFY status=0
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 TLS: Username/Password authentication succeeded for username 'xxxusername_obscuredxxx' 
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 Data Channel Encrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 Data Channel Encrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 Data Channel Decrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 Data Channel Decrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 Control Channel: TLSv1, cipher TLSv1/SSLv3 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, 1024 bit RSA
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: 69.239.135.24:52763 [client] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]69.239.135.24:52763
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 MULTI_sva: pool returned IPv4=10.8.0.6, IPv6=(Not enabled)
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 MULTI: Learn: 10.8.0.6 -> client/69.239.135.24:52763
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 MULTI: primary virtual IP for client/69.239.135.24:52763: 10.8.0.6
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 PUSH: Received control message: 'PUSH_REQUEST'
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 send_push_reply(): safe_cap=940
Nov  3 17:12:39 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 SENT CONTROL [client]: 'PUSH_REPLY,route 10.8.0.1,topology net30,ping 15,ping-restart 60,ifconfig 10.8.0.6 10.8.0.5' (status=1)
Nov  3 17:14:34 openvpn[714]: client/69.239.135.24:52763 SIGTERM[soft,remote-exit] received, client-instance exiting

Traffic

Looks like this should be on:

Direct clients to redirect internet traffic: YES

Galena

Traffic wroteLooks like this should be on:
Direct clients to redirect internet traffic: YES

Makes sense; thanks. I've changed it and will test later when I'm out at a Wi-Fi location. Meanwhile, curiosity: why would someone want that setting to be "no"?

Traffic

There are many varied ways of using a VPN besides public WiFi protection and that is a crucial setting ..

Galena

Traffic wroteThere are many varied ways of using a VPN besides public WiFi protection and that is a crucial setting ..

D'oh! Such as accessing a LAN or corporate intranet...

And, of course, the suggested fix worked.

Traffic

It could have been any number of things but that seemed the most likely .. under the circumstances.

FYI: Donations are always welcome 8-)