Today I am going to show you, how to install Outline VPN server on your VPS within 15 minutes.
What is Outline VPN?
Outline is new open source VPN created by Jigshaw which is far easier to install compared to OpenVPN and provide outstanding VPN experience for day to day work.
Special Note
If you are using a DigitalOcean Droplet as your VPS, then please refer my tutorial on”5 Simple Steps to Install Outline VPN on your Droplet” for a much easier method.
Prerequisites
- A Linux VPS server with root access
- An SSH client (I am using PuTTY in this tutorial)
- A local computer runs on Windows or Linux
Let’s start
Hoping that you have successfully connected to your VPS server using PuTTY, Let’s start to move forward.
Step 1 – Install Docker into your VPS (If not installed already)
Pre-docker installation check
A version of 3.10 or higher Linux kernel is required to run Docker in your VPS. So we are going to test our Linux kernel version.
Issue following command once you logged into your server as root user.
uname -r
If you obtain an output similar to,
4.15.0-46-generic
That means in more generic term, your Linux kernel is version 4.15 and you are ready to go.
* But if it is less than version 3.10, you have to reconsider on upgrading your VPS kernel before proceeding with this tutorial.
* Take a look at my “Upgrade your Linux VPS Kernel” tutorial.
Docker installation
Issue following command to install Docker into your VPS.
sudo curl -sS https://get.docker.com/ | sh
After installation, issue following command to start and enable Docker service.
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker
Finally, verify that the Docker service is running:
sudo sudo systemctl status docker
If Docker is running successfully, you’ll get an output as follows.
Step 2 – Install Outline VPN server
With a single piece of command you can install and setup Outline VPN on your VPS server. Issue following command and wait until script handles everything for you.
sudo wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Jigsaw-Code/outline-server/master/src/server_manager/install_scripts/install_server.sh | bash
When the installation is finished you’ll get a result as follows.
Note that the information in green colored is important and we’ll use them during next few minutes.
Step 3: Manage your Outline VPN Server
Download and install Outline Manager and Outline Client by visiting https://getoutline.org to your local computer.
Outline Manager is used to manage the VPN server which is available for Windows, Linux and macOS platforms where-as Outline Client is used to connect through the VPN network and to access the internet without any barrier. Outline Client is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS and Chrome OS platforms which enables one to use the VPN server across several devices.
After that, Open Outline Manager and click on “Set up Outline anywhere”
You’ll see two steps to follow. You’ve already done the first one.For the second step, all you need is to copy the green colored text (including curly brackets) from previous Step 2 into the field and click “Done”.
Finally you’ll get the following interface and your VPN server is now ready to connect.
Final Step: Connect to your VPN
Now you have to obtain your access keys to configure the Outline Client.
Click on PC-like icon in-front of “My access key”
Then you’ll get two options as
- CONNECT THIS DEVICE
- CONNECT A DIFFERENT DEVICE
Continue with “CONNECT THIS DEVICE”.
* If you select “CONNECT A DIFFERENT DEVICE”, then you’ll be provided with a unique URL and when you visit that URL with your other device, you’ll get a similar interface as above. Then you have to continue again with “CONNECT THIS DEVICE” option.
Then you’ll be asked to copy your access code
And once copied, you will be prompted to install Outline client. Since we have already installed Outline client in previous step, let’s proceed with “ADD SERVER” option.
Outline client will open automatically; it will automatically detect the access code that we have copied earlier.
Now press on “ADD SERVER”.
Now click on CONNECT to make a connection with your VPN server and unleash from any network barrier with 100% privacy.
Finally, you can test whether your VPN actually works by visiting https://iplocation.com/
You can see that, your IP address and Country have been changed accordingly.
Some Important Points to be Noted
- It is not necessary to open Outline Manager again and again once the VPN server is setup. That is, you only need Outline Client to access the internet via your VPN server
- In Outline Manager you can Add new keys,
- And share those with your friends, so that they too can use Outline Client to access the internet via your VPN server.
Likewise you can create any number of keys and share with your friends or you can sell those keys to other and have a passive income.
Try this with your mobile phone and experience how it works!!!!
Let me know your ideas, problems you faced while following this tutorial in comment section. I am happy to help you 🙂
