SoftEther-VPN server just has local IP, guides miss info [ubuntu]

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usr1999
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 28, 2022 4:34 pm

SoftEther-VPN server just has local IP, guides miss info [ubuntu]

Post by usr1999 » Sat May 28, 2022 4:42 pm

I am new to network-science

I want to open a SoftEther-VPN server on my physical Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS server and access it via multiple windows-based clients. The official guide https://www.softether.org/4-docs/2-howt ... Ad-hoc_VPN for a simple, session based VPN-connection is provided only with the windows GUI-version.

An installation was successful and i have a startup-script https://www.softether.org/4-docs/1-manu ... igurations (see chapter 7.3.8) and i can add virtual hubs and add users via

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./vpncmd
, the terminal-based config tool. If I now connect from a windows client within the same LAN i gain access to the VPN-server, which tells me that the hub and user-configurations are working.

I do not understand why upon starting the VPN-server with

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sudo /etc/init.d/vpnserver start
it returns the lines

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The SoftEther VPN Server service has been started.

Let's get started by accessing to the following URL from your PC:

https://192.168.1.136:5555/
  or
https://192.168.1.136/

Note: IP address may vary. Specify your server's IP address.
A TLS certificate warning will appear because the server uses self signed certificate by default. That is natural. Continue with ignoring the TLS warning.
...which is just the regular local address of the physical server. Now excuse my ignorance, but shouldn't i get some form of URL which is globally accessible which then asks me for either a server, hub, or user-password upon calling it from a client? Because right now I can't quite see the mechanism which actually establishes a connection to the outside world. Does every physical machine need a VPN-server or is one server and multiple clients enough?

solo
Posts: 1228
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:31 am

Re: SoftEther-VPN server just has local IP, guides miss info [ubuntu]

Post by solo » Sun May 29, 2022 1:36 am

You can ignore the start up output.

To manage your new server from a nice GUI, install SoftEther VPN Server Manager on one of the LAN Windows PCs and address it as 192.168.1.136:5555 (or :443 presumably)

To access the server from outside, address it as your-public-IP:5555 (or :443 presumably)

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