How to Install and Configure OpenVPN Server on Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04

VPN or Virtual Private Network is a group of computers connected to the private network over the public network (Internet). These days security is the primary concern for everyone and it’s more required while working over the public network.

Like you have a group of computers in a remote location. Now you need to access those computers as a LAN network in your system. Also, you need all data should be encrypted during transfer between computers. The solution is a VPN. You can use a VPN network to connect two remote location systems with each other as they are on the same LAN. This tutorial will help you to install and configure the OpenVPN server on Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint systems.

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Step 1 – Prerequisites

Login to your Ubuntu system using SSH. Now update system’s apt cache and update your system packages to latest versions.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Step 2 – Install OpenVPN Server

Now, Install the OpenVPN package by typing below command. Also, install easy-rsa packages for managing SSL certificates required for data encryption between server and client.

sudo apt-get install openvpn easy-rsa

Copy the sample configuration file for OpenVPN to /etc/openvpn/server.conf file. This will be used as an OpenVPN server configuration file.

gunzip -c /usr/share/doc/openvpn/examples/sample-config-files/server.conf.gz > /etc/openvpn/server.conf

Step 3 – Configure OpenVPN Server

Edit the OpenVPN server configuration file in your favorite text editor.

vim /etc/openvpn/server.conf

Remove the “;” to uncomment lines or add new lines for the following entries in the configuration file.

 tls-auth ta.key 0
 key-direction 0
 cipher AES-256-CBC
 auth SHA256
 comp-lzo
 user nobody
 group nogroup
 cert server.crt
 key server.key

The above settings will allow VPN connection between systems. But they will not direct the client’s internet traffic through VPN. Also, uncomment the dhcp-option values.

 push "redirect-gateway def1 bypass-dhcp"
 push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.222.222"
 push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.220.220"

Step 4 – Update Network Configuration

Do some network settings to allow users to access the server on the same network of OpenVPN servers. First, Allow IP forwarding on the server by executing the below commands to set net.ipv4.ip_forward value to 1 in /etc/sysctl.conf file.

echo "net.ipv4.ip_forward=1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

Masquerade the internet traffic coming from the VPN network (10.8.0.0/24) to systems local network interface (eth0). Where 10.8.0.0 is my VPN network and eth0 is the network interface of my system.

sudo modprobe iptable_nat
sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.8.0.0/24 -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Step 5 – Setup Certificate Authority

OpenVPN provides secure VPN service using TLS/SSL encryption of traffic between server and client. For this, you need to issue trusted certificates for servers and clients to work. To issue certificates you need to configure Certificate Authority on your system.

Let’s create a directory for certificate authority using make-cadir command. This command also initializes the directory with the required files.

make-cadir /etc/openvpn/openvpn-ca/
cd /etc/openvpn/openvpn-ca/

Edit vars file in your favorite text editor.

vim vars

and update the below values as required. These values will be used as default values to issues the certificates for servers and clients. You can also overwrite these values during certificate creation.

export KEY_COUNTRY="US"
export KEY_PROVINCE="CA"
export KEY_CITY="SanFrancisco"
export KEY_ORG="TecAdmin"
export KEY_EMAIL="[email protected]"
export KEY_OU="Security"

Load the values in system environment.

source vars

Now use ./clean-all to remove exiting keys and then run ./build-ca to build CA certificates under /etc/openvpn/openvpn-ca/ directory.

./clean-all
./build-ca

Sample output of above command:

Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
...+++
..........................................+++
writing new private key to 'ca.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [US]:
State or Province Name (full name) [CA]:
Locality Name (eg, city) [SanFrancisco]:
Organization Name (eg, company) [TecAdmin]:
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) [Security]:
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) [TecAdmin CA]:
Name [EasyRSA]:
Email Address [[email protected]]:

Now your system is ready as Certificate Authority to issue the certificates.

