OpenVPN

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OpenVPN
Ovpntech logo-s REVISED.png
Original author(s) James Yonan
Developer(s) OpenVPN Technologies, Inc.
Initial release April 10, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-04-10)[1]
Stable release

2.6.8  (November 17, 2023; 4 months ago (2023-11-17))

[±]
Preview release 2.5.0 Beta 1  (August 12, 2020; 3 years ago (2020-08-12)) [±]
Written in C
Operating system Cross-platform
Available in Multilingual
Type Network management software
License(s) GNU General Public License
Website OpenVPN.net

OpenVPN is an open-source software application that implements virtual private network (VPN) techniques for creating secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. It uses a custom security protocol[2] that utilizes SSL/TLS for key exchange. It is capable of traversing network address translators (NATs) and firewalls. It was written by James Yonan and is published under the GNU General Public License (GPL).[3]

OpenVPN allows peers to authenticate each other using a pre-shared secret key, certificates, or username/password. When used in a multiclient-server configuration, it allows the server to release an authentication certificate for every client, using signature and certificate authority. It uses the OpenSSL encryption library extensively, as well as the SSLv3/TLSv1 protocol, and contains many security and control features.

Product history

While traveling around Central Asia and other parts of the world around 2000, author James Yonan became concerned about the security of telecommuting for the company he was working for. After noticing a philosophical division in the development of existing open-source VPN options, Yonan was inspired to create OpenVPN.[3] On March 14, 2002, Yonan created a SourceForge project[4] and released version 1.1.0 almost a month later.[1]

On April 17, 2005, version 2.0 was released.[5]

In July 2009, OpenVPN received an "A" ranking — the highest possible ranking — from security review service Veracode for its 2.0.9 release.[6]

Features

See this datasheet (PDF) for an explanation of OpenVPN's features and advantages.

Hardware/software requirements

Please refer to this page for step-by-step instructions on configuring an OpenVPN 2.0 client/server VPN and any necessary dependencies for the software's installation.

Videos, screenshots, and other media

OpenVPN Technologies offers a series of instructional videos, which can be found on the site.

Entities using OpenVPN

Further reading


External links

References