OpenVPN

OpenVPN
	‎
Original author(s)	James Yonan
Developer(s)	OpenVPN Technologies, Inc.
Initial release	April 10, 2002; 22 years ago
Stable release	2.6.10 (March 20, 2024; 8 months ago) [±]
Preview release	2.5.0 Beta 1 (August 12, 2020; 4 years ago) [±]
Written in	C
Operating system	Cross-platform
Available in	Multilingual
Type	Network management software
License(s)	GNU General Public License
Website	OpenVPN.net

OpenVPN is an open-source software application that implements virtual private network (VPN) techniques for creating secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. It uses a custom security protocol^[2] that utilizes [SSL/TLS for key exchange. It is capable of traversing network address translators (NATs) and firewalls. It was written by James Yonan and is published under the GNU General Public License (GPL).^[3]

OpenVPN allows peers to authenticate each other using a pre-shared secret key, certificates, or username/password. When used in a multiclient-server configuration, it allows the server to release an authentication certificate for every client, using signature and certificate authority. It uses the OpenSSL encryption library extensively, as well as the SSLv3/TLSv1 protocol, and contains many security and control features.

Product history

While traveling around Central Asia and other parts of the world around 2000, author James Yonan became concerned about the security of telecommuting for the company he was working for. After noticing a philosophical division in the development of existing open-source VPN options, Yonan was inspired to create OpenVPN.^[3] On March 14, 2002, Yonan created a SourceForge project^[4] and released version 1.1.0 almost a month later.^[1]