Writing Guides and How-To(s) in NON Technical language

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Je Suis Flaneur
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:23 pm

Writing Guides and How-To(s) in NON Technical language

Post by Je Suis Flaneur » Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:05 pm

Out of respect for the 1000 of members' posts at this Forum, I'm posting this as part of the Wishlist.

I started trying to use OpenVPN about 6 months ago. I've bricked 3 routers so far. I have a 4th router and it's up and running, although, not with OpenVPN as yet. I believe, but have no way to verify that the various parts of the software are installed properly.

I have read and re-read a lot of documents at this and other forums on networking and VPNing. NONE of them provide a concise outline as to what needs doing. All of them are written by technically minded people. But for the absolute beginner, such as myself, not being able to get a sense of the necessary steps in outline form has made this task unduly complex.

For example:
HOWTO
https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-sour ... howto.html

has links to the following:

FAQ: What is the difference between bridging and routing?
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... nd-routing

Miscellaneous
https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-sour ... howto.html

Additional Articles and Documentation
Many excellent articles and HOWTOs exist for configuring OpenVPN in different environments.
http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/articles.html

going to that page:

Articles
https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/articles.html

Which leads to at least one 404 Not Found, several pages from as long as 12 years ago, and nowhere can I find an outline of what needs doing. None of what I can find online say why to do something. I find it hard to believe that most VPN users are (for lack of a better terms) home users. Nowhere in the Articles do I find a link to an explanation of basic networking. That is critical to helping noobies, such as myself, understand the complexities of OpenVPN-ing. In all this reading, I still don't understand whether I need a client (as in my router-wifi combo) will be the client of my vpn provider or whether the router-wifi will be the server, as I want to put it after the modem. My modem has no "bridge" mode. It can do Passthrough, however. So I still struggle to understand the simple part of OpenVPN.

OpenVPN Server HowTo (Streamlined)
https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/open ... requisites

root@LEDE:/etc/ssl# luci-app-openvpn
-ash: luci-app-openvpn: not found
root@LEDE:/etc/ssl# luci-app-openvpn openssl-util
-ash: luci-app-openvpn: not found
root@LEDE:/etc/ssl# opkg install openssl.cnf
Unknown package 'openssl.cnf'.
Collected errors:
* opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package openssl.cnf.


Trying to follow:

https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/vpn. ... l_commands

I got as far as:

cp /etc/openvpn/ssl/ca.crt /etc/openvpn/ssl/my-server.* /etc/openvpn/ssl/dh2048.pem /etc/openvpn

and the terminal returned:

root@LEDE:/etc/openvpn/ssl# cp /etc/openvpn/ssl/ca.crt /etc/openvpn/ssl/my-serve
r.* /etc/openvpn/ssl/dh2048.pem /etc/openvpn
cp: can't stat '/etc/openvpn/ssl/ca.crt': No such file or directory
cp: can't stat '/etc/openvpn/ssl/my-server.*': No such file or directory
cp: can't stat '/etc/openvpn/ssl/dh2048.pem': No such file or directory

My wish is to see Documentation that looks much simpler. For example:

1. Obtain an account with a VPN service provider.
2. Install OpenVPN.
3. Obtain the .ovpn
4. Obtain the ca.crt

and so forth. No highly technical explanations. Allow the user to start and come back and ask questions relating to specific mods, configs, etc.

Thanks for reading to here.

TinCanTech
OpenVPN Protagonist
Posts: 11137
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: Writing Guides and How-To(s) in NON Technical language

Post by TinCanTech » Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:52 pm

Je Suis Flaneur wrote:
Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:05 pm
My wish is to see Documentation that looks much simpler. For example:

1. Obtain an account with a VPN service provider.
2. Install OpenVPN.
3. Obtain the .ovpn
4. Obtain the ca.crt

and so forth.
OpenVPN does not provide support for VPN Service providers.

The documentation you have quoted above is with regard to running your own server.
It does not cover your use case, which is as client of a VPN service provider, because
those VPN Service providers are required to write their own documentation.

Also, OpenVPN does not provide documentation for Routers or other devices because
the Manufacturer of those devices is required to provide their own documentation.

You should probably try google ..

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