WireGuard: Tutorial & Best Practices

A VPN for secure point-to-point connections

WireGuard is a free and open-source software application and communication protocol that implements virtual private network (VPN) techniques to create secure point-to-point connections in routed or bridged configurations. It is designed to be run on Linux and can be used to create secure connections between servers, or to connect clients to servers.

To configure WireGuard on Linux, you will need to install the WireGuard software on your system. This can typically be done using the package manager of your Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu, you can install WireGuard using the following command:

sudo apt install wireguard

Once the software is installed, you will need to create a configuration file for your WireGuard connection. This file is typically stored in the /etc/wireguard directory, and should be named with a .conf extension.

The configuration file should contain a set of key-value pairs that specify the parameters for your WireGuard connection. Here is an example configuration file that sets up a WireGuard connection between a server and a client:

[Interface]
PrivateKey = <server private key>
Address = <server IP address>/24
ListenPort = <server listen port>

[Peer]
PublicKey = <client public key>
AllowedIPs = <client IP address>/32

To start the WireGuard connection, you will need to use the wg-quick command, passing it the path to your configuration file as an argument. For example:

sudo wg-quick up /etc/wireguard/my-connection.conf

This will start the WireGuard connection and create a virtual network interface on your system. You can use this interface just like any other network interface, and traffic sent over it will be encrypted and secure.

To stop the WireGuard connection, you can use the wg-quick down command, passing it the path to your configuration file as an argument:

sudo wg-quick down /etc/wireguard/my-connection.conf