Step 6 – Generate Server Certificate Files

Firstly create the certificates for the OpenVPN server using the ./build-key-server command followed by keyword server to generate certificates for the server. This will create required certificates, key file under keys directory.

cd /etc/openvpn/openvpn-ca/
./build-key-server server

Sample output of above command:

...
...
Signature ok
The Subject's Distinguished Name is as follows
countryName           :PRINTABLE:'US'
stateOrProvinceName   :PRINTABLE:'CA'
localityName          :PRINTABLE:'SanFrancisco'
organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'TecAdmin'
organizationalUnitName:PRINTABLE:'Security'
commonName            :PRINTABLE:'server'
name                  :PRINTABLE:'EasyRSA'
emailAddress          :IA5STRING:'[email protected]'
Certificate is to be certified until Jan  2 05:33:24 2028 GMT (3650 days)
Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y


1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
Write out database with 1 new entries
Data Base Updated

Now generate a strong Diffie-Hellman key to use for the key exchange using the command. This command may take some time to complete.

openssl dhparam -out /etc/openvpn/dh2048.pem 2048

After that generate an HMAC signature to make more secure TLS integrity verification capabilities of the server.

openvpn --genkey --secret /etc/openvpn/openvpn-ca/keys/ta.key

After creating all files, copy them to /etc/openvpn directory.

cd /etc/openvpn/openvpn-ca/keys
sudo cp ca.crt ta.key server.crt server.key /etc/openvpn

Step 7 – Start OpenVPN Service

OpenVPN server is ready now. Let’s start the service using the systemctl command. Also, Check the status of service.

sudo systemctl start openvpn@server
sudo systemctl status openvpn@server

On the successful start of service, you will see results like below.

● [email protected] - OpenVPN connection to server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2018-01-04 11:09:51 IST; 6s ago
     Docs: man:openvpn(8)
           https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/Openvpn23ManPage
           https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/HOWTO
  Process: 4403 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon ovpn-%i --status /run/openvpn/%i.status 10 --cd /etc/openvpn --
 Main PID: 4404 (openvpn)
   CGroup: /system.slice/system-openvpn.slice/[email protected]
           └─4404 /usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon ovpn-server --status /run/openvpn/server.status 10 --cd /etc/openvpn --

Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: /sbin/ip addr add dev tun0 local 10.8.0.1 peer 10.8.0.2
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: /sbin/ip route add 10.8.0.0/24 via 10.8.0.2
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: GID set to nogroup
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: UID set to nobody
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: UDPv4 link local (bound): [undef]
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: UDPv4 link remote: [undef]
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: MULTI: multi_init called, r=256 v=256
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: IFCONFIG POOL: base=10.8.0.4 size=62, ipv6=0
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: IFCONFIG POOL LIST
Jan 04 11:09:51 laitkor237 ovpn-server[4404]: Initialization Sequence Completed

OpenVPN will create a network interface name tun0. Execute the below command to view the IP assigned to the interface. Mostly it assigns the first IP of the network defined in server.conf file.

ifconfig tun0

Step 8 – Generate Client Configuration

You OpenVPN server is ready to use. Now generate the client configuration files including the private key, certificates. I have made this process easier for you to generate any number of configurations files using a simple script. Follow the below steps to generate configuration files. Make sure to use correct directory structure.

mkdir /etc/openvpn/clients
cd /etc/openvpn/clients

Create a shell script file as below.

vim make-vpn-client.sh

copy the below content. Update the OPENVPN_SERVER variable with the correct OpenVPN server ip address and save it.

Set the execute permission on the newly created script.

chmod +x ./make-vpn-client.sh

Now use this script to generate configuration file for the VPN clients including certificates and keys. You need to pass client name as command line parameter.

./make-vpn-client.sh vpnclient1

Press enter for the default values of the certificate. At the end, it will prompt for the sign the certificate and commit. Press y for both inputs.

Certificate is to be certified until Jan  2 07:18:10 2028 GMT (3650 days)
Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y


1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
Write out database with 1 new entries
Data Base Updated
Client File Created - /etc/openvpn/clients/vpnclient1.ovpn

The above script will create client configuration file under /etc/openvpn/clients/ directory with client name with .ovpn extension as shows in last line of output. Use this file to connect from remote systems.

Step 9 – Connect VPN from Clients

You need the configuration file generated from above

Windows Clients

Download OpenVPN GUI client software from its official download page and install on your system. Now copy the given .ovpn file under c:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config file\ directory. Now launch Openvpn GUI client and connect. On successful connection you will a green icon in right-bottom notifications. You can view status by rigth click on icon.

Linux Clients

On Linux clients, First, you need to install OpenVPN packages. After that use the following command to connect to the OpenVPN server using the given client configuration file.

openvpn --config client1.ovpn

After successfull connection OpenVPN will assign an IP address to your system. Use following command to check assigned IP address.

ifconfig tun0

[output]

tun0      Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          inet addr:10.8.0.18  P-t-P:10.8.0.17  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)