Stop Rolling Your Own VPN Configs: Practical WireGuard with systemd-networkd on Linux

Short summary

Practical, in-depth tutorial for setting up WireGuard VPN on Linux using systemd-networkd for declarative, maintainable configuration management. Covers key generation with proper permissions, complete server and client setup, firewall rules with nftables, DNS integration via systemd-resolved, and production-ready testing procedures. Tested on Debian 12 and Ubuntu 24.04.

• •WireGuard with systemd-networkd provides declarative, maintainable VPN configuration without wg-quick or PostUp/PostDown scripts
• •Complete setup includes key management with proper file permissions, server/client configurations, and integration with systemd-resolved for DNS
• •Advanced features: IP forwarding, nftables NAT masquerading, persistent reload semantics, and automation-ready configuration via Git/Ansible

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