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Determining Whether To Use a Routed or Bridged VPN

Refer to this community wiki article for an overview of routing versus bridging: What is the difference between bridging and routing?. You can also refer to Ethernet Bridging for more notes and details on bridging.

Overall, routing is probably a better choice for most people, as it is more efficient and easier to set up (as far as the OpenVPN configuration itself) than bridging. Routing also provides a greater ability to selectively control access rights on a client-specific basis.

We recommend using routing unless you need a specific feature which requires bridging, such as:

  • The VPN needs to be able to handle non-IP protocols such as IPX.

  • You're running applications over the VPN which rely on network broadcasts (such as LAN games).

  • You would like to allow browsing of Windows file shares across the VPN without setting up a Samba or WINS server.