Follow through this tutorial to learn how to install WireGuard VPN server on Ubuntu 24.04. According wireguard.com, WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPsec, while avoiding the massive headache. It intends to be considerably more performant than OpenVPN. It is currently under heavy development, but already it might be regarded as the most secure, easiest to use, and simplest VPN solution in the industry.
Table of Contents
Installing WireGuard VPN Server on Ubuntu 24.04
Run system update
Before you can proceed, ensure that the system package cache is up-to-date;
sudo apt update
Install WireGuard VPN Server
To install WireGuard and the required modules, run the command below;
sudo apt install wireguard-tools
Sample output;
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
wireguard-tools
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 88.8 kB of archives.
After this operation, 326 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 wireguard-tools amd64 1.0.20210914-1ubuntu3 [88.8 kB]
Fetched 88.8 kB in 0s (1,051 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package wireguard-tools.
(Reading database ... 156325 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../wireguard-tools_1.0.20210914-1ubuntu3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking wireguard-tools (1.0.20210914-1ubuntu3) ...
Setting up wireguard-tools (1.0.20210914-1ubuntu3) ...
wg-quick.target is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it.
Processing triggers for man-db (2.12.0-3) ...
The command installs two WireGuard VPN utilities:
- wg: the configuration utility for getting and setting the configuration of WireGuard tunnel interfaces.
wg-quick: Use to set up a WireGuard interface. Refer toman wg-quick.
Install IPtables
Iptables will be required to set the firewall rules.
sudo apt install iptablesConfiguring WireGuard VPN Server on Ubuntu 24.04
Once the installation is done, you can now proceed to configure WireGuard VPN server on Ubuntu 24.04.
WireGuard creates an empty configuration directory, /etc/wireguard.
Generate WireGuard Private/Public Keys
Next, you need to generate WireGuard based64-encoded private and public keys.
Private keys can be generated using wg genkey command as follows.
To begin with, update the files/directories permissions using umask. By default, the umask for most users is 002. This means, when creating files, the default permissions are 664 for files (read/write for owner, read for group and others) and 775 for directories (read/write/execute for owner, read/execute for group, and read/execute for others).
For WireGuard private keys, these default permissions would allow anyone on the system to read the key, which poses a security risk. An attacker with access to the key could potentially impersonate your device and compromise your VPN connection.
Thus, ensure that you remove read, write, and execute permissions for everyone except the owner of the WireGuard configuration files.
umask 077
Next, generate the keys;
wg genkey
The command will print the private key to stdout. To write to a file, simply run;
wg genkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/wireguard.key
Generate WireGuard Public Keys
Public keys can be generated from the privates using wg pubkey command. The command similarly prints the key to standard output;
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/wireguard.key | wg pubkey
To write to a file;
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/wireguard.key | wg pubkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/wireguard.pub.key
Generate Both Private and Public Key at Once
You can run the command below to genereate WireGuard private key and public key at the same time;
wg genkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/wireguard.key | wg pubkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/wireguard.pub.key
Below are the contents of my private and public keys;
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/wireguard.key
uFgD3dDfMBP+SwPS+CTY5DY7U9+25laoleDsvXSJOmg=sudo cat /etc/wireguard/wireguard.pub.key
T6gaFyJEWRucHFzpJJFYPpFv6EH3r2lnXxLHMP8eshU=Generate WireGuard Server Configuration File
Once you have the keys in place, you can now generate WireGuard configuration file, /etc/wireguard/INTERFACE.conf.
Recommended INTERFACE names include ‘wg0’ or ‘wgvpn0’ or even ‘wgmgmtlan0’. However, the number at the end is in fact optional, and really any free-form string [a-zA-Z0-9_=+.-]{1,15} will work. So even interface names corresponding to geographic locations would suffice, such as ‘cincinnati’, ‘nyc’, or ‘paris’, if that’s somehow desirable.
First of all, let’s list our current interfaces;
ip -br alo UNKNOWN 127.0.0.1/8 ::1/128
enp0s3 UP 10.0.2.15/24 fe80::a00:27ff:feee:d66c/64
enp0s8 UP 192.168.56.104/24 fe80::a00:27ff:fe5e:3b83/64
Confirm the routes, to get the default route interface;
ip route list defaultdefault via 10.0.2.2 dev enp0s3 proto dhcp src 10.0.2.15 metric 100
You can then simply run the command below to create a config file, named, /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf.
Be sure to update the file as per your environment setup!
sudo tee /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf << 'EOL'
[Interface]
Address = 10.8.0.1/24
SaveConfig = true
ListenPort = 51820
DNS = 8.8.8.8,10.8.0.1
PrivateKey = uFgD3dDfMBP+SwPS+CTY5DY7U9+25laoleDsvXSJOmg=
PostUp = echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE;iptables -A FORWARD -i wg0 -o enp0s3 -j ACCEPT
PostDown = echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -D INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE;iptables -D FORWARD -i wg0 -o enp0s3 -j ACCEPT
EOL
You can get explanation of the configuration options from man wg-quick.
