OpenVPN


Table of Contents
1. Virtual Private Network (OpenVPN)
1.1. What is OpenVPN?
1.2. Setting up
1.3. Usage
1.3.1. On Debian
1.4. Checking if you are connected
1.4.1. On Debian
1.5. External Links

1. Virtual Private Network (OpenVPN)

1.1. What is OpenVPN?

OpenVPN provides to your FreedomBox a virtual private network service. You can use this software for remote access, site-to-site VPNs and Wi-Fi security. OpenVPN includes support for dynamic IP addresses and NAT.


1.2. Setting up

  1. In Plinth apps menu, select Virtual Private Network (OpenVPN) and click Install.

  2. After the module is installed, there is an additional setup step that may take a long time to complete. Click "Start setup" to begin.

  3. Wait for the setup to finish. This could take a while.

  4. Once the setup of the OpenVPN server is complete, you can download your profile. This will download a file called <USER>.ovpn, where <USER> is the name of a FreedomBox user. Each FreedomBox user will be able to download a different profile.

  5. The ovpn file contains all the information a vpn client needs to connect to the server.

  6. If you are behind a modem, you may have to change the ip address (if not, you can skip this step). Open the ovpn file in any text editor. The second line shows the IP address or hostname the client will try to connect to. This should be your WAN IP address or your hostname. This line also contains the port number, 1194 being the default. You may have to open this port on your modem and enable port forwarding.

client
remote mybox.sds-ip.de 1194
proto udp

1.3. Usage

1.3.1. On Debian

Install an OpenVPN client for your system

$ sudo apt install openvpn

Open the ovpn file with the OpenVPN client.

$ sudo openvpn --config /path/to/<USER>.ovpn

1.4. Checking if you are connected

1.4.1. On Debian

  1. Try to ping the FreedomBox or other devices on the local network.

  2. Running the command ip addr should show a tun0 connection.

  3. The command traceroute freedombox.org should show you the ip address of the VPN server as the first hop.