An IP of your own, for a secure tunnel and remote work

A dedicated-IP server: the base of a secure tunnel

A tunnel or VPN is an encrypted path between your computer and another network. When you run the tunnel server yourself, only you and the people you trust use it, the server's IP is yours and nobody else is on it. A CloudSnap virtual server with a dedicated IP gives exactly that: an always-on machine on which you install the tunnel software you prefer.

This differs from shared VPN services. There an IP is split among hundreds of people and you do not know who sits beside you. Here everything is in your control: software, keys, access rules and logs.

Secure remote work

The most important use of a personal tunnel is remote work. Many internal company tools, such as admin panels, databases and staging servers, are not open to the public internet and can only be reached from a given IP. If your server has a fixed IP you add it to those tools' allow lists, and every team member connects to the server through the tunnel from wherever they are.

This is safer than opening ports to the whole internet, and it works from laptops that have no fixed IP of their own.

Linking two offices or servers

If you have two offices or several servers in different places, a tunnel between them builds a private network. Services talk as if they sat on one network, without traffic travelling the open internet in the clear.

Encryption on public networks

Cafe, airport and hotel Wi-Fi is used by everyone and its security is not in your hands. When you send traffic through your own tunnel to your server and on to its destination, it is encrypted and the network in between sees nothing. It is a simple hygiene habit for anyone who travels with a laptop.

WireGuard, OpenVPN or something else?

WireGuard is light, fast and easy to set up, and is the first choice in most cases. OpenVPN is older and more flexible, and works with many configurations. Both are open source and free, and take a few minutes to install on Linux. Because root is yours, any other tool can be installed too.

A small Linux server is enough to start; a tunnel does not need many resources. Traffic depends on your use. If several people work through it or you move heavy data, look at plans with more traffic: high-traffic servers.

The job picks the location

If your team is in Europe and the tools are in Europe, a server in that region gives the lowest delay. If you need to reach a service in another region, build the server there. Because billing is hourly and there is no contract, you can try different locations. See every plan.

Responsibility and the law

The server is yours and so is responsibility for how it is used. Use a tunnel for legitimate work such as remote work, linking offices and protecting your own connection, and stay within the laws of your country and CloudSnap's terms. Like any server, keep the operating system updated, log in with SSH keys and open only the ports you need.

CloudSnap gives you the server; you control the tunnel software and its settings. If you meet trouble during setup, CloudSnap support answers in Telegram and on the support site. For development environments see the developer server.