- Address: a comma-separated list of IP (v4 or v6) addresses (optionally with CIDR masks) to be assigned to the interface. May be specified multiple
times. - ListenPort: WireGuard starts at 51820/UDP by default. However, you can choose any free higher range port.
- DNS : a comma-separated list of IP (v4 or v6) addresses to be set as the interface’s DNS servers, or non-IP hostnames to be set as the interface’s DNS search domains. May be specified multiple times.
- PrivateKey: The key extracted from the Private key file created above, /etc/wireguard/wireguard.key
- PostUp, PostDown: script snippets which will be executed before/after setting up/tearing down the interface, most commonly used to configure custom DNS options or firewall rules.
- Enable IP forwarding
- Open port 51820/udp on firewall
- Masquerade traffic through the default route interface
- Allow forwarding of VPN traffic to the default route interface
- And opposite is true for all the above for PostDown configuration.
- SaveConfig: if set to ‘true’, the configuration is saved from the current state of the interface upon shutdown. Any changes made to the configuration file before the interface is removed will therefore be overwritten.
Enable IP Forwarding on WireGuard VPN Server
To route packets between VPN clients, you need to enable Kernel IP forwarding by simply running the command below.
However, we have already enabled this on the WireGuard interface configuration above (echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward).
Similarly, you would also enable as follows (if you want to use this approach, remove the above lines from the configuration file;
echo "net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf
Reload sysctl settings
sysctl -p
Running WireGuard VPN Server
You can run WireGuard by bringing up the WireGuard VPN server interface using the wg-quick command or by using systemd service.
Use wg-quick to Manage WireGuard VPN Tunnel Interface
To use wg-quick command to bring up the interface.
sudo wg-quick up wg0
Sample command output;
[#] ip link add wg0 type wireguard
[#] wg setconf wg0 /dev/fd/63
[#] ip -4 address add 10.8.0.1/24 dev wg0
[#] ip link set mtu 1420 up dev wg0
[#] resolvconf -a wg0 -m 0 -x
[#] echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE;iptables -A FORWARD -i wg0 -o enp0s3 -j ACCEPT
Show WireGuard VPN interface configuration;
sudo wginterface: wg0
public key: T6gaFyJEWRucHFzpJJFYPpFv6EH3r2lnXxLHMP8eshU=
private key: (hidden)
listening port: 51820
Checking the wg0 interface details:
ip add show wg0
4: wg0: mtu 1420 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/none
inet 10.8.0.1/24 scope global wg0
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
Listing Firewall rules on an active interface;
sudo iptables -L -nvChain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
0 0 ACCEPT 17 -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 udp dpt:51820
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
0 0 ACCEPT 0 -- wg0 enp0s3 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
sudo iptables -L -nv -t nat
Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain POSTROUTING (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
3 218 MASQUERADE 0 -- * enp0s3 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0
Use Systemd to Manage WireGuard VPN Tunnel Interface
If you had already brought up the WireGuard tunnel interface using wg-quick command, take the interface down;
sudo wg-quick down wg0[#] wg showconf wg0
[#] ip link delete dev wg0
[#] resolvconf -d wg0 -f
[#] echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -D INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE;iptables -D FORWARD -i wg0 -o enp0s3 -j ACCEPT
After that, you can use systemd service to manage WireGuard, by simply running the command below to start it.
sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0
To check the status;
systemctl status wg-quick@wg0
● [email protected] - WireGuard via wg-quick(8) for wg0
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; disabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Tue 2024-02-06 18:57:33 CET; 7s ago
Docs: man:wg-quick(8)
man:wg(8)
https://www.wireguard.com/
https://www.wireguard.com/quickstart/
https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-tools/about/src/man/wg-quick.8
https://git.zx2c4.com/wireguard-tools/about/src/man/wg.8
Process: 41652 ExecStart=/usr/bin/wg-quick up wg0 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 41652 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
CPU: 44ms
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat systemd[1]: Starting [email protected] - WireGuard via wg-quick(8) for wg0...
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat wg-quick[41652]: [#] ip link add wg0 type wireguard
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat wg-quick[41652]: [#] wg setconf wg0 /dev/fd/63
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat wg-quick[41652]: [#] ip -4 address add 10.8.0.1/24 dev wg0
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat wg-quick[41652]: [#] ip link set mtu 1420 up dev wg0
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat wg-quick[41652]: [#] echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t n>
Feb 06 18:57:33 noble-numbat systemd[1]: Finished [email protected] - WireGuard via wg-quick(8) for wg0.
To enable it to run on boot;
sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
Stopping WireGuard VPN
To stop the WireGuard VPN, run;
sudo wg-quick down wg0
Or
sudo systemctl stop wg-quick@wg0
Configure WireGuard VPN Clients
Once the server is setup, you can now proceed to configure WireGuard VPN clients.
Generate WireGuard VPN Clients Private/Public Keys
To begin with, you need to generate the clients keys. You can use the same command as used above while generating the keys for the server.
