Set up Traffic Control for a VPN Connection

VPN Tracker Traffic Control gives you greater flexibility to determine how much internet traffic is tunnelled through the VPN, as well as which network resources are to be accessed via the VPN tunnel.

This guide takes you through all you need to know about using Traffic Control with your VPN connection.

Menu:

• What is Traffic Control?
• When do I need to use Traffic Control?
• How to set up Traffic Control
  • Exempt network addresses
  • Specify network addresses for VPN
  • Force traffic over the VPN

What is Traffic Control?

You can use the Traffic Control feature either to exempt certain parts of the remote network from the VPN or to specify select addresses which should be used with the VPN (also known as split tunneling.)

When do I need to use Traffic Control?

VPN connections are often configured to tunnel all internet traffic through the VPN (also known as host-to-everywhere VPN.) For example, this is common practice for many company VPN connections, as it is easier for admins to configure a one-size-fits-all approach.

While not uncommon, a host-to-everywhere connection can come with some major disadvantages for VPN users, such as slower surfing speeds, being cut off from other devices in your local network or being unable to access websites like YouTube, Netflix, etc. that may have been blocked by your organisation's network.

Host-to-Everywhere VPN sends all internet traffic through the VPN

In addition, users with privacy concerns may also prefer not to send all their internet traffic via the company VPN.

Traffic Control is the perfect solution for these scenarios - here's how it works...

How to set up Traffic Control for a VPN connection

Once you have configured a VPN connection in VPN Tracker, it's just a few simple steps to set up Traffic Control.

Exempt network addresses from the VPN with Traffic Control

Follow these steps to tell VPN Tracker not to access certain network resources via VPN. All other traffic will go through the VPN tunnel:

1. In the Connection Creator, switch to the Advanced tab and go to Traffic Control
2. Choose Exempt these addresses from the VPN from the dropdown
3. In the field provided, specify the network address you wish to exempt from the VPN - for example your printer's IP address

Local network IP address

Usually, the easiest way to find local network IP addresses for devices or services on your network which you want to exempt from the VPN (e.g. a printer or NAS) is to refer to the network overview page on your router.

If you don't have access, we advise getting in touch with your network admin.

Remote network IP address

If you don't know what to enter here, you can use the 'Ping Host' tool in VPN Tracker to find the remote network address of an internal network (e.g. your internal company network.)

1. 1. Open a page on the internal network you want to access via VPN, e.g. the company intranet and copy the web address
   2. Open VPN Tracker for Mac and go to Tools > Ping Host
   3. Enter the address (e.g. intranet.greenhaven.net) and hit ping to reveal the remote IP address (e.g. 192.168.10.12)

Then, simply replace the last digits with a "0" to get the remote network address > 192.168.10.0. (Note: this is a bit simplified, but will work for most common network setups out there).

You can enter addresses or networks in the following formats:

• As a single address, e.g. "192.168.10.12",
• as a single remote network, e.g. "192.168.10.0" (VPN Tracker will use the most typical subnet),
• in CIDR notation, e.g. "192.168.10.0/24",
• or with the full subnet, e.g. "192.168.10.0 / 255.255.255.0", which VPN Tracker will then convert to CIDR notation.

Specify network addresses to access via the VPN tunnel with Traffic Control

You can also use Traffic Control to specify a particular network that should be accessed via the VPN (also known as split tunneling.)

Use Split Tunneling to specify which network should be accessed via the VPN

Here's how it works:

1. In the Connection Creator, switch to the Advanced tab and go to Traffic Control
2. Choose Only use VPN for the following addresses from the dropdown
3. In the field provided, specify the network you wish to access via VPN - for example your company network - all other traffic will go through the local network

Force traffic over the VPN

By default, traffic to the remote network cannot be sent through the VPN tunnel if it is using the same network as the local network. However, in some cases, the remote and local networks may overlap.

In this case, you can use Traffic Control to tell VPN Tracker to send non-essential local network traffic over the VPN.

To do so, switch to the Advanced tab. Go to Traffic Control and check the box next to Force traffic over the VPN if remote networks conflict with local networks.

Please be aware that your local gateway, DHCP server and any DNS server(s) will still not be reachable via VPN. Find out more.

Why VPN Tracker?

VPN Tracker is the best secure remote access solution for Mac, iPhone and iPad and is compatible with the most popular VPN gateways, including UniFi, NETGEAR, TP Link, Draytek, and many more.