install openvpn

Installing OpenVPN on Ubuntu Bionic Beaver

Reviewed on 19 January 2022 • Published on 16 January 2019

compute
mediaserver
vpn
OpenVPN
Ubuntu-Bionic-Beaver

OpenVPN is an open-source software to run a virtual Private Network (VPN) to create secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations. The software uses a proprietary security protocol that uses SSL/TLS for key exchange.

Requirements:

You have an account and are logged into the Scaleway console
You have configured your SSH Key
You have created an Instance that runs Ubuntu Bionic Beaver

Installing Easy-RSA

The first step in building an OpenVPN configuration is to establish a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). It is composed of the following elements:

a public and private key for the server and each client
the certification authority (CA) and the key used to identify servers as well as client certificate

Important:

For security reasons, it is recommended to run the CA on a different computer from the OpenVPN server.

OpenVPN supports two-way certificate-based authentication, this means that the client must authenticate the server certificate and the server must authenticate the client certificate before mutual trust is established.

Both the server and the client will authenticate each other. First, the certificate needs to be signed by the certification authority (CA) then, the information in the header (common name of the certificate or the certificate type) of the authenticated certificate can be tested.

Connect to your Instance via SSH.
Update the APT package cache and the software already installed.
```
apt update && apt upgrade -y
```
Install easy-RSA.
```
apt install easy-rsa -y
```

Copy the easy-RSA directory into /etc/openvpn.

mkdir -p /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/
cp -r /usr/share/easy-rsa/* /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/

Modify /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/vars by adjusting the following values so they match your configuration.

# These are the default values for fields
# which will be placed in the certificate.
# Don't leave any of these fields blank.
export KEY_COUNTRY="US"
export KEY_PROVINCE="CA"
export KEY_CITY="SanFrancisco"
export KEY_ORG="Fort-Funston"
export KEY_EMAIL="me@myhost.mydomain"
export KEY_OU="MyOrganizationalUnit"

Run the following commands to generate the Certificate Authority and a key:

cd /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/
cp openssl-1.0.0.cnf openssl.cnf
source vars
./clean-all
./build-ca

Generate a certificate and a private key for the server:
```
./build-key-server openvpn-server
```
Such as in the previous step, most of the default settings can be kept. Two requests require positive answers: Sign the certificate? [y/n] and 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n].
Generate a Diffie Hellman key for the OpenVPN server.
```
./build-dh
```
All certificates and keys have been generated in the keys/ subdirectory. It is recommended to copy them into the directory /etc/openvpn/.
```
cd keys/
cp ca.crt  dh2048.pem  openvpn-server.crt  openvpn-server.key /etc/openvpn/
```
The VPN client also needs a certificate to authenticate against the server. It is recommended to create a certificate for each client by running the following commands:
```
cd /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/
source vars
./build-key openvpn-client01
```

When prompted, confirm the following questions: Sign the certificate? [y/n] and 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n].

Copy the following files to the client:

/etc/openvpn/ca.crt
/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/openvpn-client01.crt
/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/openvpn-client01.key

Important:

Since client certificates and keys are only required on the client machine, it is recommended to delete them from the server for security reasons.

Installing and configuring OpenVPN

As you have generated both the servers and the client certificate, you can now configure the OpenVPN server.

Start by installing the OpenVPN server:
```
apt install openvpn -y
```

Create a configuration file /etc/openvpn/openvpn-server.conf for the server:

#################################################
# Sample OpenVPN 2.0 config file for            #
# multi-client server.                          #
#                                               #
# This file is for the server side              #
# of a many-clients <-> one-server              #
# OpenVPN configuration.                        #
#                                               #
# OpenVPN also supports                         #
# single-machine <-> single-machine             #
# configurations (See the Examples page         #
# on the web site for more info).               #
#                                               #
# This config should work on Windows            #
# or Linux/BSD systems.  Remember on            #
# Windows to quote pathnames and use            #
# double backslashes, e.g.:                     #
# "C:\\Program Files\\OpenVPN\\config\\foo.key" #
#                                               #
# Comments are preceded with '#' or ';'         #
#################################################

