Hello. There are several different threads on this, but I believe this is the oldest one, so I decided to post my comments here. I have been wanting/waiting to add something for a while, but haven’t really known what to say. I don’t know much at all about networking, but working on accessing Roon remotely over the last couple years has taught me a lot. I’m still having issues, which I mention below; however, this is mostly a summary of what I’ve learned from this and other community forums.
For others, I’ve learned ZeroTier and Tailscale can work great if all the devices on the network (cell phone, device hosting the Roon server, etc.) can have their respective app downloaded, or in some way utilized to connect the devices together. My Roon server is on a QNAP NAS, and, for whatever reason, I cannot for the life of me get ZeroTier or Tailscale to work. QNAP seems to use a type of Linux that no one else uses, or has the rights to use. Those who know how to utilize GitHub and/or Docker, may have more success. I found out after purchasing it that Synology NAS’ seem to work great w/ these VPN services (as well as OpenVPN).
The best I’ve done so far is using the OpenVPN option my Netgear R8000 router came w/, but it was too inconsistent to actually use day to day (once it cuts out, I can no longer use my phone as an audio device remotely). The last thing I want to be doing is fooling w/ my phone to get Roon back online while I’m driving. I know others have had better luck w/ OpenVPN.
Currently I have a Netgate router using PfSense+ and I really love it. I have Wireguard setup and I can access and play audio from Roon remotely, but this only works using my laptop. Like others on this and other threads have noted, my cell phone can access Roon remotely, but I cannot use it as an audio device. No good.
In talking w/ others on different IT threads (Lawrence Systems and the Netgate Community Forums), the issue appears to stem from VPN products like OpenVPN and Wireguard being on different subnets within the network than the Roon server. If Roon uses things like multicast to function properly, that may explain why the cell phone doesn’t work, but why can my laptop play audio remotely? Currently, I’ve been toying w/ the IGMP Proxy options on my PfSense to see if that might help get my cell phone to play music from Roon remotely. If multicast is the issue, IGMP proxy seems to be the way to address that. But no luck yet.
If the aforementioned is part of the reason for this issue, using a bridged or TAP connection might work as well. A TAP connection can be setup using OpenVPN, but Wireguard only works in layer 3 (or TUN?), and from what I’ve read, Android and IOS don’t work using OpenVPN in TAP mode. So I haven’t tried it.
For what it’s worth, I talked w/ an IT person earlier this week, who mentioned, even if Roon finds a way to allow remote access, there may be additional security risks involved that some people may not be ok w/.
So, what is one to do? Is anyone familiar w/ the term, “chasing the dragon?” I’ve tasted success in the past w/ this, there’s got to be a way to do it again and have it work more consistently.