To understand OpenVPN, it’s critical that you first understand what “VPN” means. One of the most popular privacy solutions out there, a VPN – or virtual private network – is a way to create a “virtual server” from which you surf the Internet. This, in turn, helps give you privacy against anyone who might be looking to track your important data. With OpenVPN, encryption is provided, which in turn gives an extra layer of security.

But what about that word “Open”? Simple: this is an open-sourced software, which means that just about anyone is free to update and use it. This keeps the software accountable to the people who use it and in turn promotes the long-term quality and health of the OpenVPN platform.

Now let’s get to the last point: Cloud Hosting. How is an OpenVPN going to be hosted on a cloud? Essentially, the private network used for browsing will be hosted on a cloud, which in turn adds to the overall security of the VPN, thanks to the remote hosting of the services. Because of that, OpenVPN cloud services will share many of the benefits provided by cloud-based offerings.

Using a virtual private network provides a conduit between a client and the Internet—in essence, you surf the Internet through this virtual network, and in turn, the other “side” of the Internet will only see that VPN. When you browse the Internet this way, you have a greater amount of leeway when it comes to privacy and avoiding advertisements, spam, and other harmful Internet issues.

The Open VPN works by introducing this intermediary and allowing you to surf the Internet through it. This is known as “client-server” mode. The server itself is what’s connected to the Internet—you are simply connected to that server. Someone monitoring your Internet activity would instead see the server come up, because it is the server that is in fact handling the Internet traffic.

Open software, on the other hand, works in a relatively straight-forward way. Open software is software with the source code made available, which in turn allows designers and developers to make their own updates and handle the code themselves. That gives them options for how they use the VPN in order to handle their own Internet security.

Think of Open VPN as essentially a VPN that’s been made available to the masses for development. And with many service providers available throughout the world, there are lots of options for using that Open VPN software.

All of the explanation thus far is pretty intuitive. But why would someone be interested in using the cloud to host their Open VPN Access Server? The answer is surprisingly simple. First, there are a lot of advantages to using the cloud: remote security, not relying on anything based on your own computer, etc. This gives you a degree of control and extra layer of safety when handling an OpenVPN because you’re not relying on your own materials too much

There is also convenience to consider. When you utilize a cloud-based service, you can easily use it just about anywhere you are in the world, taking advantage of the remote storage offered by the cloud in order to execute the Open VPN from any location. If you’re on the move a lot and need to utilize the service from anywhere, this can be a major advantage.

There is also the issue of support: a cloud-based service should be able to support a number of characteristics that you want out of your Open VPN. With the right cloud-based service, the Open VPN can be customized to perform a number of tasks, giving you exactly what you need if you’re coming at things from the developer’s point of view.

Ultimately, think about cloud hosting from the traditional perspective. Because cloud hosting offers a great amount of convenience and added security—since you don’t rely on your own machine to do the storage—there is a lot of added flexibility here. In turn, you’ll be secure in your knowledge that the cloud you’re using is stored remotely and securely while you don’t have to upgrade your own capacities at home. This can be a major upgrade for anyone who’s looking to save time and money.

Should you wish to host our OpenVPN Access Server in the cloud, we recommend you to read our cloud hosting provider comparison article. We update it every month with fresh pricing data.

To answer this question, we first have to look at the advantages of hosting any server in the cloud. By hosting a server remotely, there are a number of security benefits, as already stated. And there is a lot more convenience as well.

But the surprising advantage here is just how easy it can be when it all comes together. By utilizing a web-based cloud service for your Open VPN access server, you’ll likely find that the customization you want for the experience is a cinch to handle—inasmuch as such things can be cinches. Some major providers of cloud-based servers have gotten their access points down to a science, which in turn gives you a better user experience when running Open VPN from the cloud.

Overall, using cloud-based Open VPN can sound complicated. But once it’s set up, there are few things in the world that will feel so simple. Put it all together and you’ll have a service that’s easy to manage, customizable, and will add the security you’ve been looking for. Although installation and setup can be a bit difficult for advanced programs such as these, you’ll likely find that the cloud-based services are much more intuitive and easy to use than you initially thought.