Choosing the Right VPN for IPFire

IPFire is a specialist, modular firewall distribution maintained via a web-based GUI and the Pakfire package manager. Its focus is on hardened networking and security services, rather than a desktop environment—most users interact via SSH or the web console. IPFire’s kernel is patched for network throughput and it provides built-in support for OpenVPN and IPsec (via strongSwan), plus recent versions allow a WireGuard add-on.

Given these technical traits, you want VPN solutions that:

• Integrate cleanly with Pakfire or the existing web UI
• Use protocols that map well onto low-latency kernel modules (WireGuard or OpenVPN native)
• Allow easy key or config import, ideally via the web console under “VPN → OpenVPN” or “VPN → WireGuard”

For that reason, the top contenders are commercial providers offering readily downloadable OpenVPN and/or WireGuard bundles, plus the classic strongSwan IPsec route if you prefer L3 tunnels. In practice, we’ll focus on:

• NordVPN (OpenVPN, WireGuard)
• ExpressVPN (OpenVPN)
• ProtonVPN (OpenVPN, WireGuard)

Comparison of Recommended VPN Providers

Installing and Configuring OpenVPN on IPFire

This example uses NordVPN’s OpenVPN configs, but the steps are identical for ExpressVPN or ProtonVPN.

1. Update Pakfire and install the OpenVPN client:

pakfire update
pakfire install openvpn-client
    

2. Download the provider’s .ovpn bundles to your IPFire box, for example into /var/ipfire/vpn/client/nordvpn/ via wget or SCP.
3. Import the profile in the web UI:

Log into IPFire → VPN → OpenVPN → Add a new tunnel → choose “Import .ovpn”. Select your nord-uk.ovpn, enter credentials if required, and save.

4. Start or restart the OpenVPN client daemon:

/etc/init.d/openvpn-client restart
    

5. Verify the status in IPFire → VPN → OpenVPN list. It should show “running” with the remote IP.

Installing and Configuring WireGuard on IPFire

WireGuard is super-lightweight and well suited for high throughput on IPFire’s patched kernel. We’ll demonstrate with ProtonVPN’s WireGuard keys.

1. Install the WireGuard tools and kernel module:

pakfire update
pakfire install wireguard-tools
    

2. Generate your keypair (if you’re self-hosting) or paste ProtonVPN’s public/private keys into /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf:

wg genkey  tee privatekey  wg pubkey > publickey
    

Then create /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf:

[Interface]
PrivateKey = ltyour-private-keygt
Address = 10.0.0.2/32
DNS = 10.0.0.1

[Peer]
PublicKey = ltprotonvpn-publickeygt
Endpoint = nl-free.protonvpn.com:51820
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0
PersistentKeepalive = 25
    

3. Enable IPv4 forwarding (if not already set) via SSH:

sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
echo net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 >> /etc/sysctl.conf
    

4. Start the WireGuard interface:

wg-quick up wg0
    

5. Add a firewall rule to allow WG on the green (LAN) side via IPFire web UI under Firewall → Firewall Rules → Add rule.

With these three VPN options—NordVPN via OpenVPN, ExpressVPN via OpenVPN, and ProtonVPN via WireGuard—you’ll harness IPFire’s robust kernel and web-managed architecture to secure outbound tunnels, all while retaining the simplicity of Pakfire maintenance. Cheers to safe browsing and enterprise-grade VPN integration!