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

Using a home router as a VPN client


You can use the following procedure to configure a DD-WRT router as an OpenVPN client:

  1. In the DD-WRT web interface, click on the Services tab and then click on VPN.

  2. Click on the Enable radio button next to Start OpenVPN Client.

  3. Fill in the connection details and enable Advanced Options, as shown in the following screenshot:

Most settings can be left at their default values, but disable Firewall Protection to ensure that the VPN server can reach the client and vice versa, by using the following steps:

  1. This is a long web form, so scroll down and fill in the security parameters:

    • TLS auth key

    • CA certificate

    • Client public certificate

    • Client private key

  2. The values for these fields are the exact same values as used in the configuration profile for the Android client at the beginning of this chapter:

  3. After filling in all the security parameters, click on Save to save the OpenVPN client configuration. Normally, as soon as a valid profile has been entered, the DD-WRT OpenVPN...