SparkLabs Blog.

The latest news and releases.


Ovpngen: OpenVPN Configuration Generator 2.0

We're pleased to announce a significant update to Ovpngen, our free OpenVPN Configuration Generator tool. Version 2.0 significantly expands support for ARM64 architectures, adds universal support for all Linux distributions, adds SAN generation, modernisation of generated configurations, packaging enhancements, and many other improvements.

If you're not familiar with Ovpngen, it's a command line tool designed to make generating secure server and client configurations for OpenVPN servers and Viscosity super simple and fast. It handles the automatic generation and management of configuration files, certificates, and keys, without the need for complex commands or manual editing. macOS, Windows, and Linux are all supported.

Version 2.0 significantly improves support for Apple Silicon and ARM64, with proper native builds for all platforms. While this does increase the download size (with new dual-architecture installers), it should greatly simplify getting started for new users and improve performance.

We've also added both automatic Subject Alternative Name (SAN) generation for server certificates, as well as support for manual SANs using a new --server-san command. While not necessary for OpenVPN itself, some server setups (notably Amazon's AWS Client VPN) require a SAN to be specified on server certificates. This change will allow server setups generated with Ovpngen to be used.

We've also overhauled the Linux release, with a new universal portable binary that can be used with virtually any Linux distribution. This significantly expands support, and avoids the need for individual installers for each major distribution release. For ARM64 users, it does require a reasonably modern processor (for example, Ovpngen will work fine with current Raspberry Pi hardware but it will not run on older Raspberry Pis).

The Ovpngen 2.0 update can be freely downloaded from the GitHub Releases page. We also have detailed documentation on how to use it in our Knowledge Base. We recommend using it alongside one of our server setup guides, however the files it generates will work with any OpenVPN setup.


Version 2.0 Universal Release Notes:

added
Native Apple Silicon Support for macOS
added
Native ARM64 support for Windows
added
Native ARM64 support for Linux
added
Automatic SAN generation for server certificates
added
Support for custom SANs using new --server-san command
added
Modernised configurations for OpenVPN 2.6 and 2.7
improved
Command line tool renamed to ovpngen
improved
Default algorithm changed from RSA to ECDSA
improved
New universal (x86_64 and arm64) installer for macOS
improved
New universal (x64 and arm64) installer for Windows
improved
Portable standalone Linux binary for any Linux distribution
updated
OpenSSL updated to version 3.0.20
fixed
Various bug fixes and enhancements
removed
macOS 12 and older are no longer supported

For feedback or enhancement requests, please don't hesitate to contact us.