Install OpenVPN on CentOS

[Bharat]

Here i'm using OpenVZ VPS with CentOS 5.5 32bit, and about the memory requirement? Don't worry, OPENVPN doesn't eat your memory too much, i have 50 user running in my 128MB vps and it only eats 25MB memory

First thing you have to do is check whether tun/tap is active or not by typing
#cat /dev/net/tun

cat: /dev/net/tun: File descriptor in bad state

take a look at the status above, "File descriptor in bad state" means tun/tap is active, otherwise please ask your provider to activate it

Install required modules
#yum install gcc make rpm-build autoconf.noarch zlib-devel pam-devel openssl-devel

Download OPENVPN repo
#wget http://openvpn.net/release/lzo-1.08-4.rf.src.rpm

for 32bit
#wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm

for 64bit
#wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm

Build the rpm packages
#rpmbuild --rebuild lzo-1.08-4.rf.src.rpm
#rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/lzo-*.rpm
#rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm

*remember to change i386 to x86_64 if you're using 64bit

Install OPENVPN
#yum install openvpn

Copy OPENVPN easy-rsa folder to /etc/openvpn/
#cp -R /usr/share/doc/openvpn-2.1.4/easy-rsa/ /etc/openvpn/

Now let's create the certificate
#cd /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0
#chmod 755 *
#source ./vars
#./vars
#./clean-all

Build CA
#./build-ca

Country Name: may be filled or press enter
State or Province Name: may be filled or press enter
City: may be filled or press enter
Org Name: may be filled or press enter
Org Unit Name: may be filled or press enter
Common Name: your server hostname
Email Address: may be filled or press enter

Build key server
#./build-key-server server

Almost the same with ./build.ca but check the changes and additional Common Name: server
A challenge password: leave
Optional company name: fill or enter
sign the certificate: y
1 out of 1 certificate requests: y

Build Diffie Hellman (wait a moment until the process finish)
#./build-dh

Now i'm gonna create UDP port 1194 configuration for OPENVPN, use any text editor you like
#nano /etc/openvpn/1194.conf

local 123.123.123.123 #- your_server_ip port 1194 #- port proto udp #- protocol dev tun tun-mtu 1500 tun-mtu-extra 32 mssfix 1450 ca /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/ca.crt cert /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/server.crt key /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/server.key dh /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/dh1024.pem plugin /usr/share/openvpn/plugin/lib/openvpn-auth-pam.so /etc/pam.d/login client-cert-not-required username-as-common-name server 1.2.3.0 255.255.255.0 push "redirect-gateway def1" push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.222.222" push "dhcp-option DNS 4.2.2.1" keepalive 5 30 comp-lzo persist-key persist-tun status 1194.log verb 3

before you save the configuration, make sure that the "plugin /usr/share/.. /pam.d/login" is one line

Start the OPENVPN with 1194.conf
#openvpn /etc/openvpn/1194.conf &

here's the status if OPENVPN successfully started

Mon Sun 31 02:23:20 2011 UDPv4 link remote: [undef] Mon Sun 31 02:23:20 2011 MULTI: multi_init called, r=256 v=256 Mon Sun 31 02:23:20 2011 IFCONFIG POOL: base=1.2.3.4 size=62 Mon Sun 31 02:23:20 2011 Initialization Sequence Completed

Make OPENVPN 1194.conf running in background
#bg

Enable ipv4 forward
#echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

Route iptables
#iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 1.2.3.0/24 -j SNAT --to 123.123.123.123

*1.2.3.0 is allocated ip for OPENVPN client
*123.123.123.123 is your server ip

Now we create username and password for authorization
#useradd username -s /bin/false
#passwd username

Download ca.crt file in /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/ directory, you can use sftp client

Download and install OPENVPN client for windows, download the latest stable release OPENVPN version 2.1.4 from here

After you finished installing OPENVPN, move ca.crt (file that you previously downloaded from /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/) to OPENVPN config folder in your program files (\Program Files\OpenVPN\config\)

Also create client configuration file in OPENVPN config directory, here's the example:

client dev tun proto udp #- protocol remote 123.123.123.123 1194 #- SERVER IP and OPENVPN Port resolv-retry infinite nobind tun-mtu 1500 tun-mtu-extra 32 mssfix 1450 persist-key persist-tun ca ca.crt auth-user-pass comp-lzo verb 3

save with anyname.ovpn or 1194.ovpn

http://i56.tinypic.com/aktvet.jpg

Run OPENVPN Client on your Windows, connect with your username and password.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2vwz9di.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2883y0y.jpg

Check your IP Address in browser and Voila!!! You're IP is now changed to your server IP

note:
- Never fails make OPENVPN on CentOS with this tutorial
- Those configurations above are basic configuration, you can check OPENVPN website for another configuration
- If you're using Win 7, before installing OPENVPN client, right click on the installer, properties, run as administrator and change compatibility to Windows XP SP3
- If you wanna add another port, maybe TCP so you can run OPENVPN over proxy, just create new configuration for server, adjust the following lines:

port: your preferred port protocol: tcp or udp client's ip: 1.2.4.0 or 1.2.5.0 ; 1.2.6.0 ; and so on

also new configuration for client

proto xxxx #- change xxxx to tcp or udp remote 123.123.123.123 yyyy #- change yyyy to OPENVPN port

and then run the command
#iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 1.2.4.0/24 -j SNAT --to 123.123.123.123

Took Me 1hr To Write And Doing Everything , Just Took 1 sec To Add Repu Thanks

Bharat Reviewed by Bharat on 31st Jul 2011. Install OpenVPN on CentOS Here i'm using OpenVZ VPS with CentOS 5.5 32bit, and about the memory requirement? Don't worry, OPENVPN doesn't eat your memory too much, i have 50 user running in my 128MB vps and it only eats 25MB memory http://www.besthostingforums.com/images/cdn/besthostingforums.com/2011/07/biggrin-1.gif First thing you have to do is check whether tun/tap is active or not by typing #cat /dev/net/tun cat: /dev/net/tun: File descriptor in bad statetake a look at the status above, "File descriptor in Rating: 5

[Atlaschild]

Thanks man

[Bharat]

Thanks man

welcome dude

[zeroseven]

thanks for this. will try it.

[Bharat]

thanks for this. will try it.

ur welcome surely will work if any problem occurs i will do it for free

[Bret]

A well written tutorial, no doubt it will help a lot of people since OpenVPN can be quite tricky for some!

[Ruriko]

When I try to connect I get error:
Options error: Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in server.ovpn:4: 172.16.74.24 (2.0.9)
How to fix this?

[CuraHack]

There must be a misconfiguration in your config/ovpn file. If you want you can PM it to me, I'll take a look...

[Bharat]

You can add me at yahoo or msn , i'll take a look at it