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NAME

       openvpn examples - Secure IP tunnel daemon

INTRODUCTION

       This  man  page  gives  a  few  simple examples to create OpenVPN setups and configuration
       files.

SMALL OPENVPN SETUP WITH PEER-FINGERPRINT

       This section consists of instructions  how  to  build  a  small  OpenVPN  setup  with  the
       peer-fingerprint  option.  This  has  the  advantage  of being easy to setup and should be
       suitable for most small lab and home setups without the need for a PKI.  For bigger  scale
       setup setting up a PKI (e.g. via easy-rsa) is still recommended.

       Both server and client configuration can be further modified to customise the setup.

   Server setup
       1. Install openvpn

          Compile   from   source-code   (see   INSTALL  file)  or  install  via  a  distribution
          (apt/yum/ports) or via installer (Windows).

       2. Generate a self-signed certificate for the server:

             openssl req -x509 -newkey ec:<(openssl ecparam -name secp384r1) -keyout server.key -out server.crt -nodes -sha256 -days 3650 -subj '/CN=server'

       3. Generate SHA256 fingerprint of the server certificate

          Use the  OpenSSL  command  line  utility  to  view  the  fingerprint  of  just  created
          certificate:

             openssl x509 -fingerprint -sha256 -in server.crt -noout

          This output something similar to:

             SHA256 Fingerprint=00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

       3. Write a server configuration (server.conf):

          # The server certificate we created in step 1
          cert server.crt
          key server.key

          dh none
          dev tun

          # Listen on IPv6+IPv4 simultaneously
          proto udp6

          # The ip address the server will distribute
          server 10.8.0.0 255.255.255.0
          server-ipv6 fd00:6f76:706e::/64

          # A tun-mtu of 1400 avoids problems of too big packets after VPN encapsulation
          tun-mtu 1400

          # The fingerprints of your clients. After adding/removing one here restart the
          # server
          <peer-fingerprint>
          </peer-fingerprint>

          # Notify clients when you restart the server to reconnect quickly
          explicit-exit-notify 1

          # Ping every 60s, restart if no data received for 5 minutes
          keepalive 60 300

       4. Add at least one client as described in the client section.

       5.

          Start the server.

                 • On  systemd based distributions move server.crt, server.key and server.conf to
                   /etc/openvpn/server and start it via systemctl

                       sudo mv server.conf server.key server.crt /etc/openvpn/server

                       sudo systemctl start openvpn-server@server

   Adding a client
       1. Install OpenVPN

       2. Generate a self-signed certificate for the client. In this example the client  name  is
          alice.  Each  client should have a unique name. Replace alice with a different name for
          each client.

             openssl req -x509 -newkey ec:<(openssl ecparam -name secp384r1) -nodes -sha256 -days 3650 -subj '/CN=alice'

          This generate a certificate and a key for the client. The output of  the  command  will
          look something like this:

             -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
             [base64 content]
             -----END PRIVATE KEY-----
             -----
             -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
             [base 64 content]

             -----END CERTIFICATE-----
       3. Create  a  new  client  configuration  file.  In  this  example  we  will name the file
          alice.ovpn:

             # The name of your server to connect to
             remote yourserver.example.net
             client
             # use a random source port instead the fixed 1194
             nobind

             # Uncomment the following line if you want to route
             # all traffic via the VPN
             # redirect-gateway def1 ipv6

             # To set a DNS server
             # dhcp-option DNS 192.168.234.1

             <key>
             -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
             [Insert here the key created in step 2]
             -----END PRIVATE KEY-----
             </key>
             <cert>
             -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
             [Insert here the certificate created in step 2]
             -----END CERTIFICATE-----
             </cert>

             # This is the fingerprint of the server that we trust. We generated this fingerprint
             # in step 2 of the server setup
             peer-fingerprint 00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

             # The tun-mtu of the client should match the server MTU
             tun-mtu 1400
             dev tun

       4. Generate the fingerprint of the client certificate. For that we will let  OpenSSL  read
          the  client  configuration  file  as  the x509 command will ignore anything that is not
          between the begin and end markers of the certificate:

             openssl x509 -fingerprint -sha256 -noout -in alice.ovpn

          This will again output something like

             SHA256 Fingerprint=ff:ee:dd:cc:bb:aa:99:88:77:66:55:44:33:22:11:00:ff:ee:dd:cc:bb:aa:99:88:77:66:55:44:33:22:11:00

       5. Edit the server.conf  configuration  file  and  add  this  new  client  fingerprint  as
          additional line  between <peer-fingerprint> and </peer-fingerprint>

          After adding two clients the part of configuration would look like this:

             <peer-fingerprint>
             ff:ee:dd:cc:bb:aa:99:88:77:66:55:44:33:22:11:00:ff:ee:dd:cc:bb:aa:99:88:77:66:55:44:33:22:11:00
             99:88:77:66:55:44:33:22:11:00:ff:ee:dd:cc:bb:aa:99:88:77:66:55:44:33:22:11:00:88:77:66:55:44:33
             </peer-fingperint>

       6. (optional)  if the client is an older client that does not support the peer-fingerprint
          (e.g. OpenVPN 2.5 and  older,  OpenVPN  Connect  3.3  and  older),  the  client  config
          alice.ovpn can be modified to still work with these clients.

