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Prerequisites

A VPS with Public IP address.
Comfortable with Linux command-line.
Basic knowledge of IPv4 subnetting (to be honest, I'm not familiar with IPv6 subnetting, so this article is for IPv4 only).

It doesn't matter which cloud provider you choose. in this article, I will use DigitalOcean (refferal link) Droplet for my WireGuard VPN server (You can get your free $200 in credit over 60 days by registering using my refferal code).

NOTE: You should know that cloud providers usually charge extra amount of $ for every GB of overuse bandwidth. So, know your needs and your limits!

VPS server I use for this article will be destroyed when this article is published.

Deploying your new VPS (DigitalOcean Droplet, optional)

If you already have your own VPS running, you can skip this step and go to next step: "Setup your WireGuard Server".

Go to your project and Create new Droplet.
Choose droplet region closest to you to avoid any potential network latency. In this example, I'll choose Frankfurt datacenter.
Choose your Droplet OS, for this article, I'll use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Choose your Droplet size. I'll start with basic, 1 CPU with 1GB of RAM and 1TB network transfer ($6/month).
Adapt the VPS size to fit with your need to avoid extra charge of overuse bandwidth (1TB monthly transfer is enough for me).
Set up your prefered authentication method, I prefer using SSH public and private key rather than password auth.
Set any other options as default. I'm sure you don't need backup and managed database options for this setup.

WireGuard did NOT need high disk I/O, so NVMe disk is NOT necessary.

Setup your WireGuard Server

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since I'm not familiar with IPv6 subnetting, I'll only use IPv4.

Once your VPS ready and running, it's recommended to update your OS first using apt update && apt upgrade command and reboot your VPS.

If you want to manage WireGuard peers (client) on a single server easily, you might be interested to read "[Installing WireGuard-UI to Manage Your WireGuard VPN Server]({{< ref "/tutorials/installing-wireguard-ui-to-manage-your-wireguard-vpn-server/index.md" >}})".

Install WireGuard

Install WireGuard using sudo apt install wireguard command. Once WireGuard is installed, we need to generate private and public key pairs for our WireGuard server.

Tips: You can create vanity public key address for WireGuard using tool like warner/wireguard-vanity-address.

Generate Private Key

You can use wg genkey command to generate your private key. Place your private key to somewhere save, for example: /etc/wireguard/do_private.key.

wg genkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/do_private.key

Write down the output, we'll need that later to generate our WireGuard Server public key. Example of my WireGuard server private key:

uO0GDXBc+ZH5QsLmf+qRyCtFmUV1coadJvQp8iM0mEg=

Change /etc/wireguard/do_private.key file permission with sudo chmod 600 /etc/wireguard/do_private.key.

Generate Public Key

Now, generate server public key from previously generated private key:

sudo cat /etc/wireguard/do_private.key | wg pubkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/do_public.key

Write down the output, we'll need that later to configure WireGuard connection for peers (clients). Example of my WireGuard server public key:

7c023YtKepRPNNKfGsP5f2H2VtfPvVptn8Hn6jjmaz8=

Configuring WireGuard Server

Before configuring your WireGuard server, you need to decide your private network IP range for your WireGuard connection (tunnel interface). You should choose valid private network IP ranges. For example:

Between 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10.0.0.0/8)
Between 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16.0.0/12)
Between 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168.0.0/16)

Tips: Avoid using your current used private IP ranges and commonly used private IP range. For example: Docker uses 172.17.0.0/16 ip range by default. If you use Docker, you must use another IP range for your WireGuard IP range to avoid conflict.

In this article, I only use IPv4 and use 10.10.88.0/24 for my WireGuard network.

You'll also need to decide which UDP port WireGuard should listen to. Many network appliance out there (such as Netgate, QNAP, etc) set UDP port 51280 as their default WireGuard listen port. But, in this article, I'll use UDP port 51822.

Now, we have all (basic) required information for WireGuard server to run:

Server Public IP: xxx.xx.xx0.246
Server Private key: uO0GDXBc+ZH5QsLmf+qRyCtFmUV1coadJvQp8iM0mEg=
Server Public Key: 7c023YtKepRPNNKfGsP5f2H2VtfPvVptn8Hn6jjmaz8=
Server Listen Port: UDP port 51822
WireGuard Network: 10.10.88.0/24

Create file named wg0.conf for your WireGuard configuration under /etc/wireguard directory and fill with this example configuration:

# /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf

[Interface]
PrivateKey = <YOUR_SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY> # This example: uO0GDXBc+ZH5QsLmf+qRyCtFmUV1coadJvQp8iM0mEg=
Address = <YOUR_SERVER_WG_IP_ADDRESS>  # This example: 10.10.88.1/24
ListenPort = <SERVER_UDP_LISTEN_PORT>  # This example: 51822
SaveConfig = true

Note: From the configuration above, notice that I pick 10.10.88.1 as my server IP address for WireGuard network.

Replace <YOUR_SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY>, <YOUR_SERVER_IP_ADDRESS>, <SERVER_UDP_LISTEN_PORT> with your prefered configuration.

