pritunl Installation Guide Installation Guide

pritunl is a free and open-source enterprise VPN server. Pritunl provides enterprise distributed OpenVPN and IPsec server with web management, serving as an alternative to commercial VPN platforms

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum (2+ recommended)

RAM: 512MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for installation

Network: VPN protocols

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 443 (default pritunl port)

VPN ports 1194, 9700

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install pritunl
sudo dnf install -y pritunl

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pritunl

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install pritunl
sudo apt install -y pritunl

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pritunl

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 443

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Install pritunl
sudo pacman -S pritunl

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pritunl

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Install pritunl
apk add --no-cache pritunl

# Enable and start service
rc-update add pritunl default
rc-service pritunl start

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Install pritunl
sudo zypper install -y pritunl

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now pritunl

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install pritunl

# Start service
brew services start pritunl

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install pritunl

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'pritunl_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service pritunl start

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install pritunl

# Or using Scoop
scoop install pritunl

# Verify installation
pritunl version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/pritunl

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
pritunl version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable pritunl

# Start service
sudo systemctl start pritunl

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop pritunl

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart pritunl

# Check status
sudo systemctl status pritunl

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u pritunl -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add pritunl default

# Start service
rc-service pritunl start

# Stop service
rc-service pritunl stop

# Restart service
rc-service pritunl restart

# Check status
rc-service pritunl status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'pritunl_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service pritunl start

# Stop service
service pritunl stop

# Restart service
service pritunl restart

# Check status
service pritunl status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start pritunl
brew services stop pritunl
brew services restart pritunl

# Check status
brew services list | grep pritunl

powershell

# Start service
net start pritunl

# Stop service
net stop pritunl

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service pritunl
Stop-Service pritunl
Restart-Service pritunl

# Check status
Get-Service pritunl

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream pritunl_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:443;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name pritunl.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name pritunl.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/pritunl.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/pritunl.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://pritunl_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName pritunl.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://pritunl.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName pritunl.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/pritunl.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/pritunl.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:443/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:443/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend pritunl_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/pritunl.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend pritunl_backend

backend pritunl_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server pritunl1 127.0.0.1:443 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R pritunl:pritunl /etc/pritunl
sudo chmod 750 /etc/pritunl

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status pritunl

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u pritunl -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep pritunl)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/pritunl"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/pritunl-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/pritunl /var/lib/pritunl

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/pritunl-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop pritunl

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/pritunl/pritunl-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start pritunl

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u pritunl -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/pritunl/pritunl.log

# Check configuration
pritunl version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/pritunl

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 443

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 443

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep pritunl)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep pritunl)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 443

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  pritunl:
    image: pritunl:latest
    ports:
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/pritunl
      - ./data:/var/lib/pritunl
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update pritunl

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade pritunl

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu pritunl

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade pritunl

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update pritunl

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade pritunl

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/pritunl-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/pritunl

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart pritunl

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/pritunl

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/pritunl -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/pritunl

Official Documentation: https://docs.pritunl.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/pritunl/pritunl

Community Forum: https://forum.pritunl.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.pritunl.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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