Managing Keys

To establish a VPN connection between your Plesk 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 component installation. However, you might want to replace the initial key with the new one.

To generate a new VPN key:

1. Go to Extensions > Virtual Private Networking.
2. Click Generate Key. 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. Go to Extensions > Virtual Private Networking > Download Key.
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.

To upload a cryptographic key that you received from another machine:

1. Go to Extensions > Virtual Private Networking > Upload Key.
2. 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 Plesk, it is more convenient to use client packages.