# Which local IP address should OpenVPN
# listen on? (optional)
;local a.b.c.d

# Which TCP/UDP port should OpenVPN listen on?
# If you want to run multiple OpenVPN Instances
# on the same machine, use a different port
# number for each one.  You will need to
# open up this port on your firewall.
port 1194

# TCP or UDP server?
;proto tcp
proto udp

# "dev tun" will create a routed IP tunnel,
# "dev tap" will create an ethernet tunnel.
# Use "dev tap0" if you are ethernet bridging
# and have precreated a tap0 virtual interface
# and bridged it with your ethernet interface.
# If you want to control access policies
# over the VPN, you must create firewall
# rules for the TUN/TAP interface.
# On non-Windows systems, you can give
# an explicit unit number, such as tun0.
# On Windows, use "dev-node" for this.
# On most systems, the VPN will not function
# unless you partially or fully disable
# the firewall for the TUN/TAP interface.
;dev tap
dev tun

# Windows needs the TAP-Win32 adapter name
# from the Network Connections panel if you
# have more than one.  On XP SP2 or higher,
# you may need to selectively disable the
# Windows firewall for the TAP adapter.
# Non-Windows systems usually don't need this.
;dev-node MyTap

# SSL/TLS root certificate (ca), certificate
# (cert), and private key (key).  Each client
# and the server must have their own cert and
# key file.  The server and all clients will
# use the same ca file.
#
# See the "easy-rsa" directory for a series
# of scripts for generating RSA certificates
# and private keys.  Remember to use
# a unique Common Name for the server
# and each of the client certificates.
#
# Any X509 key management system can be used.
# OpenVPN can also use a PKCS #12 formatted key file
# (see "pkcs12" directive in man page).
ca ca.crt
cert openvpn-server.crt
key openvpn-server.key  # This file should be kept secret

# Diffie hellman parameters.
# Generate your own with:
#   openssl dhparam -out dh2048.pem 2048
dh dh2048.pem

# Network topology
# Should be subnet (addressing via IP)
# unless Windows clients v2.0.9 and lower have to
# be supported (then net30, i.e. a /30 per client)
# Defaults to net30 (not recommended)
;topology subnet

# Configure server mode and supply a VPN subnet
# for OpenVPN to draw client addresses from.
# The server will take 10.8.0.1 for itself,
# the rest will be made available to clients.
# Each client will be able to reach the server
# on 10.8.0.1. Comment this line out if you are
# ethernet bridging. See the man page for more info.
server 10.8.0.0 255.255.255.0

# Maintain a record of client <-> virtual IP address
# associations in this file.  If OpenVPN goes down or
# is restarted, reconnecting clients can be assigned
# the same virtual IP address from the pool that was
# previously assigned.
ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt

# Configure server mode for ethernet bridging.
# You must first use your OS's bridging capability
# to bridge the TAP interface with the ethernet
# NIC interface.  Then you must manually set the
# IP/netmask on the bridge interface, here we
# assume 10.8.0.4/255.255.255.0.  Finally we
# must set aside an IP range in this subnet
# (start=10.8.0.50 end=10.8.0.100) to allocate
# to connecting clients.  Leave this line commented
# out unless you are ethernet bridging.
;server-bridge 10.8.0.4 255.255.255.0 10.8.0.50 10.8.0.100

# Configure server mode for ethernet bridging
# using a DHCP-proxy, where clients talk
# to the OpenVPN server-side DHCP server
# to receive their IP address allocation
# and DNS server addresses.  You must first use
# your OS's bridging capability to bridge the TAP
# interface with the ethernet NIC interface.
# Note: this mode only works on clients (such as
# Windows), where the client-side TAP adapter is
# bound to a DHCP client.
;server-bridge

# Push routes to the client to allow it
# to reach other private subnets behind
# the server.  Remember that these
# private subnets will also need
# to know to route the OpenVPN client
# address pool (10.8.0.0/255.255.255.0)
# back to the OpenVPN server.
;push "route 192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0"
;push "route 192.168.20.0 255.255.255.0"

# To assign specific IP addresses to specific
# clients or if a connecting client has a private
# subnet behind it that should also have VPN access,
# use the subdirectory "ccd" for client-specific
# configuration files (see man page for more info).

