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PROXPN

Getting ProXPN to function correctly on linux is not hard, but if you are on a non-Debian distribution, things can get a little tricky for those new to OpenVPN connections.  The guide will presume that an ProXPN account has already been made, account is active, and we are using an EL or Fedora based GNU/Linux installation. This likely will work with other distributions, but with modifications required.

  1. Install openvpn and the NetworkManager plugins.   The last package below is for KDE, so if you are not using KDE, you may safely ignore that package.

    sudo yum install openvpn NetworkManager-openvpn NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome kde-plasma-networkmanagement-openvpn

  2. Grab the MacOS X package and extract out the "/MacOSX/config/" directory.

    wget https://www.proxpn.com/proxpn_mac_source.tar.gz

  3. Inside the "MacOSX/config" directory you extracted, you will see the proxpn.ovpn file.  Copy this anywhere that you are confortable using as a workspace, or if you are like me, a directory for all my .ovpn files.

    tar -zxf proxpn_mac_source.tar.gz MacOSX/config/

  4. Inside the "MacOSX/config/ssl/" directory you will see the 3 certificate files that you WILL need to establish a connection.  I STRONGLY recommend putting these in the standard spot of "~/.cert/".  To do this, make a directory called "proxpn" in there and copy those files into it.  This makes things clean, and simple for dealing with any SELinux issues (a refresh if need be on the .cert/ tree is all that is needed). 5) Now you can go into Network Manager and add a new connection.  To do this without any of the GNOME Shell addons that make this very easy, is rather straightforward.  You will need to do this for each location you wish to have readily available.

Enter into your Network settings. Click the + button on the bottom left. Select "VPN" Select "Import From File" Select the proxpn.ovpn file you saved earlier. Change the Name field to be something descriptive such as "ProXPN - Miami". Change the Gateway field to be your exit node (nodes are listed below).  For Miami, use "mfl1.proxpn.com" Enter into the User Name and Password fields your login credentials. For the "User Certificate", point it to ~/.cert/proxpn/client.crt For the "CA Certificate", point it to ~/.cert/proxpn/ca.crt For the "Private Key", point it to ~/.cert/proxpn/client.key Click on "Add"

Now to enable your VPN connection, all you need to do is click on the connection name in your Network Settings on the left pane, and on the right pane, click the On/Off toggle switch. Clicking it again will turn the connection off (when you are through using it). Depending on where you are connecting to and from, the connection process can be a bit lengthy, but that is an OpenVPN trait, and not specific to ProXPN.

For the list of available servers, you can go HERE

If importing fails (had several issues with Fedora 25 based installs), here are the network manager OpenVPN settings that will be needed to make a connection:

  • Identity tab -> Authentication -> Gateway -> the actual server you wish to connect to
  • Identity tab -> Authentication -> Type -> Password with Certificates (TLS)
  • Identity tab -> Authentication -> Username/Password -> your ProXPN username & password
  • Identity tab -> Authentication -> Certificates -> as mentioned above
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> Custom gateway port 443
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> Custom negotiation interval 0
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> LZO Compression
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> TCP (if it is indeed a TCP connection rather than UDP)
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> TUN Virtual Device (you can name it if you wish)
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> Custom MTU of 1500
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> General -> Restrict TCP MSS
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> Security -> Cipher = BF-CBC
  • Identity tab -> Advanced -> Security -> Cipher Key Size = 512