strongSwan is an open source and free VPN software toolset that allows secure IPsec tunnels to securely connect remote networks or individual hosts. In this tutorial, we will discuss how to install strongSwan on the latest version of FreeBSD.
Before installing strongSwan, it is recommended to update FreeBSD to the latest available version. You can do this by running the following command in the terminal:
sudo freebsd-update fetch
sudo freebsd-update install
strongSwan requires several dependencies to be installed before it can be installed. You can install the dependencies by executing the following command in the terminal:
sudo pkg install -y openssl git python3
strongSwan can be downloaded from its official website. To download the latest version, visit https://www.strongswan.org/ and click on the "Download" button. Alternatively, you can also download it using the following command:
sudo git clone https://github.com/strongswan/strongswan.git
To install strongSwan, navigate to the strongSwan directory and execute the following commands:
cd strongswan
sudo ./autogen.sh
sudo ./configure --sysconfdir=/usr/local/etc --enable-openssl
sudo make
sudo make install
Once strongSwan is installed, you can configure it by creating a configuration file in /usr/local/etc/ipsec.conf with the following content:
conn my-vpn
left=%defaultroute
leftsubnet=172.16.1.0/24
right=192.0.2.1
rightsubnet=192.0.2.0/24
authby=secret
auto=start
In this example, we have created a VPN connection that establishes secure IPsec tunnels between the local subnet (172.16.1.0/24) and the remote subnet (192.0.2.0/24) using the shared secret authentication mechanism.
You can also create a secrets file at /usr/local/etc/ipsec.secrets with the following content:
: PSK "mysharedsecret"
This file contains the shared secret key used for authentication. Replace mysharedsecret with your own shared secret key.
Finally, start the strongSwan service by running the following command:
sudo ipsec start
You can verify if the service is running correctly by checking the system logs for any errors:
sudo tail -f /var/log/messages
Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured strongSwan on FreeBSD. You can now securely connect to remote networks or individual hosts.
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