# EXAMPLE: Suppose the client
# having the certificate common name "Thelonious"
# also has a small subnet behind his connecting
# machine, such as 192.168.40.128/255.255.255.248.
# First, uncomment out these lines:
;client-config-dir ccd
;route 192.168.40.128 255.255.255.248
# Then create a file ccd/Thelonious with this line:
#   iroute 192.168.40.128 255.255.255.248
# This will allow Thelonious' private subnet to
# access the VPN.  This example will only work
# if you are routing, not bridging, i.e. you are
# using "dev tun" and "server" directives.

# EXAMPLE: Suppose you want to give
# Thelonious a fixed VPN IP address of 10.9.0.1.
# First uncomment out these lines:
;client-config-dir ccd
;route 10.9.0.0 255.255.255.252
# Then add this line to ccd/Thelonious:
#   ifconfig-push 10.9.0.1 10.9.0.2

# Suppose that you want to enable different
# firewall access policies for different groups
# of clients.  There are two methods:
# (1) Run multiple OpenVPN daemons, one for each
#     group, and firewall the TUN/TAP interface
#     for each group/daemon appropriately.
# (2) (Advanced) Create a script to dynamically
#     modify the firewall in response to access
#     from different clients.  See man
#     page for more info on learn-address script.
;learn-address ./script

# If enabled, this directive will configure
# all clients to redirect their default
# network gateway through the VPN, causing
# all IP traffic such as web browsing and
# and DNS lookups to go through the VPN
# (The OpenVPN server machine may need to NAT
# or bridge the TUN/TAP interface to the internet
# in order for this to work properly).
;push "redirect-gateway def1 bypass-dhcp"

# Certain Windows-specific network settings
# can be pushed to clients, such as DNS
# or WINS server addresses.  CAVEAT:
# http://openvpn.net/faq.html#dhcpcaveats
# The addresses below refer to the public
# DNS servers provided by opendns.com.
;push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.222.222"
;push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.220.220"

# Uncomment this directive to allow different
# clients to be able to "see" each other.
# By default, clients will only see the server.
# To force clients to only see the server, you
# will also need to appropriately firewall the
# server's TUN/TAP interface.
;client-to-client

# Uncomment this directive if multiple clients
# might connect with the same certificate/key
# files or common names.  This is recommended
# only for testing purposes.  For production use,
# each client should have its own certificate/key
# pair.
#
# IF YOU HAVE NOT GENERATED INDIVIDUAL
# CERTIFICATE/KEY PAIRS FOR EACH CLIENT,
# EACH HAVING ITS OWN UNIQUE "COMMON NAME",
# UNCOMMENT THIS LINE OUT.
;duplicate-cn

# The keepalive directive causes ping-like
# messages to be sent back and forth over
# the link so that each side knows when
# the other side has gone down.
# Ping every 10 seconds, assume that remote
# peer is down if no ping received during
# a 120 second time period.
keepalive 10 120

# For extra security beyond that provided
# by SSL/TLS, create an "HMAC firewall"
# to help block DoS attacks and UDP port flooding.
#
# Generate with:
#   openvpn --genkey --secret ta.key
#
# The server and each client must have
# a copy of this key.
# The second parameter should be '0'
# on the server and '1' on the clients.
tls-auth ta.key 0 # This file is secret

# Select a cryptographic cipher.
# This config item must be copied to
# the client config file as well.
# Note that v2.4 client/server will automatically
# negotiate AES-256-GCM in TLS mode.
# See also the ncp-cipher option in the manpage
cipher AES-256-CBC

# Enable compression on the VPN link and push the
# option to the client (v2.4+ only, for earlier
# versions see below)
;compress lz4-v2
;push "compress lz4-v2"

