Draft - work in progress
Contents
Introduction
This document shows how to configure OpenVPN on Mageia Linux to use the ProtonVPN service. There is an official ProtonVPN "app" but it is not supported on Mageia Linux.
Benefits
A VPN (virtual private network) connection has several security benefits:
- Hides the source IP address (eg your ISP router's external Internet facing address) which is replaced by the external VPN endpoint IP address.
- Encrypts all your network traffic (both upload and download) between your computer/mobile/tablet and the external VPN endpoint IP address.
ProtonVPN offers both a free and paid VPN services. To use these it is necessary to register for a free account at: https://protonvpn.com/
If you are using ProtonMail you can use the same account for ProtonVPN.
Preparation
The guidance given here is based on: How to manually configure OpenVPN for ProtonVPN in Linux which is written for Debian (and similar). The steps shown here are the Mageia equivalent.
Steps
Step-1: Install packages
Step-1a: Install OpenVPN
/bin/sudo urpmi openvpn
Example:
[user@localhost ~]$ /bin/sudo urpmi openvpn
distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr::mageia/distrib/8/x86_64/media/core/updates/openvpn-2.5.0-2.1.mga8.x86_64.rpm
installing openvpn-2.5.0-2.1.mga8.x86_64.rpm from /var/cache/urpmi/rpms
Preparing... ###############################################################################
1/1: openvpn ###############################################################################
Step-1b: Install networkmanager-openvpn
This package contains software for integrating the OpenVPN VPN software with NetworkManager.
/bin/sudo urpmi networkmanager-openvpn
Example:
[user@localhost ~]$ /bin/sudo urpmi networkmanager-openvpn
[sudo] password for user:
To satisfy dependencies, the following packages are going to be installed:
Package Version Release Arch
(medium "Core Release (Installer)")
lib64nma0 1.8.30 1.mga8 x86_64
libnma 1.8.30 1.mga8 x86_64
mobile-broadband-provider-info 1.20201225 1.mga8 noarch
networkmanager-openvpn 1.8.12 1.mga8 x86_64
2.9MB of additional disk space will be used.
660KB of packages will be retrieved.
Proceed with the installation of the 4 packages? (Y/n) y
installing lib64nma0-1.8.30-1.mga8.x86_64.rpm networkmanager-openvpn-1.8.12-1.mga8.x86_64.rpm libnma-1.8.30-1.mga8.x86_64.rpm mobile-broadband-provider-info-1.20201225-1.mga8.noarch.rpm from /mnt/Mageia-8-x86_64/x86_64/media/core
Preparing... #######################################################################################################################################
1/4: mobile-broadband-provider-info
#######################################################################################################################################
2/4: libnma #######################################################################################################################################
3/4: lib64nma0 #######################################################################################################################################
4/4: networkmanager-openvpn
#######################################################################################################################################
Step-1c: Install resolvconf
If not already installed, install resolvconf:
/bin/sudo urpmi resolvconf
Example: here we find resolvconf is already installed:
[user@localhost ~]$ /bin/sudo urpmi resolvconf [sudo] password for user: Package resolvconf-1.79-5.mga8.noarch is already installed
Step-2: Download the ProtonVPN configuration files
For this you will need to login to https://protonvpn.com using your (free) registered ProtonVPN account.
Please see "2. Get the ProtonVPN config files" on this page: https://protonvpn.com/support/linux-openvpn/
Step-3: Find your OpenVPN credentials
Please see "3. Find your OpenVPN credentials" on this page: https://protonvpn.com/support/linux-openvpn/