Allowing IP forward

In this article, we'll allow this WireGuard server as our default gateway for peers (clients), so any outgoing network traffic (except to your LAN/WLAN network) can go trough this WireGuard server. If you use WireGuard as peer-to-peer connection, yo don't need to do this.

Edit /etc/sysctl.conf and add net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 to the end of the file, then run sudo sysctl -p to load the new /etc/sysctl.conf values.

sudo sysctl -p

After that, you need to add firewall rules to allow peers (clients) to connect to server and routed properly.

Setting up Firewall

By default, Ubuntu system use comes with UFW to manage system firewall. You need to add WireGuard listen port to firewall allow list.

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow proto udp to any port 51822

Note that I also add OpenSSH to allow list to avoid losing connection to SSH if you didn't configure / activate it before.

Replace 51822 to your configured WireGuard listen port.

Enable / restart your ufw service using:

ufw enable # to enable firewall, or
ufw reload # to reload firewall

Next, you need to know which network interface used by your server as its default route. You can use ip route list default to see that. Example output of my ip route list default command:

default via 164.90.160.1 dev eth0 proto static

Write down the word after dev output, that's your default network interface. We will need that infromation later. In this example, my default network interface is eth0.

Now add this following configuration to your /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf under [Interface] section:

PostUp = ufw route allow in on wg0 out on eth0
PostUp = iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
PreDown = ufw route delete allow in on wg0 out on eth0
PreDown = iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Replace eth0 from above configuration with your server default network interface.

Your /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf should look like this:

# /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf

[Interface]
PrivateKey = <YOUR_SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY> # This example: uO0GDXBc+ZH5QsLmf+qRyCtFmUV1coadJvQp8iM0mEg=
Address = <YOUR_SERVER_WG_IP_ADDRESS>  # This example: 10.10.88.1/24
ListenPort = <SERVER_UDP_LISTEN_PORT>  # This example: 51822
SaveConfig = true

PostUp = ufw route allow in on wg0 out on eth0
PostUp = iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
PreDown = ufw route delete allow in on wg0 out on eth0
PreDown = iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Now our WireGuard server is ready. Try to start your WireGuard server using wg-quick (via systemd):

sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg0.service

Note that wg0 above is taken from your configuration file under /etc/wireguard directory (but without .conf file extension). If your configuration file is named internal.conf, you can start that configuration using systemctl start wg-quick@internal.service.

Check that your WireGuard server is running using systemctl status wg-quick@wg0.service command:

● wg-quick@wg0.service - WireGuard via wg-quick(8) for wg0
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/wg-quick@.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (exited) since Mon 2023-06-05 14:52:31 UTC; 2h 2min 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: 714 ExecStart=/usr/bin/wg-quick up wg0 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 714 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 131ms

Jun 05 14:52:30 fra1-do1 systemd[1]: Starting WireGuard via wg-quick(8) for wg0...
Jun 05 14:52:30 fra1-do1 wg-quick[714]: [#] ip link add wg0 type wireguard
Jun 05 14:52:30 fra1-do1 wg-quick[714]: [#] wg setconf wg0 /dev/fd/63
Jun 05 14:52:30 fra1-do1 wg-quick[714]: [#] ip -4 address add 10.10.88.1/24 dev wg0
Jun 05 14:52:30 fra1-do1 wg-quick[714]: [#] ip link set mtu 1420 up dev wg0
Jun 05 14:52:31 fra1-do1 wg-quick[714]: [#] ufw route allow in on wg0 out on eth0
Jun 05 14:52:31 fra1-do1 wg-quick[790]: Skipping adding existing rule
Jun 05 14:52:31 fra1-do1 wg-quick[790]: Skipping adding existing rule (v6)
Jun 05 14:52:31 fra1-do1 wg-quick[714]: [#] iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
Jun 05 14:52:31 fra1-do1 systemd[1]: Finished WireGuard via wg-quick(8) for wg0.

To automatically start WireGuard service when the system start, you can execute sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0.service command.

Setup WireGuard Peer (client)

In this section, I'll use Linux machine using wg-quick via systemd as an example to connect to our configured WireGuard server. For other method such as connecting using NetworkManager GUI, Different OS and mobile devices, you can read my next article: "[Configure WireGuard VPN Clients]({{< ref "/tutorials/configure-wireguard-vpn-clients/index.md" >}})".

Configuring WireGuard peer (client) in Linux using systemd is almost the same as setting up WireGuard server. The different is you didn't need to configure firewall and IP forward for peers. All you need to do is install WireGuard, create private and public key, configure DNS server you want to use, add start the service.

Generating Private and Public Key Pairs (Client Side)

If you already have your own WireGuard key pairs, you can use that keys, skip this step and go to the next step: "Configuring WireGuard Peer (client)".

Tips: You can create vanity public key address for WireGuard using tool like warner/wireguard-vanity-address.

