Is the RaspberryPi2 fast enough to run OpenVPN ?

jim2

I hope I have posted in the right forum. Am completely new to VPN and Torrent use and joined your forum just now, as I am considering using a RPi2 running Raspbian-Jessie (Debian8) instead of risking damaging my main computer (NUC i5-4250U 1.3GHz, 8GB RAM, SSD) running Win7 Pro 64bit SP1

Reason I am considering OpenVPN over others, are recommended by various Raspberry websites, and of course it being Open Source.. While Searching for an idiots Guide on how to install OpenVPN on the RPi2, I came across posts on the Private Internet Access forum, answering a question put by a newbie why on his RPi has a xfer rate of 70Gbps non VPN, but drops to 20Gbps with OpenVPN say "OpenVPN is single threaded and a single core at 1GHz is simply not fast enough for the [256bit] encryption. " This appears to advise against use of the RPi2 as a VPN/Torrent machine for large files. The RPi2 is more powerful than Pi-1 in having 4 cores, but if as implied, OpenVPN singlethreadedness does not make use of multicores, then that may explain a bottleneck.

As I do not want to waste time attempting to use the wrong platform, are your experienced members able to confirm if above advice is correct ?

I briefly searched the documentation at https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation.html, specifically the OpenVPN 2.3 Manual, and the FAQ to find a specification for minimum hardware requirement but could not find.

As it happens, my internet connection speed is currently not that fast, so that may be an overriding factor just now. All the same, I would appreciate some input on suitability of the RPi2 as a sufficiently fast platform for typical internet speeds using OpenVPN. If it is in fact fast enough for all but superfast internet connections, then any links to a clear beginers guide to OpenVPN install on RPi2 would be appreciated. I gather to some extent, such a guide also needs to cover choice and setup of the VPN Provider. I was tentatively thinking of 'Purevpn' as recommended by vpnranks.com

If RPi2 not recommended, grateful for some guide on the minimum hardware platform to run OpenVPN, be it under Linux or 64bit Windows7. Skiming through your 'howto', the Windows version looks fairly understandable to me.

Would I be correct in thinking the OpenVPN Server function & the encrypt-decrypt process is the bottleneck on weak hardware ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

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You could get a decent 2nd hand Laptop for the same money as a Pi.

jim2

Thanks for advise to buy a laptop but doesn't answer my question. Apart from the fact I already bought the Pi, another consideration is the device would be left on unattended long periods, and the Pi only takes around 2 Watts with the monitor switched off, whereas a secondhand laptop likely to consume around 15 watts, double what my NUC takes, although as I said, I would rather not access torrents on my primary pc.