NeoRouter simple VPN setup integrating Android, Windows, Linux and OSX

Looking to move away from Hamachi I've been looking around for alternative free zero config VPN tools since LogMeIn has taken over Hamachi and I suspect the days of the free Hamachi are limited. NeoRouter is a cross-platform zero-configuration VPN solution that securely connects Windows, Mac, Linux and FreeBSD computers at any locations into a virtual LAN and provides a networking platform for various applications like remote desktop, shared folders and printers, offsite backup, voice & video chat, etc. I like NeoRouter since 1) it's free 2) you can host your own server and 3) it has a free Android client these are all thumbs up from my perspective.
Read on for the configuration of the client and server...

A NeoRouter setup requires a centrally hosted NeoRouter server which coordinates the NeoRouter clients and then client installs on each client device.  The NeoRouter server is available in Windows and Linux formats, I'm going to focus on the Linux server in this post since this will run 24/7 on my Ubuntu server. I'll then walk through setting up NeoRouter clients on Windows, Ubuntu and Android.


NeoRouter Free can be downloaded from http://download.neorouter.com/Downloads/NRFree/

Configure the server firewall

First you'll need to configure your firewall on the server hosting the NeoRouter server allowing inbound traffic on port 32976. If you don't do this first you won't be able to access the NeoRouter server to configure which has to be done from a Windows machine at the time of writing.

The command below will setup the Ubuntu firewall if you are using ufw:

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from any to any port 32976

Install server (Ubuntu)
1. Visit http://www.neorouter.com/Downloads.html and download NeoRouter Server for your Linux distribution.
2. Install under Ubuntu by double clicking the debian package and using gDebi or by using the command: 
sudo dpkg -i nrserver-<version>-<release>.i386.deb
3. Start the NeoRouter server with the command nrserver
4. Configure nrserver using NR Configuration Explorer to configure your nrserver. Currently Configuration Explorer is only available on Windows. NeoRouter are porting it to other platforms.

• Install NeoRouter client for Windows on a Windows PC in the same LAN.
• Launch NeoRouter Configuration Explorer
• Enter your Linux user in the username field the IP address of the Linux server in "log on to" field. Proceed to sign in.
• Now the Configuration Explorer is connected to nrserver on your Linux box so that we can change the settings.

Set up Domain (Optional)
NeoRouter domain functions like a dynamic DNS server, if like me you already have a dynamic DNS account you can use that alternatively you can use NeoRouter to create a domain which will have a similar effect. To do this:

• a. Launch NeoRouter Configuration Explorer
• b. Choose settings tab, and edit domain. See here for more details.

Set up User Accounts
You can Sign In to NeoRouter Network Explorer or configuration console using the same account you use to sign into Linux. You can also create other NeoRouter accounts in the configuration console. This is the best done with NeoRouter Configuration Explorer.

For those familiar with Hamachi note that you have to sign each of your clients in with the same account name in under NeoRouter free in order to have all clients on the same virtual network. Treat the account name almost as the network name. This confused me for about 10 minutes since I couldn't understand why I couldn't see my other clients when connecting with different account names from different clients.

Note that server will not be visible as a machine in the network. To get the server also onto the netowrk you will need to install a client on the server and connect it to the server itself.

Install client (Windows)

See here


Install client (Ubuntu)
See here 


Install client (Android)
See here