          Remove  the line starting with peer-fingerprint. Then add a new <ca> section at the end
          of the configuration file with the contents of the server.crt created in step 2 of  the
          server setup. The end of alice.ovpn file should like:

             [...]  # Beginning of the file skipped
             </cert>

             # The tun-mtu of the client should match the server MTU
             tun-mtu 1400
             dev tun

             <ca>
             [contents of the server.crt]
             </ca>

          Note  that  we  put  the  <ca> section after the <cert> section to make the fingerprint
          generation from step 4 still work since it will  only  use  the  first  certificate  it
          finds.

       7. Import the file into the OpenVPN client or just use the openvpn alice.ovpn to start the
          VPN.

EXAMPLES

       Prior to running these examples, you should have OpenVPN installed on  two  machines  with
       network  connectivity  between  them.  If  you have not yet installed OpenVPN, consult the
       INSTALL file included in the OpenVPN distribution.

   Firewall Setup:
       If firewalls exist between the two machines, they  should  be  set  to  forward  the  port
       OpenVPN  is  configured  to use, in both directions.  The default for OpenVPN is 1194/udp.
       If you do not have control over the firewalls between the two machines, you may  still  be
       able  to use OpenVPN by adding --ping 15 to each of the openvpn commands used below in the
       examples (this will cause each peer to send out a UDP ping to its remote peer  once  every
       15  seconds which will cause many stateful firewalls to forward packets in both directions
       without an explicit firewall rule).

       Please see your operating system guides for how to configure the firewall on your systems.

   VPN Address Setup:
       For purposes of  our  example,  our  two  machines  will  be  called  bob.example.com  and
       alice.example.com.  If  you  are  constructing  a  VPN  over  the  internet,  then replace
       bob.example.com and alice.example.com with the internet hostname or IP address  that  each
       machine will use to contact the other over the internet.

       Now  we  will  choose the tunnel endpoints. Tunnel endpoints are private IP addresses that
       only have meaning in the context of the VPN. Each machine will use the tunnel endpoint  of
       the  other  machine  to  access  it  over the VPN. In our example, the tunnel endpoint for
       bob.example.com will be 10.4.0.1 and for alice.example.com, 10.4.0.2.

       Once the VPN is established, you have essentially created a secure alternate path  between
       the  two  hosts  which  is  addressed by using the tunnel endpoints. You can control which
       network traffic passes between the hosts (a) over the VPN or (b) independently of the VPN,
       by  choosing  whether  to  use  (a)  the  VPN  endpoint address or (b) the public internet
       address, to access the remote host. For example if you are on bob.example.com and you wish
       to  connect  to  alice.example.com  via  ssh  without using the VPN (since ssh has its own
       built-in security) you would use the command ssh alice.example.com. However  in  the  same
       scenario,  you  could also use the command telnet 10.4.0.2 to create a telnet session with
       alice.example.com over the VPN, that would use the VPN to secure the session  rather  than
       ssh.

       You  can  use  any  address  you wish for the tunnel endpoints but make sure that they are
       private addresses (such as those that begin with 10 or 192.168) and that they are not part
       of any existing subnet on the networks of either peer, unless you are bridging. If you use
       an address that is part of your local subnet for either of the tunnel endpoints, you  will
       get a weird feedback loop.

   Example 1: A simple tunnel without security (not recommended)
       On bob:

          openvpn --remote alice.example.com --dev tun1 \
                   --ifconfig 10.4.0.1 10.4.0.2 --verb 9

       On alice:

          openvpn --remote bob.example.com --dev tun1 \
                   --ifconfig 10.4.0.2 10.4.0.1 --verb 9

       Now verify the tunnel is working by pinging across the tunnel.

       On bob:

          ping 10.4.0.2

       On alice:

          ping 10.4.0.1

       The  --verb  9 option will produce verbose output, similar to the tcpdump(8) program. Omit
       the --verb 9 option to have OpenVPN run quietly.

