Easy way to configure PPTP server on Ubuntu Server 12.04.
First, install PPTP server:
sudo apt-get install pptpd
Configuring the PPTPD server
Now, edit /etc/pptpd.conf
You need to edit localip= and remoteip= lines to match your network.
Ideally, you want to specify the local and remote IP address on your network but off your DHCP range.
Example: I’m using 10.0.1.x addresses on my lan, with subnet mask 255.255.255.0. I could easily use the following:
localip=10.0.2.1 remoteip=10.0.2.100-199
(Any IP ranges over MAX_CONNECTIONS (100) are ignored. )
Note that although 10.0.2.x is technically off my subnet mask, I can use it.
Next, edit /etc/ppp/chap-secrets
Specify username / password combinations in the form
username * password *
Edit /etc/ppp/pptpd-options and uncomment the ms-dns lines and add valid nameservers. Use your ISP’s nameservers, Google’s nameservers, OpenDNS nameservers, or whichever.
If you are running your pptpd server on a hosted VPS, also comment out the proxyarp directive.
Configuring the firewall:
Now, enter the following at the command line to set firewall rules to allow connections
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 1723 -j ACCEPT iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p gre -j ACCEPT
If you are going to be routing all traffic through the VPN, also do the following few steps:
iptables -A FORWARD -i ppp+ -o eth0 -j ACCEPT iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o ppp+ -j ACCEPT
and edit the /etc/sysctl.conf file and uncomment (or add):
net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
Refresh sysctl by doing:
sysctl -p
Finally, restart the pptpd server
service pptpd restart
