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Managing Keys

To establish a VPN connection between your Plesk-enabled server and a remote host, both sides must have the same cryptographic key. This key is required for authentication and encryption of your traffic, ensuring that your communications cannot be eavesdropped or interfered by a third party. Do not forget to share the same key between both communicating parties each time you generate or upload a new key!

A cryptographic key is generated automatically and saved to a special directory during module installation. However, you might want to replace the initial key with the new one.

To generate a new VPN key:

Click the Generate Key button in the Key management group. The new key will automatically replace the existing key.

Note: After the new key is generated, your old key will become invalid! In order to continue communication, you must share the new key with the other communicating party.

To save the generated key to your local machine:

  1. Click the Download Key button in the Key management group.
  2. Save the key to a specified location on your disk.

    You can then transmit this key file to another host on removable media or through another secure way.

If you received a cryptographic key from another machine and want to upload it:

  1. Click the Upload Key button in the Key management group.
  2. On the next page, specify the location of the key file and click OK.

This way of key management is especially useful if you are establishing a VPN connection between two Plesk-enabled servers. If the remote host does not have the Plesk control panel, it is more convenient to use client packages.

See Also

Using Plesk™ VPN

How to Access the VPN Module

Setting up VPN Preferences

Using Client Packages

Starting/Stopping a VPN Connection