ZacsTec - How to Install OpenVPN Server on Ubuntu 24.04

Below is a timestamped video from ZacsTech on how to setup and configure OpenVPN on Ubuntu 24.04. I'm pretty sure that the void is an AI, but the video does the job and is quite useful with things having changed since me having set up OpenVPN on older systems.

This is a 60fps conversion of the original video on Youtube. Please support the creator by going there and hitting subscribe/like.

Timestamps

Setting UDP / TCP Protocol

At 06:17 the video sets the udp6 protocol in addition to udp. This is actually an invalid configuration and only the last will be used, in this case udp6. The values tcp4, and udp4 restrict the OpenVPN server to only using IPv4 addressing, whilst tcp6, and udp6 force the server to only use IPv6. I think that most poeple only care about setting TCP or UDP, and want to use either IPv4 or IPv6 where appropriate. In such a scenario, one should specify just udp, or tcp as the value, as these will do precisely that.

Static Key

Those of you wondering why you need to create the static key at "04:50", the static key is a symmetric key that is pre-shared with the clients making the connection, to further enhance security. OpenVPN uses this key to sign every packat with a hash to prove the packets came from a trusted source and have not been tampered with. This further prevents unauthorized clients from initiating connections or injecting malicious packets into the VPN session.

Setting the Bottleneck Bandwidth and Round-trip propagation Time (BBR) Algorithm

Setting the BBR algorithm is is for optimizing for higher throughput and lower latency when dealing with high-speed, long-distance connections which are typical for VPN servers. It avoids "bufferbloat", where traditional algorithms overfill network buffers, causing increased latency.