VPN provider for self-hosting in North America?

Support Installation
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Update: I was able to make some progress by using a .opvn config file from VPN Area. It’s still not clear if YunoHost will work with their service. I will close this thread and for anyone reading this later, the saga continues here: How to use Let'sEncrypt Certificates created without port 80 using acme.sh?

My YunoHost server

Hardware: Raspberry Pi at home
YunoHost version: 11.1.18
I have access to my server : Through SSH | through the webadmin | direct access via keyboard / screen |
Are you in a special context or did you perform some particular tweaking on your YunoHost instance ? : no

Description of my issue

I am trying to find a known compatible VPN provider that has Dedicated IP addresses in Canada. I signed up for VPNArea and when they set up the Dedicated IP they just gave me the IP address and no configuration file(s).

So I emailed VPNArea’s support, and while I am waiting for a response, I went digging through their site and just saw this:

How to get port-forwarding on some ports for your Dedicated IP? Which ports are not allowed?
Last Updated 4 years ago
We can port forward almost any ports to your dedicated IP except ports 22, 25, 993 and 80.
The dedicated IPs are not intended to serve as a front for a web server or a mail server as this is largely associated with abuse.
If you’re a business and you have a legitimate reason to request the port forwarding of those specific ports please let us know and we’ll try to accommodate you.

Doesn’t sound very promising :confused:

Edit: see my response below. They were able to send me a .ovpn file

So I am wondering: are there any other Canadian/North American users who have successfully found a VPN provider that allows them to self-host a website and/or federated social media instance? Or am I better off using a cloud server? I was really hoping to use this pi400 for it :frowning:

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Why does it have to be canadian ? If it’s a VPN with fixed ipv4 & v6 you need, it can be from anywhere arround the world. Like a member of the french federation of associative Internet Service Providers.

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from VPN providers | Yunohost Documentation

These options may meet your needs (not tested) →

Otherwise I had made a tuto on how to make a VPN server yourself and in this case you will just need a VPN provider in Canada. See Homemade WireGuard VPN on a VPS server

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Thanks for responding.

I guess the reason I asked is that many of these services will not refund the cost of a dedicated IP address subscription.

If I can avoid it, I’d prefer to not lose another $50+ on something I cannot use! So I am hoping that someone else can verify that there is a working option.

The VPN is really just for me to be able to host the machine at home safely. If I understand the guide you provided, I would be using a VPS - which makes me think that using a VPS and no VPN might be the better option in my case.

Thanks again for your response :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks for responding.

Yes, that’s true. My assumption was that a server from far away will result in slower speeds. But if I can’t get this one fully working I will definitely look at that. Thanks :slight_smile:

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OK!

Luckily VPN Area was able to send me a .ovpn file for the dedicated IP.

Still waiting on a response for opening port 80. (Do I actually need it open? Or is 443 enough?)

Things I learned, that others may also want to try:

  1. In order to login, I needed to SSH to my server and run this multiple times:
sudo systemd-tty-ask-password-agent
  1. I followed this guide to automate the login process on boot:
    How to Connect to a VPN Automatically on Linux - Make Tech Easier

Will update if they allow me to open port 80, or with other issues.

Thanks again to those who responded.

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