Provided by: openvpn_2.5.11-0ubuntu0.22.04.1_amd64 
NAME
openvpn examples - Secure IP tunnel daemon
INTRODUCTION
This man page gives a few simple examples to create OpenVPN setups and configuration files.
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
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 static-key security (i.e. using a pre-shared secret)
First build a static key on bob.
openvpn --genkey --secret key
This command will build a key file called key (in ascii format). Now copy key to alice.example.com over a
secure medium such as by using the scp(1) program.
On bob:
openvpn --remote alice.example.com --dev tun1 \
--ifconfig 10.4.0.1 10.4.0.2 --verb 5 \
--secret key
On alice:
openvpn --remote bob.example.com --dev tun1 \
--ifconfig 10.4.0.2 10.4.0.1 --verb 5 \
--secret key
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
Example 3: A tunnel with full 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.
OPENVPN EXAMPLES(5)