Droplet as cheaper VPN solution?

November 15, 2014 11.9k views
BrownChiLD
By:
BrownChiLD

hi Guys

I've been looking around for a cheap VPN service that would allow me to use a STATIC IP address for my connection.. (My ISP can't offer me Static)

Basically i need this for whitelisting my IP on my shared hosting in order to access remoteSQL.. and also the make my local webserver public.

VPN Services w/ static IP addons are fine, but the thing is, I don't need this all that time, perhpas once or twice a month only when im doing maintenance and upgrades.

So i've been looking for a cheaper solution w/ less bells and whistles compared to these featurefull VPN services all over .

Is DigitalOcean cloud service something that is also meant for hosting your own VPN?

Or would you suggest another solution?

regards

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6 Answers
ryanpq MOD December 1, 2014

You can absolutely run a VPN server on a droplet. A solution like OpenVPN is fairly easy to set up. You mentioned only needing it a couple days each month. If you wanted to retain your IP address you would have to create a droplet and leave it on your account, you could power it down when you are not using it but it would still incur charges.

You can read more about setting up OpenVPN here.

How To Install OpenVPN Access Server on Ubuntu 12.04
OpenVPN Access Server is a "full featured SSL VPN software solution that integrates OpenVPN server capabilities, enterprise management capabilities, simplified OpenVPN Connect UI, and OpenVPN Client software packages that accommodate Windows, MAC, and Linux OS environments." Install OpenVPN Access Server on your Ubuntu 12.04 VPS.
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BrownChiLD December 2, 2014

Thank you for that. Before diving into the docs and experimenting I would like to clarify that YES I can setup the VPN in a way that my HOME COMPUTER can use the IP of the droplet server so that

1) My IP, when browsing the web, will always show the droplet IP to those servers (for whitelisting)
2) this will open up PORTS to my computer no matter what type of internet connection I am (hosting HTTP behind NAT w/o port forwarding)

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  • ryanpq MOD December 2, 2014

    Yes on both points. I use an OpenVPN server running on a droplet myself for my home PC.

BrownChiLD December 2, 2014

wow..im definitely looking into this then! thank you oh so much for the confirmation.. :)

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sierracircle December 3, 2014

@ryanpq

Do you ever run up against bandwidth limits when using your droplet as a VPN?

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  • ryanpq MOD December 3, 2014

    I have not. 1TB (on the 512MB droplet) is quite a bit. Plus, until bandwidth stats are made available via the control panel we are not charging for bandwidth overage

  • sierracircle December 3, 2014

    Thanks! Good to know.

BrownChiLD December 3, 2014

@ryanpq
Quick question, would it be possible to do split tunneling on a droplet vpn? I would like just a few apps to go thru the VPN and the rest of my computer on my normal connection. Is that possible?

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  • ryanpq MOD December 3, 2014

    While I have never done this myself it may be possible but not easy to implement. If you only want to route certain apps you may have better luck setting up a proxy server for the apps you want to route through your droplet instead.

BrownChiLD December 4, 2014

@ryanpq
but i need my apps to be on the STATIC IP though, for several reasons (white listing and http server thing)

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