   Example 2: A tunnel with self-signed certificates and fingerprint
       First build a self-signed certificate on bob and display its fingerprint.

          openssl req -x509 -newkey ec:<(openssl ecparam -name secp384r1) -keyout bob.pem -out bob.pem -nodes -sha256 -days 3650 -subj '/CN=bob'
          openssl x509 -noout -sha256 -fingerprint -in bob.pem

       and the same on alice:

          openssl req -x509 -newkey ec:<(openssl ecparam -name secp384r1) -keyout alice.pem -out alice.pem -nodes -sha256 -days 3650 -subj '/CN=alice'
          openssl x509 -noout -sha256 -fingerprint -in alice.pem

       These commands will build a text file called bob.pem or alice.pem (in ascii  format)  that
       contain both self-signed certificate and key and show the fingerprint of the certificates.
       Transfer the fingerprints  over a secure medium such as by  using  the  scp(1)  or  ssh(1)
       program.

       On bob:

          openvpn --ifconfig 10.4.0.1 10.4.0.2 --tls-server --dev tun --dh none \
                  --cert bob.pem --key bob.pem --cipher AES-256-GCM \
                  --peer-fingerprint "$fingerprint_of_alices_cert"

       On alice:

          openvpn --remote bob.example.com --tls-client --dev tun1   \
                  --ifconfig 10.4.0.2 10.4.0.1 --cipher AES-256-GCM  \
                  --cert alice.pem --key alice.pem
                  --peer-fingerprint "$fingerprint_of_bobs_cert"

       Now verify the tunnel is working by pinging across the tunnel.

       On bob:

          ping 10.4.0.2

       On alice:

          ping 10.4.0.1

       Note: This example use a elliptic curve (secp384), which allows --dh to be set to none.

   Example 3: A tunnel with full PKI and TLS-based security
       For this test, we will designate bob as the TLS client and alice as the TLS server.

       Note:  The  client or server designation only has meaning for the TLS subsystem. It has no
              bearing on OpenVPN's peer-to-peer, UDP-based communication model.*

       First, build a separate certificate/key pair for both  bob  and  alice  (see  above  where
       --cert  is  discussed  for more info). Then construct Diffie Hellman parameters (see above
       where --dh is discussed for  more  info).  You  can  also  use  the  included  test  files
       client.crt,   client.key,   server.crt,   server.key   and  ca.crt.  The  .crt  files  are
       certificates/public-keys, the .key files are private keys, and ca.crt is  a  certification
       authority  who  has  signed both client.crt and server.crt.  For Diffie Hellman parameters
       you can use the included file dh2048.pem.

       WARNING:
              All client, server, and certificate authority certificates and keys included in the
              OpenVPN distribution are totally insecure and should be used for testing only.

       On bob:

          openvpn --remote alice.example.com --dev tun1    \
                  --ifconfig 10.4.0.1 10.4.0.2             \
                  --tls-client --ca ca.crt                 \
                  --cert client.crt --key client.key       \
                  --reneg-sec 60 --verb 5

       On alice:

          openvpn --remote bob.example.com --dev tun1      \
                  --ifconfig 10.4.0.2 10.4.0.1             \
                  --tls-server --dh dh1024.pem --ca ca.crt \
                  --cert server.crt --key server.key       \
                  --reneg-sec 60 --verb 5

       Now verify the tunnel is working by pinging across the tunnel.

       On bob:

          ping 10.4.0.2

       On alice:

          ping 10.4.0.1

       Notice the --reneg-sec 60 option we used above. That tells OpenVPN to renegotiate the data
       channel keys every minute. Since we used --verb 5 above, you will see  status  information
       on each new key negotiation.

       For  production  operations,  a  key  renegotiation interval of 60 seconds is probably too
       frequent. Omit the --reneg-sec 60  option  to  use  OpenVPN's  default  key  renegotiation
       interval of one hour.

   Routing:
       Assuming  you can ping across the tunnel, the next step is to route a real subnet over the
       secure tunnel. Suppose that bob and alice have two network interfaces each, one  connected
       to  the internet, and the other to a private network. Our goal is to securely connect both
       private networks. We will assume that bob's private subnet is 10.0.0.0/24 and  alice's  is
       10.0.1.0/24.

       First, ensure that IP forwarding is enabled on both peers. On Linux, enable routing:

          echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

       This  setting  is  not persistent.  Please see your operating systems documentation how to
       properly configure IP forwarding, which is also persistent through system boots.

       If your system is configured with a firewall.  Please see your operating systems guide  on
       how  to configure the firewall.  You typically want to allow traffic coming from and going
       to the tun/tap adapter OpenVPN is configured to use.

       On bob:

          route add -net 10.0.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 10.4.0.2

       On alice:

          route add -net 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 10.4.0.1

       Now any machine on the 10.0.0.0/24 subnet can access any machine on the 10.0.1.0/24 subnet
       over the secure tunnel (or vice versa).

       In  a  production  environment, you could put the route command(s) in a script and execute
       with the --up option.

                                                5                               OPENVPN(EXAMPLES)