# For compression compatible with older clients use comp-lzo
# If you enable it here, you must also
# enable it in the client config file.
;comp-lzo

# The maximum number of concurrently connected
# clients we want to allow.
;max-clients 100

# It's a good idea to reduce the OpenVPN
# daemon's privileges after initialization.
#
# You can uncomment this out on
# non-Windows systems.
;user nobody
;group nobody

# The persist options will try to avoid
# accessing certain resources on restart
# that may no longer be accessible because
# of the privilege downgrade.
persist-key
persist-tun

# Output a short status file showing
# current connections, truncated
# and rewritten every minute.
status openvpn-status.log

# By default, log messages will go to the syslog (or
# on Windows, if running as-a-Service, they will go to
# the "\Program Files\OpenVPN\log" directory).
# Use log or log-append to override this default.
# "log" will truncate the log file on OpenVPN startup,
# while "log-append" will append to it.  Use one
# or the other (but not both).
;log         openvpn.log
;log-append  openvpn.log

# Set the appropriate level of log
# file verbosity.
#
# 0 is silent, except for fatal errors
# 4 is reasonable for general usage
# 5 and 6 can help to debug connection problems
# 9 is extremely verbose
verb 3

# Silence repeating messages.  At most 20
# sequential messages of the same message
# category will be output to the log.
;mute 20

# Notify the client that when the server restarts so it
# can automatically reconnect.
explicit-exit-notify 1

Important:

Make sure that you mention the files that you have created previously:

ca ca.crt
cert openvpn-server.crt
key openvpn-server.key
dh dh2048.pem

Edit the file /etc/sysctl.conf and uncomment the following line:
```
#net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
```
Reload sysctl.
```
sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf
```
Create a ta.key.
```
openvpn --genkey --secret ta.key
```
Important:
Download a copy of this key also on your client to establish the VPN connection.
Start the OpenVPN service. It is necessary to specify the configuration file as an instance variable. The configuration file you created previously is called /etc/openvpn/openvpn-server.conf. Therefore, you need to add @openvpn-server to the end of your unit when launching it:
```
systemctl start openvpn@openvpn-server
```

Check that the service is running:

systemctl status openvpn@openvpn-server

If everything went well, a message similar to the following appears:

● openvpn@openvpn-server.service - OpenVPN connection to openvpn-server
  Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvpn@.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-01-21 14:43:35 UTC; 9s ago
    Docs: man:openvpn(8)
          https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/Openvpn24ManPage
          https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/HOWTO
Main PID: 30023 (openvpn)
  Status: "Initialization Sequence Completed"
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 2295)
  CGroup: /system.slice/system-openvpn.slice/openvpn@openvpn-server.service
          └─30023 /usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon ovpn-openvpn-server --status /run/openvpn/openvpn-server.status 10 --cd /etc

Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: /sbin/ip addr add dev tun0 local 10.8.0.1 peer 10.8.0.2
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: /sbin/ip route add 10.8.0.0/24 via 10.8.0.2
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: Could not determine IPv4/IPv6 protocol. Using AF_INET
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: Socket Buffers: R=[212992->212992] S=[212992->212992]
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: UDPv4 link local (bound): [AF_INET][undef]:1194
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: UDPv4 link remote: [AF_UNSPEC]
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: MULTI: multi_init called, r=256 v=256
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: IFCONFIG POOL: base=10.8.0.4 size=62, ipv6=0
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: IFCONFIG POOL LIST
Jan 21 14:43:35 openvpn ovpn-openvpn-server[30023]: Initialization Sequence Completed

Enable the service to start it automatically when your Instance boots.
```
systemctl enable openvpn@openvpn-server
```

Your OpenVPN server is now ready to accept connections.

