In the above case I'm routing the host 192.168.0.x (replace the x with your specific address) via the tun0 device (in this case an OpenVPN connection). In this case we need to add a specific route for the remote IP: sudo route add -host 192.168.0.x -interface tun0 It is possible to get around this in some cases as long as the VPN IP address doesn't conflict directly with a local IP address that you need access to. For example if both the remote and local networks share the 192.168.0.0/24 subnet then our VPN connection ends up being pretty useless as all of the remote addresses will end up being routed to the local network device. Case 2: conflicting subnet between VPN and local network.įairly often a VPN on a private address space subnet can end up conflicting with a local subnet. This won't solve the case of trying to access addresses on the 10.0.y.0/24 subnet though. With this additional route, I can now access all the hosts I need to on the VPN. In the above case the VPN is a PPTP VPN that uses ppp0 as the network interface. Without the later route, I can't access all hosts on the VPN without manually adding the route after connecting to the VPN: sudo route add -net 10 -interface ppp0 In my example the remote subnet is 10.0.x.0/24, my local subnet is 10.0.y.0/24, and the conflicting route is 10.0.0.0/8. In this example the VPN we are connecting to has a subnet that does not conflict with our local IP, but has additional routes that conflict in some way with our local network's routing. Specific cases Case 1: conflicting additional routes. Here are a couple of cases and how I've been able to get around them. I've had situations where I can connect to a VPN from my Mac, but various networking situations cause routing conflicts. When they don't work it can be an experience in frustration. When VPNs Just Work™, they're a fantastic way of allowing access to a private network from remote locations.

Vpn for mac osx