VPN Director
Selective routing in ASUS Merlin, with UI and CLI configuration patterns plus rule debugging steps.
Published October 17, 2024
VPN Director
VPN Director lets you route specific devices through a VPN while leaving the rest of the network on the normal WAN path.
Setup Via Web UI
Open NAT/QoS -> VPN Director, enable the feature, then add policy rules.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Source IP | The device IP to match, for example 192.168.1.51 |
| Policy | Route to WAN / Route to OpenVPN Client 1 / Drop |
Common Scenarios
NAS running Plex (needs full speed):
192.168.1.30 -> WAN
Torrent client (needs privacy):
192.168.1.51 -> OpenVPN Client 1
All other devices:
Default route -> WANCLI Approach
ssh admin@192.168.1.1
# Format: src_ip|protocol|src_port|dst_ip|dst_port|wan|vpn1|vpn2|drop
echo "192.168.1.51|0|0|0|0|0|1|0|0" >> /jffs/config/vpndirector.conf
service restart firewallTroubleshooting Rules
# Verify VPN client is connected
ifconfig | grep tun
# Check rules file
cat /jffs/config/vpndirector.conf
# Force reload
service restart firewall
# Inspect iptables
iptables -L -n | grep -i vpn