I’m using firewalla gold SE and I have my vpn set up with open vpn, I set it up the way shown on firewalla YouTube. When I’m connected to my WIFI which is connected to my firewalla (correctly). When I check my ip it’s not changing when I turn the vpn on /off . Can anyone direct me to some information on what I may be doing incorrectly? Is this firewalla VPN only for creating VPN connection between 2 devices I have?
Sorry for such a basic question there’s a lot I don’t fully understand about the firewalla but have found I really love the added protection and information I get from it.
Read this article if you haven’t already.
https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004274633-Firewalla-VPN-Server#h_4c3b6926-e3d2-4911-ab8a-1cc63941e081
Here is a relevant quote:
“Firewalla VPN Server places a VPN server inside your home. This VPN service can only be used when you are outside of the house. You get the same level of security protection as if you are at home, provided by Firewalla.”
The idea with the Firewalla VPN is that any time you are away from home you can connect to your Firewalla and your connection out in the world, like at a hotel or airport, will be piped through an encrypted tunnel back to your home. So 1) no one monitoring this public connection can see what you’re up to and 2) you appear “home” to any website you’re accessing. This would also allow you to do stuff like access US Netflix content when traveling abroad, for example. And, it would allow you to access everything at home that you need to use like accessing your network storage without needing to set up a dedicate connection to the NAS (generally less secure).
This service is much like using a VPN to connect to your work network when working from home, so you can access all your work resources.
If you want to have a VPN change your IP address and encrypt your home traffic between your device and an outside service for increased anonymity you would need a VPN that has servers in other locations you connect through. Very different type of service with a different underlying purpose.
If your IP isn’t changing when toggling the VPN on/off, there might be a configuration issue. Double-check setup instructions for Firewalla Gold SE and OpenVPN, and reach out to their support for assistance in troubleshooting.
What do you mean vpn set up? Server or client? If client what external service are you using ?
VPN server allows you to connect a remote device to your router and the devices attached to it. For example you can connect to your NAS using its LAN IP addresses using your cellphone while away from home. If you are looking for anonymity, you also need to setup VPN client with force DNS over VPN enabled, regardless of using VPN server.
For example if you don’t use VPN client, you are visible when browsing from home or while using a remote device connected via VPN server.
If you set up VPN client, your traffic to the VPN provider servers is encrypted. Your Firewalla IP is still visible however, if you do not enable Force DNS over VPN, in that case you will be using the VPN provider DNS server and that server IP is visible instead of yours.
Thanks everyone I finally was able to get everything going.Once I changed the MTU # everything is working like 
Thank you for taking the time to write that out, I understand how this VPN works and now and feel like this is way more powerful than just getting anonymity. I should also be able to use this to set up a VPN to view my POE security system and monitor my son’s internet activity better.
OPENvpn , I believe it’s a vpn client. I’m not super knowledgeable on this stuff. So the open vpn runs on my Firewalla and offers me remote access on my cellphone.
If you are connecting with your cell phone to your VPN on your Firewalla than you are running VPN server. If you check your external IP, it should always appear the same as your home network external/WAN ip.
