# Tools

We'll use several free tools during the setup process; OpenVPN + Easy-RSA are mandatory and the rest is very helpful.

## Open VPN Community (free)

**OpenVPN is an "SSL/TLS VPN" that is very mature and very widely used.**

It can operate on any unused TCP or UDP port and can **easily cross all kinds of firewalls and NAT-PAT routers**, even in generally adverse situations like mobile devices.

[OpenVPN](https://openvpn.net/) now has commercial offers but we'll use the **free** [**Community**](https://openvpn.net/community/) **edition** for our "do it yourself" installation.

You can select and download the latest version (v2.4.7 as of this writing), corresponding to your own OS, here : [https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/](https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/)

![](https://681104499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LhjKavWMofrik61tHfB%2F-LiCsJuOzfACibbj31FH%2F-LiDBbyYSPn_t4r4idFy%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=263aee0b-6aaa-4a57-a9e5-17ea920b3ec9)



## Easy-RSA (free)

Easy-RSA is also managed by the OpenVPN team; it is the tool we'll use to create our **PKI** (**Public Key Infrastructure**) with its **CA** (**Certificate Autority**), to create and manage our **Digital Certificates.**

{% hint style="info" %}
**Easy-RSA 2 should already be included in OpenVPN Windows installers**
{% endhint %}

If needed, here is the GitHub download location : [https://github.com/OpenVPN/easy-rsa-old/releases](https://github.com/OpenVPN/easy-rsa-old/releases)

_For Linux-like environments, you can also choose Easy-RSA 3; download from :_ [_https://github.com/OpenVPN/easy-rsa/releases_](https://github.com/OpenVPN/easy-rsa/releases)

{% hint style="danger" %}
If you use Easy-RSA 3, check the docs as the commands have changed from Easy-RSA 2
{% endhint %}



## Optional tools

### CloudBerry Explorer for Amazon S3 (free version)

CBE for S3 is a very useful tool to **transfer files between your own machine and your Amazon S3 buckets**, with a familiar Windows Explorer -like GUI :&#x20;

![CloudBerry Explorer for Amazon S3 : GUI](https://www.cloudberrylab.com/img/modules/product-tour/explorer/amazon-s3/2.png)

{% hint style="info" %}
This tool has a free version and a commercial version; however, **only the commercial version supports encrypted S3 buckets**, so **we'll do without encrypted buckets** (at least at first).
{% endhint %}

You can grab the software here : [https://www.cloudberrylab.com/explorer/amazon-s3.aspx](https://www.cloudberrylab.com/explorer/amazon-s3.aspx)



### PuTTY (free)

This tool should not be generally required, but **if you want to open a command line terminal to your Linux VPN server**, then PuTTY is the way to go for the Windows platform.

PuTTY is available from : [https://www.putty.org/](https://www.putty.org/)

![](https://681104499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LhjKavWMofrik61tHfB%2F-LiCsJuOzfACibbj31FH%2F-LiDI3ucJ7V23H9EyXTj%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=1d826094-b45a-43ab-8491-2e3da9aba34e)

### Your text editor of choice

_**Avoid the very basic Windows Notepad**_ for its lack of customization options, **no support for Unix-style "End-Of-Lines"**, etc.  If you paste in Windows Notepad some file contents from these web pages, they will look like garbage...

**ABSOLUTELY DON'T USE ANY MICROSOFT-WORD-LIKE "WORD PROCESSING" SOFTWARE !!!**

Here are 3 very common good quality free text editors (initially created for developers, they support much more than simple text editing, but this is out of our scope) :

* A good **lightweight but feature-rich free editor** is **Notepad++** that you can find at : [https://notepad-plus-plus.org](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/)

![](https://681104499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LhjKavWMofrik61tHfB%2F-LiNNWuBeHni2sr4aCqU%2F-LiNOo102DM_NH2Z_0EJ%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=8c91a47a-8bdd-400d-826a-0c06b5ae32db)

**More powerful** (but also more complex) environments are **available for free** like :

* [Microsoft Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/)

![](https://681104499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LhjKavWMofrik61tHfB%2F-LiNTdNidQXJFPeft0c4%2F-LiNUA1wgtWvzWeO6jGF%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=57849fa9-5c0b-4518-8796-7ac3e689c80e)

* [GitHub Atom](https://atom.io/)

![](https://681104499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LhjKavWMofrik61tHfB%2F-LiNTdNidQXJFPeft0c4%2F-LiNV-0XPmNQYbZhhdmV%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=db27ba44-cbff-40a5-9f38-dcb615e175f9)



