View source for How to setup a VPN server with CentOS PPTPD

==How to setup a VPN server with CentOS PPTPD==

There are 3 basic types of VPN Servers: Point-to-Point Protocol(PPTP), Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol(L2TP) and OpenVPN.  I am using PPTP for my personal use, as it is easy to install and you can have it up an running in minutes.

===Lets install the EPEL repo===

For the x86x64

 wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

For the i386

 wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

Now install them into YUM

 rpm -Uvh epel-release-6*.rpm

===Install ppp and pptpd with yum===

We had to install the epel repo, because pptpd is not included in the base repo's.

 yum install ppp pptpd

===Edit the IP for pptpd.conf===

 vim /etc/pptpd.conf

Add the following lines

 localip 192.168.0.1
 remoteip 192.168.0.101-200

===Create some users for the VPN===

 vim /etc/ppp/chap-secrets

Then add some users with the following format

 user * userpass *

My demo users are:

 brian * password4brian *
 nelson * password4nelson *

===Lets make it use Google for DNS===

 vim /etc/ppp/options.pptpd

Add the following lines

 ms-dns 8.8.8.8
 ms-dns 4.4.4.4

===Enable Network Forwarding===

 vim /etc/sysctl.conf

Adjust the following if not already set

 net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1

Make the system use your new setting

 sysctl -p

===Configure the Firewall===

 iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 1723 -j ACCEPT
 iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p gre -j ACCEPT
 iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
 iptables -A FORWARD -i ppp+ -o eth0 -j ACCEPT
 iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o ppp+ -j ACCEPT
 
Lets save the firewall and restart

 service iptables save
 service iptables restart

===Start the VPN Server===

 service pptpd restart

And add it to the start up

 chkconfig pptpd on

Now you can test the VPN server from any client: Windows PCs, Linux PCs, Android phones/tablets, or iPhone and iPad.

The log of the VPN server, by default, is combined with system log located at /var/log/messages.