Book Image

Mastering OpenVPN

By : Eric F Crist
Book Image

Mastering OpenVPN

By: Eric F Crist

Overview of this book

Security on the internet is increasingly vital to both businesses and individuals. Encrypting network traffic using Virtual Private Networks is one method to enhance security. The internet, corporate, and “free internet” networks grow more hostile every day. OpenVPN, the most widely used open source VPN package, allows you to create a secure network across these systems, keeping your private data secure. The main advantage of using OpenVPN is its portability, which allows it to be embedded into several systems. This book is an advanced guide that will help you build secure Virtual Private Networks using OpenVPN. You will begin your journey with an exploration of OpenVPN, while discussing its modes of operation, its clients, its secret keys, and their format types. You will explore PKI: its setting up and working, PAM authentication, and MTU troubleshooting. Next, client-server mode is discussed, the most commonly used deployment model, and you will learn about the two modes of operation using "tun" and "tap" devices. The book then progresses to more advanced concepts, such as deployment scenarios in tun devices which will include integration with back-end authentication, and securing your OpenVPN server using iptables, scripting, plugins, and using OpenVPN on mobile devices and networks. Finally, you will discover the strengths and weaknesses of the current OpenVPN implementation, understand the future directions of OpenVPN, and delve into the troubleshooting techniques for OpenVPN. By the end of the book, you will be able to build secure private networks across the internet and hostile networks with confidence.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Mastering OpenVPN
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

About the Reviewers

Stefan Agner completed his bachelor's degree in information technology from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2009 and has worked in the field of embedded systems as a software engineer since then. He focuses on driver development and system programming and prefers to work with the open source software stack. Currently, he is working to upstream Linux support for the ARM-based Freescale Vybrid SoC for his employer, Toradex AG.

He describes himself as an open source enthusiast who works with Linux and other free software not only in his professional life as a software engineer, but also in his spare time. At several smaller companies, he successfully deployed and managed OpenVPN as the primary VPN solution. For his private IT infrastructure, he runs OpernWrt-powered routers, which serve as OpenVPN servers. He also likes to blog about technical stuff, such as fascinating projects and interesting problems he comes across.

Emmanuel Bretelle has 10 years of experience in devops, systems, and network administration. He has leveraged OpenVPN, its plugin capabilities, and cross-platform compatibility to help connect employees across the globe to corporate networks.

He has also developed and open sourced two OpenVPN plugins: openvpn-mysql-auth and openvpn-ldap-auth.

When not fiddling around with new technology or automating his way out, he enjoys traveling and chilling out.

Michael A Cossenas is a Linux/network administrator from Athens, Greece.

He has been working as a network security specialist for Digital Sima, a company specializing in LAN/WAN networking. He is now employed as a subcontractor for IBM Greece and manages 50 plus SUSE-based Linux servers as one of their customers.

His first experience with Linux was way back in 1998, using RedHat 5.2. Since then, he has worked on various open source projects, including Zimbra, DRBD, KVM, and Postfix.

He is also an OpenVPN forum moderator.

He works as a subcontractor for IBM Greece in the SO (Strategic Outsourcing) department.