How to Install tinc on OpenBSD

tinc is a virtual private network (VPN) daemon that uses tunneling and encryption to create a secure and private network between hosts. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing tinc on OpenBSD operating system.

Prerequisites

• OpenBSD Operating System
• Basic knowledge of the command line interface

Step 1: Install tinc

First, we need to download the tinc package. We can do this by using the OpenBSD package manager called "pkg_add".

sudo pkg_add tinc

This will automatically install tinc on your OpenBSD. By default, it will be installed in /usr/local/sbin/.

Step 2: Create tinc configuration directory

Now, we need to create a directory where we will put our configuration files. You can create this directory anywhere you like, but for this tutorial, we will create the directory named "tinc" at /etc using the following command:

sudo mkdir /etc/tinc

Step 3: Create tinc network configuration directory

Next, we need to create a subdirectory under /etc/tinc/ where we will store tinc network configuration files. This subdirectory should be named after the name of the tinc network that you want to create. For the purposes of this tutorial, let's create a network named "mytincvpn". To create this subdirectory, run the following command:

sudo mkdir /etc/tinc/mytincvpn

Step 4: Configure tinc network

After creating the directory for tinc network configuration files, we need to create the tinc network configuration file. This configuration file should be named tinc.conf and should be placed in /etc/tinc/mytincvpn directory. You can use any text editor to create this file. We will use nano in this tutorial:

sudo nano /etc/tinc/mytincvpn/tinc.conf

Here is an example configuration file that you can edit to meet your needs:

Name = mytincvpn
AddressFamily = ipv4
Mode = switch
Interface = tun0
PrivateKeyFile = /etc/tinc/mytincvpn/rsa_key.priv

Save and exit the file.

Step 5: Generate tinc network keys

Next, we need to generate the public and private keys for our tinc network. We can use the tinc utility to do this.

sudo tincd -n mytincvpn -K4096

This will generate a 4096-bit RSA public and private key pair and store them in /etc/tinc/mytincvpn/.

Step 6: Create tinc hosts directory

We also need to create the directory where we will store configuration files for all the hosts in the tinc network. To create this directory, run the following command:

sudo mkdir /etc/tinc/mytincvpn/hosts

Step 7: Add hosts to tinc network

Next, we need to define each host that will be a part of the tinc network. To do so, we need to create a configuration file for each host in the /etc/tinc/mytincvpn/hosts/ directory.

sudo nano /etc/tinc/mytincvpn/hosts/host1

Here is an example configuration file that you can use:

Address = 192.168.1.100
Subnet = 10.0.0.1/32
Port = 655

Save and exit the file. Repeat this step for each host that you want to add to the tinc network.

Step 8: Start tinc daemon

Now, we can start the tinc daemon by using the following command:

sudo tincd -n mytincvpn

If everything is set up correctly, you should see the message "tinc daemon (version x.x.x) started" in the console.

Step 9: Test tinc network

At this point, tinc is installed and running on your OpenBSD system. You can test the network by pinging a host that is part of the network. If the ping is successful, then the tinc network is working.

Conclusion

You have now installed tinc on your OpenBSD operating system and set up a secure and private network using tinc. You can add more hosts and customize the network configuration to meet your needs.

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