Configuring the client

To connect to your server you have to install the OpenVPN client. On Ubuntu Linux, you can install it easily with apt.
```
apt install openvpn
```
If your computer is running a Windows Operating system, you can download the OpenVPN client for Windows. On MacOS you can use a tool like Tunnelblick to establish the VPN connection.
Make sure that you have copied the following files on your local computer before continuing:
- /etc/openvpn/ca.crt
- /etc/openvpn/ta.key
- /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/openvpn-client01.crt
- /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/openvpn-client01.key
You can download them for example via SFTP with Filezilla.

Create a configuration file openvpn-client01.ovpn for the client and put the following information in it.

##############################################
# Sample client-side OpenVPN 2.0 config file #
# for connecting to multi-client server.     #
#                                            #
# This configuration can be used by multiple #
# clients, however each client should have   #
# its own cert and key files.                #
#                                            #
# On Windows, you might want to rename this  #
# file so it has a .ovpn extension           #
##############################################

# Specify that we are a client and that we
# will be pulling certain config file directives
# from the server.
client

# Use the same setting as you are using on
# the server.
# On most systems, the VPN will not function
# unless you partially or fully disable
# the firewall for the TUN/TAP interface.
;dev tap
dev tun

# Windows needs the TAP-Win32 adapter name
# from the Network Connections panel
# if you have more than one.  On XP SP2,
# you may need to disable the firewall
# for the TAP adapter.
;dev-node MyTap

# Are we connecting to a TCP or
# UDP server?  Use the same setting as
# on the server.
;proto tcp
proto udp

# The hostname/IP and port of the server.
# You can have multiple remote entries
# to load balance between the servers.
remote YOUR_SERVER_IP 1194
;remote my-server-2 1194

# Choose a random host from the remote
# list for load-balancing.  Otherwise
# try hosts in the order specified.
;remote-random

# Keep trying indefinitely to resolve the
# host name of the OpenVPN server.  Very useful
# on machines which are not permanently connected
# to the internet such as laptops.
resolv-retry infinite

# Most clients don't need to bind to
# a specific local port number.
nobind

# Downgrade privileges after initialization (non-Windows only)
;user nobody
;group nobody

# Try to preserve some state across restarts.
persist-key
persist-tun

# If you are connecting through an
# HTTP proxy to reach the actual OpenVPN
# server, put the proxy server/IP and
# port number here.  See the man page
# if your proxy server requires
# authentication.
;http-proxy-retry # retry on connection failures
;http-proxy [proxy server] [proxy port #]

# Wireless networks often produce a lot
# of duplicate packets.  Set this flag
# to silence duplicate packet warnings.
;mute-replay-warnings

# SSL/TLS parms.
# See the server config file for more
# description.  It's best to use
# a separate .crt/.key file pair
# for each client.  A single ca
# file can be used for all clients.
ca ca.crt
cert openvpn-client01.crt
key openvpn-client01.key

# Verify server certificate by checking that the
# certicate has the correct key usage set.
# This is an important precaution to protect against
# a potential attack discussed here:
#  http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm
#
# To use this feature, you will need to generate
# your server certificates with the keyUsage set to
#   digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
# and the extendedKeyUsage to
#   serverAuth
# EasyRSA can do this for you.
remote-cert-tls server

# If a tls-auth key is used on the server
# then every client must also have the key.
tls-auth ta.key 1

# Select a cryptographic cipher.
# If the cipher option is used on the server
# then you must also specify it here.
# Note that v2.4 client/server will automatically
# negotiate AES-256-GCM in TLS mode.
# See also the ncp-cipher option in the manpage
cipher AES-256-CBC

# Enable compression on the VPN link.
# Don't enable this unless it is also
# enabled in the server config file.
#comp-lzo

# Set log file verbosity.
verb 3

# Silence repeating messages
;mute 20

Add your OpenVPN server’s IP at remote YOUR_SERVER_IP 1194 and make sure all file names correspond to your files.

Restart the openvpn client. On Ubuntu:

systemctl restart openvpn@openvpn-client01

On Windows or MacOS, double click the openvpn-client01.ovpn file to import the configuration settings into your client.

You can now connect to the Internet via your VPN.

For more configuration options, refer to the official documentation of OpenVPN.