Installing personalVPN-SSL on Linux

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Contents

Required Software

Download and install the latest version of OpenVPN for the version of linux you are running. You can find this at http://openvpn.net/download.html

Setting up personalVPN on Linux if you haven't purchased yet

  • At the current time, WiTopia does not provide a Linux installer package. Instead purchase the version (either Mac or Windows) of personalVPN-SSL you will be able to install on a local computer. Follow the respective installation instructions provided within the email receipt for installation. Then follow the below for Moving to Linux from Windows or Mac OS
  • If you don't have access to a Mac or Windows computer, you can ACTIVATE (but don't install) the service you purchased, then follow Q1 in our personalVPN-SSL FAQ to create a new set of security credentials which are available via download for any operating system.

Moving to Linux from Windows or Mac OS

  1. To switch to running personalVPN on Linux (from either Windows or Mac OS), you will need to copy over the security credentials and at least one of the configuration files (ca.crt, name.crt, name.key, and configs named after the location(.conf or .ovpn)) to your linux distribution to get up and running.
    • For Mac's, depending on whether you are running the Tunnelblick client or the Viscosity client, the files are located in different locations.
    If using Tunnelblick
    Copy your security credentials (name.key & name.crt) on your Mac from the "openvpn" folder in your User Library located here: ~/Library/openvpn (double-click on your Macintosh HD -> Users -> home folder -> Library -> openvpn)
    If using Viscosity
    Copy your security credentials (cert.crt & key.key) on your Mac from the "OpenVPN" folder in your User Library located here: ~/Library/Application Support/OpenVPN/1 (double-click on Macintosh HD -> Users -> home folder -> Library -> Application Support ->Viscosity -> OpenVPN -> 1)
    • For Windows the files are located in C:\Program Files\personalvpn\config (installs prior to August 1st 2010 will be C:\program files\WiTopia.Net\config\) -- copy all of the above mentioned files to a location on your linux computer, say /usr/local/openvpn/conf/
  2. Rename one of the location named configurations to personalvpn.conf
  3. Finally, edit the personalconf.conf config file and change the location of where it lists the ca.crt name.key, and name.crt (or cert.crt & key.key if copied from Viscosity client) to match where you actually saved the files, then save the config and try running openvpn.

How To Run the Service

You must run OpenVPN as root because it needs to modify the routing table

  • open a terminal window
  • type the following: sudo openvpn --config /usr/local/openvpn/conf/personalVPN.conf
  • Replace /usr/local/openvpn/conf with the path to where your personalVPN.conf file is located

If you are having issues connecting we will need the log from terminal

Ubuntu Tips

Users of Ubuntu 8.10 have had some problems getting personalVPN to work. A common remedy has been to install a plugin to the Network Manager called 'network-manager-openvpn'. This plugin allows users to setup and control OpenVPN
  1. install network-manager-openvpn (sudo apt-get install network-manager-openvpn -y)
  2. copy the unpacked vpn files (ca.crt, (name).crt, (name).key and opevpn.conf to a folder (Documents/openvpn for example).
  3. create a new VPN connection (do not import) choosing openvpn (via the network manger)
  4. Input the server location you want to connect to. For server locations please see http://wiki.personalvpn.net/wiki/Changing_Gateways
  5. ignore the password field at the bottom
  6. Click advanced on the main screen
  7. click ONLY the LZO compression option
  8. click on the IPv4 tab, and then routes
  9. choose to ignore routes created and click ok
  10. click ok to accept the new settings, and close on the network manager
While we haven't used it ourselves, if you are running GNOME, this GUI front-end is available: http://gopenvpn.sourceforge.net/ which is based off Tunnelblick, the OpenVPN client for Mac OS X.

Kubuntu Tips

For Kubuntu users: knetworkmanager does not function correctly with the networkmanager openvpn addon.
Here's how to make it work
  1. Uninstall knetworkmanager
  2. Install gnome networkmanager
  3. Create new openVPN, use credentials (personal key, CA crt and personal certificate)
  4. In the second tab, under "advance" choose "ignore route" (this option is not availble in knetworkmanager so I guess that this must be the reason knetworkmanager will not work).

Help

If you are having problems with any of the instructions, please contact support@witopia.net for help.

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