wireguard vpn

On my to-do list for my newly christened Ubuntu box was to install a VPN. I had previously used OpenVPN-AS (Access Server), which is a lite version (two user) of OpenVPN that uses a web interface for most configuration. I also considered using “regular” OpenVPN but to be honest, there’s a fair amount of work in setting up keys, and I didn’t want to use scripts downloaded from github. Enter WireGuard.

Here’s the pitch. “WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPsec (and OpenVPN), while avoiding the massive headache. It intends to be considerably more performant than OpenVPN.” In short, it’s easy to configure, lightweight to use, and it’s already in the Ubuntu 20.04LTS repo.

To install WireGuard, we install the program, create keys, configure the virtual network device (wg0), and then configure the client (Android).

#install WireGuard
$ sudo -i
$ apt update && install wireguard
#generate server keys (these are stored in /etc/wireguard/)
$ umask 077; wg genkey | tee privatekey | wg pubkey > publickey
cat publickey

#configure the WireGuard interface wg0 (leaving peer empty for now)
$ cd /etc/wireguard
$ nano wg0.conf

[Interface]
Address = 192.168.6.1/24
SaveConfig = true
ListenPort = [port]
PrivateKey = [server privatekey]

[Peer]
PublicKey = [client publickey]
Allowed IPs = 192.168.6.2/32

#open port on firewall for WireGuard to listen
$ ufw allow [port]/udp

#enable and start Wireguard server
$ sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
$ sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0
$ sudo systemctl status wg-quick@wg0

#now that the service is started, let’s stop it, and configure our client.
#first we create client (keys we’re not going to save them)
$ sudo systemctl stop wg-quick@wg0
$ wg genkey | (
read privk
echo "android-private-key: $privk"
echo "android-public-key: $(echo "$privk" | wg pubkey)"
)

#edit wg0.conf and enter the publickey for your client, then restart WireGuard
$ sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0
$ sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0

#now let’s create a config_file for the client.
$ exit
$ cd ~/Desktop
$ nano config_file

[Interface]
#client
PrivateKey = [client privatekey]
Address = 192.168.6.2/24

[Peer]
#server
PublicKey = [server publickey]
AllowedIPs = 192.168.6.0/24
Endpoint = [ip or host name]:[port]
PersistentKeepalive = 15

#save the file and generate a qrcode to scan with your phone
$ qrencode -t utf8 < config_file

That’s it! I installed the WireGuard app on my Pixel phone, selected QR code for the connection and scanned the image, then the app asked me to name my new connection. All set, I connected and viola, I have my own VPN server.

Couple of notes. Pay attention to the IP addresses and masks; they must be exact. You can use whatever port you want for WireGuard to listen, and it works well with DuckDNS dynamic hostname. Multiple peers can be configured as well. The Android app could do a better job “hiding” both keys, but there you are.

On the web:
WireGuard