PiVPN

About

Visit the PiVPN site for more information. This is a set of shell scripts that server to easily turn your Raspberry Pi (TM) into a VPN server using the free, open-source OpenVPN software.

The master branch of this script installs and configures OpenVPN on Raspbian Jessie, and should be used if you are running Jessie or Jessie Lite. Jessie Lite is recommended if this will just be a server. The goal is for this to also work on Debian Jessie built on a free-tier Amazon AWS server for those that want thier tunneled traffic to be encrypted out of their home ISP.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide and use the script to setup OpenVPN, you will need to have a Raspberry Pi Model B or later with an ethernet port, an SD or microSD card (depending on the model) with Raspbian installed, a power adapter appropriate to the power needs of your model, and an ethernet cable or wifi adapter to connect your Pi to your router or gateway. It is recommended that you use a fresh image of Raspbian Jessie Lite from https://raspberrypi.org/downloads, but if you don't, be sure to make a backup image of your existing installation before proceeding. You should also setup your Pi with a static IP address (see either source 1 or 2 at the bottom of this Readme) but it is not required as the script can do this for you. You will need to have your router forward UPD port 1194 (varies by model & manufacturer; consult your router manufacturer's documentation to do this). Enabling SSH on your Pi is also highly recommended, so that you can run a very compact headless server without a monitor or keyboard and be able to access it even more conveniently (This is also covered by source 2).

Installation

curl -L install.pivpn.io | bash

The script will first update your APT repositories, upgrade packages, and install OpenVPN, which will take some time. It will ask which encryption method you wish the guts of your server to use, 1024-bit or 2048-bit. 2048-bit is more secure, but will take much longer to set up. If you're unsure or don't have a convincing reason one way or the other I'd use 2048 today.

After this, the script will go back to the command line as it builds the server's own certificate authority. If you wish to enter identifying information for the CA, replace the default values in the file ca_info.txt (CO for country, ST for state/province/territory, ORG for organization, etc.) before executing the setup script; however, this is not required, and you may leave the ca_info.txt file as-is. After this, the script will prompt you in the command line for input in similar identifying information fields as it generates your server certificate. Enter whatever you like, or if you do not desire to fill them out, skip them by pressing enter; make sure to skip the challenge field and leave it blank. After these fields, you will be asked whether you want to sign the certificate; you must press 'y'. You'll also be asked if you want to commit - press 'y' again.

Finally, the script will take some time to build the server's Diffie-Hellman key exchange. If you chose 1024-bit encryption, this will just take a few minutes, but if you chose 2048-bit, it will take much longer (anywhere from 40 minutes to several hours on a Model B+). The script will also make some changes to your system to allow it to forward internet traffic and allow VPN connections through the Pi's firewall. When the script informs you that it has finished configuring OpenVPN, reboot the system to apply the changes, and the VPN server-side setup will be complete!

Managing the PiVPN

After the installation is complete you can use the command 'pivpn' to manage the server.

"pivpn add" You will be prompted to enter a name for your client. Pick anything you like and hit 'enter'. You will be asked to enter a pass phrase for the client key; make sure it's one you'll remember. You'll then be prompted for input in more identification fields, which you can again ignore if you like; make sure you again leave the challenge field blank. The script will then ask if you want to sign the client certificate and commit; press 'y' for both. You'll then be asked to enter the pass phrase you just chose in order to encrypt the client key, and immediately after to choose another pass phrase for the encrypted key - if you're normal, just use the same one. After this, the script will assemble the client .ovpn file and place it in the directory 'ovpns' within your home directory.

Importing .ovpn Profiles on Client Machines

To move a client .ovpn profile to Windows, use a program like WinSCP or Cyberduck. Note that you may need administrator permission to move files to some folders on your Windows machine, so if you have trouble transferring the profile to a particular folder with your chosen file transfer program, try moving it to your desktop. To move a profile to Android, you can either retrieve it on PC and then move it to your device via USB, or you can use an app like Turbo FTP & SFTP client to retrieve it directly from your Android device.

To import the profile to OpenVPN on Windows, download the OpenVPN GUI from the community downloads section of openvpn.net, install it, and place the profile in the 'config' folder of your OpenVPN directory, i.e., in 'C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config'. To import the profile on Android, install the OpenVPN Connect app, select 'Import' from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the main screen, choose the directory on your device where you stored the .ovpn file, and select the file.

After importing, connect to the VPN server on Windows by running the OpenVPN GUI with administrator permissions, right-clicking on the icon in the system tray, and clicking 'Connect', or on Android by selecting the profile under 'OpenVPN Profile' and pressing 'Connect'. You'll be asked to enter the pass phrase you chose. Do so, and you're in! Enjoy your ~$50 USD private VPN.

Removing OpenVPN

If at any point you wish to remove OpenVPN from your Pi and revert it to a pre-installation state, such as if you want to undo a failed installation to try again or you want to remove OpenVPN without installing a fresh Raspbian image, just run 'pivpn uninstall'

Feedback & Support

I am interested in making this script work for as many people as possible, so I welcome any feedback on your experience. If you have problems using it, feel free to post an issue here on github. I'll classify the issues the best I can to keep things sorted.

I also encourage discussion of issues, solutions, and ideas on the RaspberryPi.org forum thread for the project here. I'd love for users to have the opportunity to discuss their ideas with each other!

Contributions

I'm also interested in improving this script, and will be adding features to it over time to make it easier, more intuitive, and more versatile. If you have any feature ideas or requests, or are interested in adding your ideas to it, testing it on other platforms, or localizing it to another language, please comment or leave a pull request. I will be happy to work with you!

If you have found this tool to be useful and want to use this PayPal link to buy me a gallon of gas, I would be very grateful!

If you decide to do so, please also consider supporting OpenVPN; they have produced a wonderful open-source product, and all credit for it goes to their community and their hard work. All I did was write a little automated front-end for its installation on Raspbian.

Sources

1: ModMyPi: How to give your Raspberry Pi a Static IP Address

2: ReadWrite: 5 Pointers To Supercharge Your Raspberry Pi Projects

3: ReadWrite: Building A Raspberry Pi VPN Part 1

4: ReadWrite: Building A Raspberry Pi VPN Part 2