The command below generates keys for our three test servers.
for i in ubuntu debian rocky8; do wg genkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/$i.key | wg pubkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/$i.pub.key; done
ls -1 /etc/wireguard
debian.key
debian.pub.key
rocky8.key
rocky8.pub.key
ubuntu.key
ubuntu.pub.key
wg0.conf
wireguard.key
wireguard.pub.key
Checking the contents of each keys;
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/debian.key /etc/wireguard/debian.pub.key
0INvLkZU64dJd/41r1RuCEW0/mpHGycXOQvvuEWd7ks=
c9rhdbHHY1EVXThhTnzYkE0lto+5UK4/raGEhVnTLRQ=
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/ubuntu.key /etc/wireguard/ubuntu.pub.key
GODF2MimY+nATXMbjJUdCo19Q7edYEOg3PuegNSad1o=
ucQSU4bqZn0Pll+hgfLNZC8JNDMymOGifyiwp/iKIjc=
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/rocky8.key /etc/wireguard/rocky8.pub.key
YCEfv6oDxjEVxqnTI1caPsAm+efapiKYkcfLtn6gp1A=
BlO7WMxOjRqeEzi4VYLThpeksZQ8Wijig9Wa2v2U4mg=
Add Client Peer Settings in WireGuard VPN Server configuration
Next, you need to add the client peer settings in the WireGuard VPN Server configuration file as shown below.
Be sure to replace the Public Keys and IP addresses for the respective clients accordingly.
sudo tee -a /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf << 'EOF'
[Peer]
PublicKey = c9rhdbHHY1EVXThhTnzYkE0lto+5UK4/raGEhVnTLRQ=
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.10
[Peer]
PublicKey = ucQSU4bqZn0Pll+hgfLNZC8JNDMymOGifyiwp/iKIjc=
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.20
[Peer]
PublicKey = BlO7WMxOjRqeEzi4VYLThpeksZQ8Wijig9Wa2v2U4mg=
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.30
EOF
Our WireGuard VPN server configuration file now looks like;
sudo cat /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf
[Interface]
Address = 10.8.0.1/24
SaveConfig = true
PostUp = echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE;iptables -A FORWARD -i wg0 -o enp0s3 -j ACCEPT
PostDown = echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward;iptables -D INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT;iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o enp0s3 -j MASQUERADE;iptables -D FORWARD -i wg0 -o enp0s3 -j ACCEPT
ListenPort = 51820
PrivateKey = KCDg87QMVzrw7IXtIT9A/E7vmuOCQAXsIxIiPcsPGVg=
[Peer]
PublicKey = c9rhdbHHY1EVXThhTnzYkE0lto+5UK4/raGEhVnTLRQ=
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.10
[Peer]
PublicKey = ucQSU4bqZn0Pll+hgfLNZC8JNDMymOGifyiwp/iKIjc=
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.20
[Peer]
PublicKey = BlO7WMxOjRqeEzi4VYLThpeksZQ8Wijig9Wa2v2U4mg=
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.30
Reload WireGuard;
Reload WireGuard VPN using Systemctl
You can reload WireGuard VPN setting;
sudo systemctl reload wg-quick@wg0Check the status;
systemctl status wg-quick@wg0Reload WireGuard VPN using wg-quick command
If you started WireGuard using wg-quick command, then you can reload as follows;
sudo bash -c wg syncconf wg0 <(sudo wg-quick strip wg0)
Sample output;
interface: wg0
public key: 60UScq0EQ7ZHXIdHcOnjFYK6N/TLtmtPGTBqLwLd0WY=
private key: (hidden)
listening port: 51820
peer: c9rhdbHHY1EVXThhTnzYkE0lto+5UK4/raGEhVnTLRQ=
allowed ips: 10.8.0.10/32
peer: ucQSU4bqZn0Pll+hgfLNZC8JNDMymOGifyiwp/iKIjc=
allowed ips: 10.8.0.20/32
peer: BlO7WMxOjRqeEzi4VYLThpeksZQ8Wijig9Wa2v2U4mg=
allowed ips: 10.8.0.30/32
Show current WireGuard configuration and runtime information of specified interface;
sudo wg showinterface: wg0
public key: T6gaFyJEWRucHFzpJJFYPpFv6EH3r2lnXxLHMP8eshU=
private key: (hidden)
listening port: 51820
peer: ucQSU4bqZn0Pll+hgfLNZC8JNDMymOGifyiwp/iKIjc=
endpoint: 192.168.56.103:40122
allowed ips: 10.8.0.20/32
latest handshake: 1 minute, 6 seconds ago
transfer: 648 B received, 184 B sent
peer: c9rhdbHHY1EVXThhTnzYkE0lto+5UK4/raGEhVnTLRQ=
allowed ips: 10.8.0.10/32
peer: BlO7WMxOjRqeEzi4VYLThpeksZQ8Wijig9Wa2v2U4mg=
allowed ips: 10.8.0.30/32
Install and Setup WireGuard VPN Client on Ubuntu 24.04
Follow the link below to learn how to install and setup WireGuard VPN client on Ubuntu 24.04.
Install WireGuard VPN client on Ubuntu 24.04
That concludes our guide on how to install WireGuard VPN server.
