Getting Started with the Nettica VPN Service

Our templated configurations work right out of the box, allowing you to create and connect devices effortlessly. It only takes a few minutes to create your first VPN, not hours or days. To learn more about our architecture, check out our overview.

Creating Your First Network

A network is a collection of machines in a VPN. Creating a network is quick and easy. Login to the Nettica Admin using the same credentials you used to sign-up with Nettica, then click on the Networks tab and click “Create”:

Fill in the required fields.

  • The friendly name is the name of your network. It will become the network interface name used by all devices in the network. In our example we have specified nettica.
  • Use 10.10.10.0/24 for IP subnet of this network. In the highly unlikely event that another network uses this subnet, please pick a different one.

Click “Submit” to create the network.

Creating a Device

If your host doesn’t have a GUI (eg, Linux server) follow these instructions on adding a device manually. Otherwise, login to the host using Remote Desktop and launch the Nettica Agent (under Internet on the Applications menu). On Windows click start and begin typing “nettica agent” and it should find it.

Nettica Agent on Ubuntu
nettica agent on ubuntu 22

Click Login and sign in using the same credentials you used previously. Click “Add Network” and fill in the form.

Adding a host to a network VPN

If the device you’re adding is only going to be used as a client (for example, a laptop), then you can skip the public endpoint and listen port fields. Otherwise, for the public endpoint enter your public IP address, colon, port number. If you don’t know what your public IP address is, enter 1.2.3.4:51820 and toggle Sync Endpoint. Enter 51820 for the listen port. Our pre-built VMs come with UDP port 51820 open. Update any security groups or firewalls as necessary. Click Submit.

Congratulations! You have successfully added your first device to your VPN. However, with a VPN service it takes two to tango, so launch another instance and repeat the process. Or, install the agent locally on one of your machines. You should then be able to open a terminal and ping 10.10.10.1 (the instance created above will have this IP address). If you have any difficulties, reach out to Nettica Support and we will be more than happy to help! You can also chat with us by clicking below (when available).