A question about OpenVPN

[Gryphes]

I am planning to connect multiple computers over Internet. so we can share files in secure way
I downloaded the OpenVPN and messed up with it and found out it has a Virtual IP so what's purpose of this virtual IP?
when connect to a computer over Internet we know obviously we need the Real IP address assigned to that PC (not the Internal IP)so by connecting to that IP we can establish a connection with it. when I examine the OpenVPN I saw there wasn't any place mentioned we need to type the Real IP of the other computer in which we intend to connect with it over Internet there is just the Virtual IP. so how come OpenVPN let us to connect to other computer over Internet by using just the VirtualIP ? yeah I already installed OpenVPN in every machine but still without knowing the real IP of the server how come clients connect to the server? now as an example
think 130.20.20.1 is my real IP and the server's virtual IP is 10.10.10.1 and I need to establish the connection with 4 computers whose real IP addresses are 120.10.10.1 ,140.10.10.1, 150.10.10.1 and virtual IP address of those computers are respectively 10.10.10.2 , 10.10.10.3 ,10.10.10.4. and all these computers are located in different different locations so every hosts need to go through Internet to connect to other one. now OpenVPN has just the Virtual IP and it doesn't mention anywhere that we need to use the real IP to connect to our hosts or the server.
please can anyone explain how this works.

Thanks.

[maikcat]

hi there,

i will try to be brief...

openvpn creates a virtual interface using private ip addressing,

to connect from a client you must use the remote directive with the REAL (public) ip of the server
assuming that you have configured nat on your router (or whatever is in front of your openvpn server)

*AFTER* the tunnel is up,the private ips (and the virtual interface) is used to pass (encapsulate/encrypt) traffic
to the other end of the tunnel...

Michael.