WireGuard – Modern VPN Protocol

WireGuard is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. Designed to be lean and highly performant, WireGuard aims to be faster, simpler, and more useful than IPsec while avoiding massive headaches. It has been integrated into the Linux kernel since version 5.6, making it a first-class VPN solution.

Key Features

• Fast Performance – High-speed encryption with minimal overhead
• Simple Configuration – Minimal setup compared to OpenVPN or IPsec
• Modern Cryptography – ChaCha20, Curve25519, Poly1305, BLAKE2s
• Kernel Integration – Built into Linux kernel for best performance
• Roaming Support – Seamless IP address changes
• Minimal Attack Surface – Small codebase, easy to audit

Installation

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install wireguard

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install wireguard-tools

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S wireguard-tools

Configuration

# Generate keys
wg genkey | tee privatekey | wg pubkey > publickey

# Server config (/etc/wireguard/wg0.conf)
[Interface]
PrivateKey = SERVER_PRIVATE_KEY
Address = 10.0.0.1/24
ListenPort = 51820

[Peer]
PublicKey = CLIENT_PUBLIC_KEY
AllowedIPs = 10.0.0.2/32

# Client config
[Interface]
PrivateKey = CLIENT_PRIVATE_KEY
Address = 10.0.0.2/24

[Peer]
PublicKey = SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY
Endpoint = server.example.com:51820
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0

Management Commands

# Bring up tunnel
sudo wg-quick up wg0

# Show status
sudo wg show

# Bring down tunnel
sudo wg-quick down wg0

# Enable on boot
sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0

Use Cases

WireGuard is perfect for secure remote access, site-to-site connectivity, mobile VPN, container networking, and any scenario requiring a fast, modern VPN solution.

Download WireGuard