Ok, apparently the .opvn is the config file
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Question
Connecting to OpenVPN
I have 2 servers that I'd like to create a permanent connection between using openvpn.
The server I'm in control of will be the client.
I've tried various things I've found on the internet, and all of them end with different error messages that make little sense to me. Since I've mostly executed commands "at random", becuase some blog post said so, I opt not to post the details of my mistakes here, but rather ask that you set me on the right path from the start, rather than correcting my likely errounous course.
Probably important, by the server side of things, I've been given a few files:
x-ca.crt
x-client.crt
x-client.key
x-client.ovpn
x-tls.key
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Answers
That's pretty much a standard OVPN file for certificate based OpenVPN server and "on-demand" connection. It requires that the server pushes all necessary settings like route and IP addresses to the client when connecting.
If you change the verb to 6, and connect, you should get a hint what the OpenVPN connection is trying to do last. You can post the log here, if you do not understand the details (very likely ;-)).
I assume you are trying this while already connected to the server locally? The server will push a route to the server, which might (or might not) overwrite your local route. You can then test the connection itself by inserting
route-nopull
to the client config. This prevents from receiving a route command from server.However, best is to test it outside of the network. That is the only way you can be sure that everything will work as expected.
Sure, I just have no way of doing that besides a restart, any suggestions on how to accomplish that would be great, e.g. a time-limit on the connection would be nice.
This is a VPS, so I don't have physical access to the machine I wanna do this on, but I can of course try it on my local machine before I use it further on my server.
I guess the remaining question is how I can route only some connections to the vpn-tunnel, and "ordinary traffic" to the default route.
You can trick the default route to take precedence by creating more specific routes. That is, you define
route add -p 0.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 YourGatewayHere
route add -p 128.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 YourGatewayHere
route add -p 128.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 YourGatewayHere
If the default gateway is set (whysoever), then those two routes still will route any "unknown" traffic to your old gateway.
If you could show me the server config file, I can tell which command(s) might be the issue.
That would disable the default route....
If you want to investigate you should be able to create a specific route to the system you access the server from.
f.e. If your source address on the server is X.Y.Z.21 then make a host route on the server to X.Y.Z.21 with the right gateway.
(if no special route is setup, then use the address of the default gw on that spot).
In that case at least that connection should stay up (and be kept out of the tunnel being setup...)
>If you could show me the server config file, I can tell which command(s) might be the issue.
Unfortunately I don't have access to the server, but I'll see if I can get the file.
>route add -p 0.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 YourGatewayHere
>route add -p 128.0.0.0 mask 128.0.0.0 YourGatewayHere
Gateway being the vpn server?
>That would disable the default route....
I take you don't think it's a good idea?
>If you want to investigate you should be able to create a specific route to the system you access the server from.
I'm sorry, could you elaborate? My routing looks as follows# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.0.2.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 venet0
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default 192.0.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 venet0
And where does your computer connect to?
if it is 192.0.2.X then you shouldn't get disconnected.....
If your system is on a public IP X.Y.Z.A then add a route:
route add -host X.Y.Z.A gw 192.0.2.1
if our PC is at a network behind some firewall with public IP K.L.M.N
then run:
route add -host K.L.M.N gw 192.0.2.1
(BTW, route -p works on windows not on linux).
>If you could show me the server config file
I have asked to see it, but I doubt I hold the power to change it in any way.
noci: I'm sorry, I'm still not sure I understand, so I'll try to restate my problem, and we'll see if we can work this out :)
I have my personal computer, my personal VPS, and a corporate run openvpn server.
All three are in physically different locations, and completely different networks.
I would like to hook up my VPS permanently to the corporate network, so I will be able to access resources on an internal network.
As stated above, that probably works, but all traffic gets redirected, so my ssh-connection to the VPS drops.
I would be able to contact the VPS over ports 22, 80, and 443, with the VPN connection established.
So ip x.x.x.x should be permanently connected to y.y.y.y, but still reachable on 22,80,443 from z.z.z.z, where x and y are static, whilst z is dynamic.
I don't want to interfere with the x to y vpn, but still allow access to z.
most probably z.z.z.z is dynamic within a range... and it's not the internet at large.
Then use a range as small as possible to prevent wipeout of a default gateway..
(f.e. route add -net z.z.0.0/16 gw 192.0.2.1 )
Or as many routes as you need if you have 2 or 3 known address(rang)es where you come from.
Setup the VPN might cause you default gateway to get updates to handle the VPN corectly leaving your z.z.z.z out.
Besides routing you might get bitten by firewall changes...
Is there anything in /var/log/* files with respect to the openvpn establishing or not?
If you have the 'at' daemon running you could first submit a job to tear down the VPN in say 5 minutes
you can simulate the same with cron (by adding a cron job do tear down the connection after a few minutes)
and then activate the VPN.
In case of trouble the at or cron jobs should restore everything to normal again.
Ok, I did route add -net z.z.0.0/16 gw 192.0.2.1
prior to connecting, and that's progress, I now remain in control of my server.
During connection, I see this:
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 /sbin/ifconfig tun0 1.2.116.121 netmask 255.255.252.0 mtu 1500 broadcast 1.2.119.255
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 /sbin/route add -net xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 192.0.2.1
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 /sbin/route del -net 0.0.0.0 netmask 0.0.0.0
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 /sbin/route add -net 0.0.0.0 netmask 0.0.0.0 gw 1.2.116.1
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 WARNING: potential route subnet conflict between local LAN [1.2.116.0/255.255.255.0] and remote VPN [1.0.0.0/255.0.0.0]
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 /sbin/route add -net 1.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 gw 1.2.116.1
Sun Feb 21 23:20:24 2010 Initialization Sequence Completed
I'm not sure if that warning is a problem, but two things confuse me.
1) dns stops working. I can open a browser to google.com if I use an ip, but the domain name can not be found.
2) A look at www.whatismyipaddress.com (using ip instead of domain) before and after the connection gives the same ip, which strikes me as strange.
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by: QlemoPosted on 2009-11-18 at 03:28:52ID: 25848535
If you are in control of the "client" only, you need to get a OpenVPN Config file from the server side. What you can set up on client side depends on the settings of the server side.