Router: How to configure OpenVPN for TomatoUSB

Please note the following requirements: 

• Router with alternative TomatoUSB firmware and support of OpenVPN. Older versions need to be updated.
  Info: Official Tomato website
• A CyberGhost account
  Info: Here's how to create a CyberGhost account online
  Info: How to manage your CyberGhost account
• A CyberGhost subscription
  Info: How to purchase or upgrade a subscription
  Info (only prepaid subscribers): Enter activation key

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that, although the technical process is as thoroughly documented as possible, you need to have at least some technical understanding. There's always a chance for an overseen mistake and/or things have changed and the article is not updated yet. 

Some general notes on routers:

• Routers are usually not equipped with state of the art hardware, meaning you will have speed losses when using a VPN connection (due to low CPU power to process encryption). Direct connections from your PC, Laptop, Tablet, etc. to the VPN network (without the router providing the VPN software) will work better for you, if speed is among your favorite desires.
• If your flashed router doesn't provide DSL functionality, your Internet connection will still need to be managed by your DSL modem. In that case your device pool will hook on your router (via cable or wireless) and the router itself will be hooked to your DSL modem. So don’t forget to configure your WLAN devices to connect to the new router, so they won’t log in to the old WLAN. Alternatively you can deactivate your modem’s WLAN completely (only if you don’t need it for unencrypted traffic).
• If you flash your router with an alternative firmware you might lose your device’s guarantee; please consult your dealers’ policies regarding this matter. Furthermore it might happen that the flash process leaves your device unusable, e.g. after a power failure while flashing. CyberGhost is not to be held responsible for any damages, does not acknowledge any liabilities and will not adopt your manufacturer’s warranty.
• Also please note that not all routers with VPN client support will be able to connect to the CyberGhost network or might loose that ability with future firmware updates.

Step 1

Visit your CyberGhost VPN online account.

Click on 'My Devices'  > click 'Other' > choose 'Configure new device'. 

At the new screen, in the 'Server configuration' tab, the desired parameters can be configured. For the purpose of setting OpenVPN for your Router, choose 'OpenVPN' from the Protocol drop down menu. Your desired country and server group, as described below, need to be defined too:

• Protocol: For Tomato USB configurations, please choose OpenVPN
• Country: Since native protocol connections may only be used with exactly one server you now have to choose the country you want to surf from; the server to be used in this country will be chosen by CyberGhost automatically.
• Server group: Choose the server group and the OpenVPN protocol (UDP or TCP) you want to use:
  UDP allows higher speed than the TCP version, but can result in broken downloads in some cases. This is the default setting.
  TCP allows more stable connections than the UDP version, but is a bit slower. Choose this version, if you have recurrent connection issues such as sudden disconnections.

After setting up your preferred settings, save them with 'Save and download configuration'.

To view the OpenVPN credentials that are generated for you on the configuration dashboard, press View Configuration. 

Once the new page is opened, your connection credentials are generated for you but make note of the following information:

• Server group: This is the address of the country (server) you want to be connected with, e.g. '12345-1-ca.cg-dialup.net'. Note: This address changes with every country you have chosen in the step before. The actual single server to be used will be chosen automatically by CyberGhost.
• User name: A solely for this protocol generated user name. This is NOT your regular CyberGhost account user name, it's used only to authenticate with our servers via Manual Configurations.
• Password (you need to check the "Show Password" option in order to see it): A solely for protocol usage generated password. This is NOT your regular CyberGhost account Password, it's used only to authenticate with our servers via Manual Configurations.
• Pre-Shared Key

Please download the configuration file. For that please click on 'Download configuration' and download the config file to your computer (it's recommended that you create a special folder for the config, somewhere accessible like your Desktop and Extract/Copy the contents of the .zip file there). 

Now, the saved config is a ZIP file, which contains the following single files:

• ca.crt: This is the certificate of the certification authority
  
• client.crt: This is the user certification file 
• client.key: This is your private key file
• openvpn.ovpn: This is your OpenVPN configuration file

If you need to change the country you connect to, you must re-configure the location to use in your account management and download the new zipped config file.

Step 2

Open your TomatoUSB router’s configuration page and click on the left side on ‚VPN Tunneling‘ and right after that on ‚OpenVPN Client‘

Basic

Activate the main tab ‚Client 1‘ and the sub tab ‚Basic‘. Check all of the following options and change those which show different:

• Start with WAN: Please deactivate
• Interface Type: TUN
• Protocol: UDP or TCP (depending on what type you decided to use in step 1)
• Server Address/Port: Address: 4-ro.cg-dialup.net / Port: 443. Depending on the country to connect with, the second block of each address will be exchanged, e.g. instead '4-de.cg-dialup.net‘ (for Germany with Standard Server Group) '4-ro.cg-dialup.net‘ (for Romania with Standard Server Group). When configuring location and server group, the complete and proper address will be generated automatically for you. It includes encrypted information about your plan, the country, the server group chosen and the domain name; the protocol to be used will be detected automatically when connecting to CyberGhost.
• Firewall: Automatic
• Authorization Mode: TLS
• Username/Password Authentication: Please activate
• Username: The user name created in step 1. DO NOT user your regular user name!
• Password: The password created in step 1. DO NOT user your regular password!
• Username Authentication only: Please deactivate
• Extra HMAC authorization: Disabled
• Create NAT on tunnel: Please activate

Opening 'Basic > Network' you can also configure the DNS server to be used. If you want to, please exchange the first DNS IP address with a censorship-free CyberGhost name server:

• Primary: 38.132.106.139 (located in USA)
• Secondary: 194.187.251.67 (located in UK)

Also take care of the correct configuration of time zone and server in the tab 'Basic > Time'. 

Advanced

After activating the tab ‚Advanced‘ please check the following options:

• Poll Interval: 0 (deactivated)
• Redirect Internet traffic: Please activate
• Accept DNS configuration: Relaxed
• Encryption cypher: AES-256-CBC
• Compression: Enabled
• TLS Renegotiation Time: -1
• Connection retry: 30
• Verify server certificate: Please deactivate
• Custom Configuration: Here you mark all existing lines, delete them and exchange them with some parts of your downloaded 'openvpn.ovpn' configuration file: For that open the OpenVPN file with a simple text editor, mark the text beginning with 'resolve-retry infinete' and ending with 'comp-lzo' (including both lines), copy the text with 'Control-C' and insert it here with 'Control-V'. It should look like this:

resolv-retry infinite
redirect-gateway def1
persist-key
persist-tun
nobind
cipher AES-256-CBC
auth SHA256
ping 5
ping-exit 60
ping-timer-rem
explicit-exit-notify 2 [Note: Some routers don't understand this command. In cases of doubt or if the configuration doesn't work, please remove this entry.]
script-security 2
remote-cert-tls server
route-delay 5
tun-mtu 1500
fragment 1300
mssfix
verb 4
comp-lzo

Please don’t copy this example for a server configuration might change after publishing this article.

Keys

Now switch to the tab ‚Keys‘. There you find three fields, which have to be filled with the corresponding content of the other three files you downloaded from your CyberGhost account management. For that you also open the respective file with a simple editor and copy the respective text passages:

• Certificate Authority: Copy all text of the file 'ca.crt' in here.
• Client Certificate: Copy all text of the file 'client.crt' in here.
• Client Key: Copy all text of the file 'client.key' in here.

At last click on 'Start now' to initiate the VPN.