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Arseny Zinchenko
Arseny Zinchenko

Posted on • Originally published at rtfm.co.ua on

OpenVPN – auto-start on Linux

#openvpn #linux #systemd

I have an OpenVPN AS server running on EC2 in AWS and the openvnp client on my Arch Linux (см.OpenVPN: настройка OpenVPN Access Server и AWS VPC peering).

Need to have it started and connection established after OS start.

Will use the systemd, documentation is here>>>, will work with any other Linux-system.

Client’s configs has to be stored in the /etc/openvpn/client/ (check the WorkingDirectory in the systemd unit file below), now here is nothing:

$ sudo ls -l /etc/openvpn/client/
total 0
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Copy your file and save it with the *.conf(because of the --config %i.conf below) extension:

$ sudo cp Dropbox/OpenVPN-AS/setevoy-client.ovpn /etc/openvpn/client/setevoy-ovnas.conf
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Check client’s status now – use the openvpn-client@ + filename without extension:

systemctl status openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service
● openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service - OpenVPN tunnel for setevoy/ovnas
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/openvpn-client@.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
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Unit-file’s config:

$ systemctl cat openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service
/usr/lib/systemd/system/openvpn-client@.service
[Unit]

Description=OpenVPN tunnel for %I
After=syslog.target network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target
Documentation=man:openvpn(8)
Documentation=https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/Openvpn24ManPage
Documentation=https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/HOWTO

[Service]
Type=notify
PrivateTmp=true
WorkingDirectory=/etc/openvpn/client
ExecStart=/usr/bin/openvpn --suppress-timestamps --nobind --config %i.conf
CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_IPC_LOCK CAP_NET_ADMIN CAP_NE_RAW CAP_SETGID CAP_SETUID CAP_SYS_CHROOT CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE
LimitNPROC=10
DeviceAllow=/dev/null rw
DeviceAllow=/dev/net/tun rw
ProtectSystem=true
ProtectHome=true
KillMode=process

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
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Start its service:

$ systemctl start openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.manage-units ====
Authentication is required to start 'openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service'.
Authenticating as: setevoy
Password:
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====
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Check:

20:23:12 [setevoy@setevoy-arch-pc ~]
$ ps aux | grep vpn
root     26477  0.1  0.0  24676 10732 ?        Ss   20:23   0:00 /usr/bin/openvpn --suppress-timestamps --nobind --config setevoy-ovnas.conf
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Enable on boot:

$ systemctl enable openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.manage-unit-files ====
Authentication is required to manage system service or unit files.
Authenticating as: setevoy
Password:
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openvpn-client@setevoy-ovnas.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/openvpn-client@.service.
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Check DNS:

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
Generated by resolvconf
nameserver 172.31.26.29
nameserver 1.1.1.1
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(read the Arch Linux: OpenVPN – resolv.conf is not updated post if your /etc/resolv.conf still has old DNS)

Check Yandex.ru (it’s blocked in Ukraine and available via VPN only):

$ curl -LI ya.ru
...
HTTP/1.1 200 Ok
...
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Done.

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