Pritunl is an open-source VPN server that allows you to securely connect to your private network from remote locations. In this tutorial, we will show you how to set up Pritunl on Rocky Linux 8.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, make sure you have a clean installation of Rocky Linux 8 and that you are logged in as a user with sudo privileges. You will also need to have the apt package manager installed on your system.

To check if apt is installed, you can use the following command:

apt --version

If apt is not installed, you can install it by running the following command:

sudo apt install apt

Once apt is installed, you are ready to proceed with setting up Pritunl.

Step 1: Add the Pritunl package repository

To install Pritunl on Rocky Linux 8, we will add the Pritunl package repository to our system and install the Pritunl package from the repository.

To add the Pritunl package repository, open a terminal and run the following command:

echo "deb <https://repo.pritunl.com/stable/apt> rocky main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pritunl.list

This will add the Pritunl package repository to your system.

Next, we will add the Pritunl GPG key to our system, so that we can verify the authenticity of the Pritunl packages. To add the GPG key, run the following command:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv E162F504A20CDF15827F718D4B7C549A058F8B6B

Step 2: Install Pritunl

Now that the Pritunl package repository is added to our system, we can install the Pritunl package.

To install Pritunl, run the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install pritunl

This will install the Pritunl package and all of its dependencies on your system.

Step 3: Configure Pritunl

Once Pritunl is installed, we need to configure it to work with our network.

To configure Pritunl, we will need to generate a new MongoDB database and add the database credentials to the Pritunl configuration file.

To generate a new MongoDB database, run the following command:

pritunl setup-mongodb

This will generate a new MongoDB database and add the database credentials to the Pritunl configuration file.

Next, we need to start the Pritunl service and enable it to start automatically on system boot. To start the Pritunl service, run the following command:

sudo systemctl start pritunl

To enable the Pritunl service to start automatically on system boot, run the following command:

sudo systemctl enable pritunl

Step 4: Access the Pritunl Web Interface

Now that Pritunl is installed and configured, we can access the Pritunl web interface to manage our VPN server.

To access the Pritunl web interface, open a web browser and navigate to the following URL:

https://YOUR_SERVER_IP

Replace YOUR_SERVER_IP with the IP address of your server.

You will be prompted to log in to the Pritunl web interface. The default username is admin and the default password is pritunl.

Once you are logged in, you can use the Pritunl web interface to manage your VPN server. You can create new VPN users, configure VPN settings, and monitor VPN connections.

Here are a few examples of using Pritunl:

• Creating new VPN users: You can use the Pritunl web interface to create new VPN users, assign them to VPN organizations, and set their access permissions.
• Configuring VPN settings: You can use the Pritunl web interface to configure VPN settings, such as the VPN protocol, encryption, and authentication methods.
• Monitoring VPN connections: You can use the Pritunl web interface to monitor VPN connections in real-time, view the status of VPN users and organizations, and see statistics on VPN usage.
• Connecting to the VPN: Once Pritunl is set up and configured, you can connect to the VPN from remote locations using a VPN client, such as the Pritunl client for Windows, macOS, or Linux.
• Sharing files securely: You can use Pritunl to share files securely over the VPN. This allows you to transfer files between VPN clients and the VPN server, without exposing the files to the public internet.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to set up Pritunl on Rocky Linux 8. You learned how to add the Pritunl package repository, install the Pritunl package, configure Pritunl, and access the Pritunl web interface. With Pritunl set up and configured, you can use it to securely connect to your private network from remote locations.