# Looking for VPN tools



## bxbzq (Mar 25, 2022)

Hi,
I'm looking for VPN tools in FreeBSD to break the "great wall", if you know where I live. You guessed it, PRC.
I don't expect it to be free. I used to pay to get a VPN in Windows but it is not available any more. Nowadays it is not as easy to find VPN as it used to be.
Thanks.


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## SirDice (Mar 25, 2022)

Setup a VPS somewhere in the world and set up your own VPN server?


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## covacat (Mar 25, 2022)

i don't know what the 'great wall' is filtering but you can rent a vps like anywhere for less than $5 and run whatever vpn you like
you can alter the source code to change ports / protocol etc if the defaults are blocked
(route thru a local installed vps if you can't modify/compile the windows client)


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## bxbzq (Mar 25, 2022)

I guess the first question is, is there a vpn client for this purpose in FreeBSD? If there is, I’ll then try to figure out how to find/setup a VPN service.


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## SirDice (Mar 25, 2022)

security/openvpn
net/wireguard
security/strongswan
security/openconnect

There are many more.


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## Ben1774 (Mar 25, 2022)

Do you need graphic user interface? Do you use it on a server or desktop?


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## bxbzq (Mar 25, 2022)

> Do you need graphic user interface?


GUI would be convenient, but I try to live with text based configuration.



> Do you use it on a server or desktop?


For the moment, my personal desktop usage to surf around freely, search engines, entertainment, news website, git, wiki, ..., there are just too many to list.


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## mer (Mar 25, 2022)

If you have a config file, openvpn works pretty well.  There may be some performance issues, but in general it's compatible with most of the server side of things.


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## obsigna (Mar 25, 2022)

bxbzq said:


> I guess the first question is, is there a vpn client for this purpose in FreeBSD? If there is, I’ll then try to figure out how to find/setup a VPN service.


I suggest approaching this in backward order, namely find one (or more) suitable VPN provider(s) first, and then pick the appropriate client(s) from the ports, according to the list:

L2TP/IPsec: net/mpd5 + security/strongswan
IKEv2 (IPsec): security/strongswan
OpenVPN: security/openvpn
WireGuard: net/wireguard
Cisco AnyConnect (SSL-VPN): security/openconnect
etc.
The idea is to choose the right tool for the work and not the work load for a chosen tool.

PS:
I support the idea of setting up your own VPN server on a VPS in a non-limited region. I do this myself, while for other reasons than censored internet.

I am a German living in Brazil, and there are some usually free streaming services of German television stations which for copyright reasons are not made available outside of Germany. I get access to these by the way of my own L2TP/IPsec-VPN service operated by FreeBSD 13 on an AWS/EC2 instance in Frankfurt.

Now the interesting point is, that AWS allows me as a customer being registered in Brazil (the accounting is done in Brazil) to set up EC2 instances anywhere in the world:
.




AWS is present in Hongkong, so it is likely that you can create a regular user account from where you live. I would perhaps choose Seoul or Osaka for the location of the EC2 instance - reportedly they have the fastest internet in the world over there.

The benefit of your own VPS in another region is, that you could establish ssh tunnels on any port numbers (may be even rotating) instead of well known VPN services, which can well be blocked because these are well known. ssh tunnels on rotating port numbers would be hard to block.


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