OpenVPN is a popular and secure VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology that can be used to securely connect different networks together. In this article, we will show you how to install and configure OpenVPN on your Linux system.

To start, you will need to install the OpenVPN software on your Ubuntu system. This can be done with the following command:

sudo apt-get install openvpn

This will install the OpenVPN software and all the necessary dependencies on your system.

Once the OpenVPN software is installed, you will need to create a configuration file for the VPN connection. This file specifies the details of the remote network, including the IP address, the encryption settings, and the authentication credentials. To create a new configuration file, you can use a text editor to create a file with the .ovpn extension. For example:

nano myvpn.ovpn

This will open a new text editor window where you can enter the configuration settings for the VPN connection.

The basic configuration for an OpenVPN connection includes the following settings:

• remote: This specifies the IP address or hostname of the remote VPN server.
• proto: This specifies the protocol to use for the VPN connection (usually tcp or udp).
• port: This specifies the port number to use for the VPN connection (usually 1194 or 443).
• dev: This specifies the name of the VPN interface (usually tun or tap).
• ca, cert, and key: These specify the location of the certificate and key files that will be used to authenticate the VPN connection.
• dh: This specifies the location of the Diffie-Hellman key file that will be used to establish the VPN connection.

Once you have entered these settings, you can save the configuration file and exit the text editor.

Next, you can use the openvpn command to start the VPN connection. This is done by specifying the configuration file that you created earlier. For example:

sudo openvpn --config myvpn.ovpn

This will start the OpenVPN software and establish a connection to the remote VPN server. You can verify that the connection has been established by checking the network interfaces on your Linux system. For example:

ip a

This will display a list of the network interfaces on your system, including the VPN interface that was created by OpenVPN.

In summary, installing and configuring OpenVPN on your Linux system is a simple and effective way to securely connect to a remote network. By using the openvpn command and a configuration file, you can easily establish a VPN connection and access the resources on the remote network.

Christian Wells