How to install strongSwan on Fedora CoreOS Latest

Introduction

strongSwan is an open-source, multi-platform, and highly configurable VPN solution. It is used to establish a virtual private network (VPN) connection between two devices over the internet. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing strongSwan on Fedora CoreOS Latest.

Prerequisites

• A Fedora CoreOS Latest machine with root privileges.
• Basic knowledge of Linux commands.

Installing strongSwan

1. Connect to your Fedora CoreOS machine as a root user via SSH or console.

2. Update the package cache of your system using the following command:

   # dnf update
   

3. Install strongSwan by running the following command:

   # dnf install strongswan
   

4. Once the installation is completed, verify the installation by running the following command:

   # ipsec --version
   

   This will display the installed version of strongSwan.

5. Start the strongSwan service using the following command:

   # systemctl enable --now strongswan
   

   This will start the strongSwan service and enable it to start automatically on boot.

6. By default, strongSwan is configured to allow users to connect to the VPN using the IKEv2 protocol. You can change the default configuration according to your needs by editing the strongswan.conf file. The file is located in the /etc/strongswan/ directory.

   # vi /etc/strongswan/strongswan.conf
   

7. Configure your firewall to allow traffic on port 500 (UDP) and port 4500 (UDP). These ports are used by strongSwan to establish VPN connections.

   # firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=500/udp
   # firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4500/udp
   # firewall-cmd --reload
   

8. (Optional) If you want to use strongSwan as a client to connect to a remote VPN server, you need to install the strongswan-plugin-eap-mschapv2 package.

   # dnf install strongswan-plugin-eap-mschapv2
   

9. (Optional) If you want to use strongSwan with X.509 certificates, you need to install the strongswan-plugin-pkcs11 package.

   # dnf install strongswan-plugin-pkcs11
   

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed strongSwan on your Fedora CoreOS Latest machine. You can now configure strongSwan according to your needs and establish VPN connections.

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