NordVPN is one of the leading VPN services for browsing the Internet securely and privately. The main characteristics of this service is that it has hundreds of servers spread all over the world, we have support for the popular WireGuard VPN protocol, which will provide us with the best performance in terms of downloading, uploading and latency, and in addition, we have a multitude of configuration options through its applications for smartphones and also for computers. Now the company has announced a really interesting feature: the ability to create your own VPN server and even communicate with each other all your devices easily and quickly. Next, we are going to explain what this new function consists of.
What is the Meshnet network and what is it for?
The NordVPN company has launched a new functionality to its service called meshnet. Thanks to this Mesh network, it will allow users who have their applications installed on mobile phones and also programs on computers, to connect directly with each other instead of routing traffic through the company’s VPN server. A traditional NordVPN connection allows us to route all internet traffic through their servers, in the case of the Meshnet network, we can now create our own VPN “server” made up of just our devices, for the purpose of exchanging files and folders easily, quickly and above all, safely, since all traffic will be encrypted and authenticated as if it were a VPN connection.
The main uses that we can give to a Meshnet network in a domestic environment are the following:
- Share files between teams. If all the devices are connected to the Meshnet network with the credentials of our NordVPN account, they will be able to communicate with each other without any problem, to share files and folders easily and quickly. Now it is no longer necessary to continuously use cloud storage services or NAS servers in our home, with this solution we can access the devices remotely, logically they must be turned on and connected to the Meshnet network.
- Gaming: now we can create a “local” network even if we are very far from our house, with the aim of playing online with the different members of our household, and even friends who also use this service.
- Internet traffic routing. If we have the Meshnet network activated on a laptop or desktop computer at home, if we go on a trip with another device, we will be able to route all the network traffic through this computer or laptop that we have left, going out to the Internet with the public IP address of our Internet connection.
In order to use this very interesting service, users must have the latest version of the NordVPN program and mobile app, and make sure that we are connected through the NordLynx protocol, otherwise, we will not be able to have all the advantages that we offer. we have explained above. Once we meet these requirements, we will need to activate the functionality in the NordVPN app.
A very important aspect is that we have the possibility of linking up to 10 personal devices, the linking is done completely automatically since they are our devices that use the same NordVPN account. In the case of wanting to add external devices to the Meshnet network, it allows us to register up to 50, in this case it is mandatory to send an invitation to the owners so that they accept us. Each connection to an external device is isolated, so you can form P2P networks with up to 50 people.
This technology is similar to ZeroTier, an SDN service that allows us to interconnect our devices easily and quickly through a VPN. This also allows us to share files between computers, play on a local network even if we are hundreds of kilometers apart, and make any routing policy, since it has very advanced configuration options.
