VPN server maintenance¶

In order to remain a secure solution as well as to keep working as intended, we recommend maintaining the VPN server from time to time. Below we show some important tasks and how to manage them.

Updating the VPN server¶

The VPN server software is based on PfSense which in turn is running on FreeBSD operating system. PfSense will provide updates that will include security fixes and additional functionality. We strongly recommend updating the VPN server once new releases are available to keep it secure over time. If your installation is left un-updated your risk falling to far behind to be able to update and be vulnerable to security exploits.

To update the VPN server using the VPN WebGUI, follow these steps:

• Login to the VPN management interface.

• Press “System” and then “Update” in the main menu.

• Ensure that the Branch is “Latest stable version”.

• Wait for the Status to indicate if the server is up to date or not.

• If the server is not up to date, follow the instructions to update.

Re-issue certificates¶

The VPN server will be created with newly issued certificates but because some clients does not allow certificates which are valid for longer than a year, these certificates will need to be re-issued on a yearly basis.

To re-issue certificates using the VPN WebGUI, follow these steps:

• Login to the VPN management interface.

• Press “System” and then “Cert. manager” in the main menu.

• Press the “Certificates” tab under the main heading (the default menu is the CA menu - do not re-issue the CA).

• By default there are 3 certificates installed on the system; “OpenVPN Server”, “OpenVPN User”, “webConfigurator default”. Aside from this, if you’ve added users these will also be in the list. The first two certificates will need to be re-issued.

• Press the small “round arrow” (re-issue / renew) to the right of each (one at the time) of the OpenVPN server and OpenVPN User.

• Press the “Renew/Reissue” button.

• Note that the “valid until” date is renewed.