OpenVPN and windows computer names

This is where we can discuss what we would like to see added or changed in OpenVPN.

Moderators: TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech

Post Reply
PapaJones
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:41 am

OpenVPN and windows computer names

Post by PapaJones » Wed Nov 06, 2019 9:18 am

Hi,

My home and office PCs (both win10 machines) are behind symmetrical NAT and there is no way to make a direct connection between them. To be able to access office PC from home and home PC from my office I installed OpenVPS server on a VPS machine running Ubuntu.
I configured OpenVPN server as `topology subnet`, OpenVPN server itself is 10.8.0.1, and office/home PC get assigned 10.8.0.2 or 10.8.0.3 IPs.
Office PC's name is `office`, home PC's name is `home`. When both office and home PC get connected to the VPN I can ping office pc from home and vice versa, however, I can do so only using their IPs, which aren't static and may change. On local LAN, computers names can be pinged by their computer names. Eg I can `ping office` and it gets auto resolved to office's computer IP on its LAN. When I connect office and home using OpenVPN I cannot `ping home` from office PC and I cannot `ping office` from home PC.

What do I need to change/configure on OpenVPN server to be able to reference computers connected to the VPN using their names? I cannot even add to `10.8.0.2 office` to windows' hosts file because the IP of the office PC could as well be 10.8.0.3 or some other IP address.

Post Reply