Set Up PPTP VPN Server on CentOS Xen VPS

This is a tutorial for webmasters who are using a Xen VPS hosting. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. A VPS hosting plan means you share the physical server hardware with other websites, but you are allocated a dedicated slice of the system resources. The most common used VPS types are OpenVZ and Xen. PPTPD can only be installed on Xen servers. If your site is hosted on a Xen VPS and your site doesn’t really need that much of resource, why don’t you set up a VPN server for personal use?

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To get started, you need to use your root account to access your VPS server via SSH. Then type in the following command line to download the pptpd.sh shell file.
wget http://fastnmp.googlecode.com/files/pptpd.sh

The shell file should be downloaded on your VPS and now you can run it:
sh pptpd.sh

The installation will be run and completed automatically, and when it’s done, the VPN username and password will be displayed on your console screen.

The PPTP VPN server’s account information is stored in the file located at “etc/ppp/chap-secrets”, you can use the command line to edit this file directly:
nano etc/ppp/chap-secrets

Add your vpn clients in this file with this format:

username PPTPD password *
or
username PPTPD password [specified ip address]
Note: “*” for the last one meaning you allow all IP address access your VPN server.

Restart your PPTPD server when changes are made with the following command line:
/etc/init.d/pptpd restart

When you create a VPN connection on Windows client, please use these info:
VPN type: PPTP
VPN server address: your VPS IP
VPN username: (Enter the username stored in /etc/ppp/chap-secrets)
VPN password: (Enter the password stored in /etc/ppp/chap-secrets)

Connect to your PPTP VPN and Cheers!