Configuring a Device as an Internet Gateway

Introduction

Configuring a server as a gateway allows you to specify a starting point for your clients' data traffic.

Prerequisites

• Netmaker Server
• Getting Started
• Linux server for the gateway (optional)

Configuring the Internet Gateway

Selecting a Gateway

This step involves simply deciding which device you want to use as the gateway.

There are two ways to designate a server as a gateway. You can either designate the Netmaker server itself as the gateway, or you can integrate another Linux-based server into the VPN as an endpoint and configure it as the gateway.

Integrating an End Device into the VPN via the Netmaker Client

To allow your end device to join the VPN, the Netclient must be installed on it. This step must be performed for both options and is explained in the following Help Center article: Install Netclient

Create a device as a gateway

Log in to the Netmaker web interface with your username and navigate to the Gateway Overview in the left-hand menu bar.

Select the blue Create Gateway button to create an Internet gateway.

In the drop-down menu, select the device you want to configure as a gateway, and enable the Set as an Internet Gateway option to configure this device for forwarding traffic to the Internet.

Routing a Node’s Traffic Through an Internet Gateway

To configure this step correctly, at least two nodes must have joined the network. After the above configuration, one node already acts as an Internet gateway, and the second node—or all subsequent nodes—can specify this node as their Internet gateway.

Use the left-hand menu bar to navigate back to the node overview and select the Assign Gateway button for the device that is to route its traffic through the Internet gateway.

In the next window, you must first assign the previously configured Internet gateway using the Assign button and then enable the Route all Traffic, and explicitly confirm this selection by clicking the Enable button so that all traffic for this device is routed through the gateway.

Finally, close the window for assigning the gateway and check the current status in the overview. In my example, node mwycqcreolineser… is configured as the gateway, and node wv345creolineser… has this configured as its gateway.

All connections from node wv345creolineser… will be routed through the gateway mwycqcreolineser… going forward.

Common Error Messages