StrongSwan is an open-source VPN client which offers high-security encryption and secure communication between devices. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install StrongSwan on your Ubuntu Server latest using the command-line interface.
Before proceeding with the installation, make sure that you have the following prerequisites:
To update the Ubuntu server, open up the terminal emulator and run the following command:
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
This command will update the packages and repositories to ensure that everything installed on the system is up-to-date.
To install StrongSwan on Ubuntu Server Latest, run the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install strongswan
This command will install the StrongSwan VPN client on your Ubuntu server.
After successfully installing StrongSwan, the next step is to configure it. First, you need to create a configuration file for StrongSwan. Run the following command to create a configuration file:
$ sudo nano /etc/ipsec.conf
This command will open the Nano text editor where you can configure the StrongSwan VPN client. You can add the following lines to the configuration file:
config setup
charondebug = “ike 4, cfg 2, knl 3, net 2, esp 4, dmn 4”
conn %default
type = tunnel
conn myvpn
keyexchange = ikev2
left = %any
leftsubnet = 0.0.0.0/0
leftauth = pubkey
leftcert = /path/to/cert.pem
leftid = @mydomain.com
right = vpnserver-ip
rightsubnet = 0.0.0.0/0
rightauth = pubkey
rightid = @vpnserver-domain.com
auto = route
dpdaction = restart
dpddelay = 30s
dpdtimeout = 120s
Save and exit the Nano text editor by pressing CTRL + X
, Y
, and ENTER
.
In this step, you need to add user credentials for StrongSwan. To add user credentials, run the following command:
$ sudo nano /etc/ipsec.secrets
This command will open the Nano text editor where you need to add the following lines:
: RSA /path/to/privatekey.pem
user1 : EAP "password1"
user2 : EAP "password2"
Save and exit the Nano text editor by pressing CTRL + X
, Y
, and ENTER
.
After completing the configurations, start the StrongSwan service by running the following command:
$ sudo systemctl start strongswan
This command will start the StrongSwan VPN client service.
To verify that the StrongSwan VPN client is installed and running on your Ubuntu server, run the following command:
$ sudo systemctl status strongswan
This command will display the status of the StrongSwan VPN client service.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed StrongSwan on your Ubuntu Server Latest. Now you can easily configure a VPN connection with the StrongSwan VPN client on your Ubuntu server.
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