Generate Peer Private key

You can use wg genkey command to generate your private key. Place your private key to somewhere save, for example: /etc/wireguard/do_private.key.

wg genkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/do_private.key

Write down the output, we'll need that later to generate WireGuard peer public Key. Example of my WireGuard peer public key:

WApLrVqFvXMbvsn+62DxfQCY8rsFqmHCEFAabAeA5WY=

Change /etc/wireguard/do_private.key file permission with sudo chmod 600 /etc/wireguard/do_private.key.

Generate Peer Public Key

Generate peer public key from previously generated peer private key:

sudo cat /etc/wireguard/do_private.key | wg pubkey | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/do_public.key

Write down the output, we'll need that public key later to be added to our WireGuard server. Example of my WireGuard peer public key:

6gnV+QU7jG7BzwWrBbqiYpKQDGePYQunebkmvmFrxSk=

Configuring WireGuard Peer (client)

Before configuring your WireGuard peer (client), you need to decide your WireGuard private IP address for your peer connection (tunnel interface). You should use unused IP address for peer(s) from your WireGuard network IP range. In this article, 10.10.88.1/24 already used by my WireGuard server, so I can't use that IP for peer(s). I'll use 10.10.88.2/24 (or 10.10.88.2/32) instead.

Now, we have all (basic) required information for WireGuard peer (client) to run:

Server Public IP: xxx.xx.xx0.246
Server Public Key: 7c023YtKepRPNNKfGsP5f2H2VtfPvVptn8Hn6jjmaz8=
Server Listen Port: UDP port 51822
WireGuard Network: 10.10.88.0/24
Client IP address: 10.10.88.2/24

Create file named wg-do1.conf for your WireGuard configuration under /etc/wireguard directory and fill with this configuration example:

# /etc/wireguard/wg-do1.conf

[Interface]
PrivateKey = <YOUR_PEER_PRIVATE_KEY> # This example: WApLrVqFvXMbvsn+62DxfQCY8rsFqmHCEFAabAeA5WY=
Address = <YOUR_PEER_IP_ADDRESS>     # This example: 10.10.88.2/24
DNS = 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8                # You can use any public / your own DNS resolver if you want

[Peer]
PublicKey = <YOUR_SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY> # This example: 7c023YtKepRPNNKfGsP5f2H2VtfPvVptn8Hn6jjmaz8=
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0               # Route all external traffic to here
Endpoint = <YOUR_SERVER_PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS>:<SERVER_UDP_LISTEN_PORT> # This example: xxx.xx.xx0.246:51822
PersistentKeepalive = 15

Replace <YOUR_PEER_PRIVATE_KEY>, <YOUR_PEER_IP_ADDRESS>, <YOUR_SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY>, <YOUR_SERVER_PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS>, and <SERVER_UDP_LISTEN_PORT> with yours.

Note:

AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0 means all traffic will go trough that peer (in this case, our WireGuard server).
You can specify / selective routing specific IP to specific peer (if you connected to multiple peers / servers).
For example, if you only want to route traffic to IP 1.0.0.1 and 8.8.4.4 using specific peer and use your current internet connection as default route, you can remove 0.0.0.0/0 and add 1.0.0.1/32,8.8.4.4/32 (separated by comma) to AllowedIPs value.
PersistentKeepalive = 15 : How many seconds for peer send ping to the server regularly, so the server can reach the peer sitting behind NAT/firewall.
DNS You can also specify DNS servers you want to use in your DNS configuration value.

Now, our peer (client) configuration is complete. you can try to connect your device to your WireGuard server using systemd service.

sudo systemctl start wg-quick@wg-do1.service

Note 1: wg-do1 above is taken from your configuration file under /etc/wireguard directory (but without .conf file extension). If your configuration file is named vpn-wireguard.conf, you can start that configuration using systemctl start wg-quick@vpn-wireguard.service.

Note 2: By default wg-quick uses resolvconf to register new DNS entries. This will cause issues with network managers and DHCP clients that do not use resolvconf, as they will overwrite /etc/resolv.conf thus removing the DNS servers added by wg-quick.
The solution is to use networking software that supports resolvconf.

Note 3: Users of systemd-resolved should make sure that systemd-resolvconf is installed.

To verify your configurations is properly configured, try to check your public IP from your browser or terminal using sudo wg show or curl ifconfig.me.

Conclusion

WireGuard is my favorite VPN protocol. It's fast and less resource usage compared with other VPN protocols. It's highly configurable and works with multiple environments. It can be used for peer-to-peer connection, client-server connection, or creating secure mesh network.

When combined with Nginx as reverse proxy, you can even exposing your local HTTP server (and mostly any services) sitting behind NAT/firewall to the internet.

Anyway, managing large scale of WireGuard network can be very dificult. But, there are a tool to help you managing large scale WireGuard networks, such as Netmaker.

Additional Notes

If you have some technical difficulties setting up your own WireGuard server, I can help you to set that up for small amount of IDR (I accept Monero XMR for credits if you don't have Indonesia Rupiah).
To find out how to contact me, please visit https://www.ditatompel.com/pages/contact.

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