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VPNs can allow you to achieve greater levels of security and anonymity on the internet. Your traffic cannot be tracked by third parties whether it be your internet service provider or the government authorities.
Although an easy option would be to get a top-tier VPN service of the industry but creating a VPN server with limited resources at home is possible.
You won’t be able to enjoy the premium features like a kill-switch feature or an unlimited amount of VPN servers in different regions, but your own VPN will also get the job done. And on the bright side, you won’t have to worry about a commercial VPN logging your traffic.
Keep on reading to know how you can create your own VPN.
What Is A VPN & How It Works?
A VPN can hide your online identity while you surf the internet. You may be on an unsecured public network or a website that tracks customer cookies, but if your VPN is on, you don’t have to worry about your original identity or your personal information getting leaked.
When you connect to a VPN, it creates a secure channel between the device and a VPN server. Traffic going out of the device travels through that secure path, eliminating the risks of your data being monitored or manipulated by any third parties. Even your ISP or government authorities will be unable to see what you’re doing on the internet.
How to Create Your Own VPN?
There are various tips on how you can make your own VPN with a little technicality and a handful of resources.
You can either host a server on your router or subscribe to third-party cloud services to get rid of all the maintenance you have to perform while hosting a VPN server on your network.
Having your own VPN server eliminates the factor of your logs being tracked by VPN companies.
Here are some ways you can host your VPN server at home.
1. Get A VPN Router
If you don’t know what a VPN router is, it is the same as your normal router but it has built-in VPN capabilities in it. You can easily host your VPN server with system-specific instructions and allow as many WiFi-enabled devices as possible to connect and have secure access to the web.
To set up a VPN server on your router, visit the configuration page of the VPN router you’re using, head to the VPN section and follow the instructions given in your router manual or search for the instructions according to your router’s firmware.
Note that guidelines can be different for each router. It all depends on which firmware it has.
2. Flash Your Router If It Supports Any Third Party Firmware
The first option might not work if you don’t have a router that has built-in VPN functionalities in it. And buying a VPN-enabled router will just cost you more bucks.
In this case, you can go for the option to flash your router’s firmware to enable the VPN feature.
But you have to take care of one thing and that is to check for compatibility if your router supports any third-party firmware like DD-WRT or OpenWrt.
What you’re doing by flashing the router is you’re simply installing a new operating system that will enable the VPN feature on your router and you’ll be able to host your own VPN server.
3. Use Cloud Services
Cloud services are the future. Not long ago, it was announced that BBC has switched to AWS for better website architecture. They’re flexible, reasonable, secure, and serverless (at least for the customer).
A cloud-based solution can be easy to host your VPN server. You might have to pay for the services but you don’t need to maintain anything and that’s the best part.
You can use Algo VPN to create disposable VPN solutions on your cloud. You can go for Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, or Digital Ocean which is considered the most user-friendly platform.
Just download algo dependencies and install. You have to run some commands, set up a VPN profile, provide your access keys wherever necessary and you’re all set.
4. Host A VPN Server Using Your Home PC
It is possible to host your own dedicated VPN server on your home machine if you can keep it running all the time.
To make your own VPN on your Windows 10 or Mac, you need to set up port forwarding first for the VPN protocol. Then create a new connection from your PC’s Control Panel and add a list of users to allow connecting to your dedicated network.
To receive connections to your VPN server, you’ll need to configure the firewall settings by allowing routing and remote access.
At last, set up VPN connections on your PC. Configure the devices that can connect to the network, any device can connect whether it be Android or iOS.
Wrapping it up!
Creating and hosting your own VPN server can perhaps be a rare option to go for as there are plenty of VPN providers offering good services at reasonable price tags. Although not all VPN providers have strict logging policies, even if they have, there is no assurance whether they’re solid. So you have to be sure that your VPN provider is tested and audited by third-party firms to prove its legitimacy.
Other than that, you can always host your own VPN following this guide.
