How To Setup Your Own VPN Server In Cloud.
A VPN not only masks your location, it also encrypts the connection and makes it nearly impossible for outsiders to track what you are browsing. Also, depending on where the VPN server is located, you can easily access geo-restricted websites. There are several VPN services, both free and paid. However, one issue I always run into when using these third party VPN services is that they are quite slow. For example, I have a decent 30 Mbps connection at home. But when I connect to a third party VPN service, the connection speed drops to 1-5 Mbps.
One of the reasons for this is that VPN services serve as many people as possible on a single server, and all of these users need to share the available bandwidth. In addition, when using a third-party VPN service, you have no control over how they use the data they collect about you.
To deal with all this, you can set up your own VPN server and connect to it. Be aware that there is a fee to create your own VPN server. At the very least, you need to pay $ 5 per month for a server, which gives you 1TB of monthly bandwidth.
Now I want to make it as easy as possible to create a VPN so that even a novice user who has never created or worked with the cloud can feel comfortable. For this reason, I am using Vultr. This is because Vultr offers a pre-configured OpenVPN image that makes it easy to create your own VPN service. Follow the instructions below as it is and you should have your own VPN server in minutes.
Read: VPN Protocol Explained – PPTP vs. L2TP vs. SSTP vs. IKEYv2 vs. OpenVPN
How to set up your own VPN server
First, register a Vultr account. After that go to the main screen and select “Server” in the left pane. Then click the “+” sign in the upper right corner.
You will be taken to the server configuration screen. First, select the country where your server should be located. In my case, since I want my VPN to have a US IP address, I choose a New York location.
Vultr has a predefined image for building your own VPN server. It just means you don’t have to go through all the effort of manually setting up your server, installing all the VPN related software and configuring it. So, go to the Applications tab and select the OpenVPN option.
The next step is to select the server size. Since a $ 5 server gives you 1TB of bandwidth, that’s enough for most. So, pick a $ 5 server. If you need more bandwidth, you can also choose other sizes.
You can leave all other settings as they are. At the bottom of the page, you can name your server. Name it whatever you want and click the Deploy Now button.
Server configuration may take several minutes. Since we selected a pre-configured OpenVPN image, the server is automatically configured in the background.
After the server is installed and configured correctly, you will see “In Progress” in the “Status” section.
Since the server is preconfigured to use OpenVPN, a VPN administrator username and password is generated for you. Click on the server name and you will find the IP address, username and password to login to the OpenVPN admin panel right below the server details. The same username and password are sent to your email address.
Note: Please be aware that the OpenVPN username and password are different from the actual server username and password.
Copy the server IP address, paste it into the address bar and press Enter. Your browser may warn you that the SSL certificate is invalid. This is completely normal. Click the Advanced link.
You will now see the OpenVPN admin login screen. Copy the username and password from the Vultr server details page, paste them, select Login from the drop-down menu and click the Go button.
Until now, you have only created a VPN server. You need to connect to this server in order to create a VPN connection. To make it easier. OpenVPN provides you with an easy installer for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. This installer allows you to connect to your VPN server with one click from the system of your choice. Just click on the link and the installer will be downloaded. In my case, I am downloading the Windows Installer.
After downloading the software, install it like any other Windows software. After installation, you will see OpenVPN added to the Windows taskbar.
Right-click the OpenVPN icon, expand your server’s IP address menu and click the Connect button.
You will be prompted for your OpenVPN username and password. Enter these details and click the “Connect” button.
Since this is your first time connecting to a VPN server and it has its own SSL certificate, you will see a warning window. Select the Do not ask again check box and click Yes.
That’s all. The program will connect to your server and establish a VPN connection.
If you want, you can search for “what is my IP address” on Google and it will show the IP of your server, not your real IP.
If you want to disconnect from the VPN server, right-click the OpenVPN icon in the system tray and select the Disconnect option.
OpenVPN admin page
Now, if you want, you can see how many users are connected to your VPN server. To do this, log into your VPN server from a web browser and click the “Admin” button. On the admin page, go to the Current Users page and you will see all connected users / systems. This page also shows the real IP address of the connected systems and the amount of data used.
If needed, you can also create multiple users through the OpenVPN admin page. To create users, simply go to the User Permissions page in the User Management section. In the right pane, enter your username in the blank field and click the save settings button. If you would like to grant this user administrator rights, select the Administrator checkbox before clicking the Save Settings button.
Closing Words: S Create your own VPN server
That’s all there is to it. It’s that easy to create your own VPN server. Of course, you will find it convenient to browse different pages on the OpenVPN admin page. While setting up your own VPN allows you to unblock geo restrictions for most video sites, unfortunately it didn’t work for us on sites like Hulu and Netflix. If you’re adventurous, try changing the settings. After all, if you get it wrong, you can destroy this server and create a new one from scratch in a few minutes by following the steps above.