autostart OpenVPN server?

[icefire]

So I know this is a stupid question and believe me, I tried fixing this on my own.

I have a working OpenVPN server on a Raspberry Pi (running jessie). In order to start the server so that clients can connect, I have to do the following:

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sudo openvpn /etc/openvpn/server.conf

I wanted that the VPN Server starts automatically, so I edited /etc/default/openvpn like this:

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AUTOSTART="server"

However, nothing happens upon restart. Clients cannot connect. The OpenVPN service seems to be running though:

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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ service openvpn status
в—Џ openvpn.service - OpenVPN service
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvpn.service; enabled)
   Active: active (exited) since Sun 2016-05-15 20:15:44 UTC; 8min ago
  Process: 1148 ExecStart=/bin/true (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1148 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   CGroup: /system.slice/openvpn.service

In order to get it working, I need to restart the vpn service:

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sudo service openvpn restart

Once I do this, all clients can connect.

What am I missing? Why should I restart the openvpn service seconds after starting the Pi? How can I make server.conf fire up automatically on startup?

[Traffic]

OpenVPN Server Log file ..

[icefire]

Log file after fresh restart:

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Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 OpenVPN 2.3.4 arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH] [IPv6] built on Jan 23 2016
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.1k 8 Jan 2015, LZO 2.08
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 Diffie-Hellman initialized with 2048 bit key
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 Control Channel Authentication: using '/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/ta.key' as a OpenVPN static key file
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 Outgoing Control Channel Authentication: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 Incoming Control Channel Authentication: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 Socket Buffers: R=[163840->131072] S=[163840->131072]
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 TCP/UDP: Socket bind failed on local address [AF_INET]192.168.2.35:1593: Cannot assign requested address
Mon May 16 07:18:23 2016 Exiting due to fatal error

I checked if anything is using my port but this didn't seem to be the case:

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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo netstat -pntua
Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State       PID/Program name
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5901            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      588/Xtightvnc   
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:6001            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      588/Xtightvnc   
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:22              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      486/sshd        
tcp        0      0 192.168.2.35:5901       192.168.2.33:56021      ESTABLISHED 588/Xtightvnc   
tcp6       0      0 :::22                   :::*                    LISTEN      486/sshd        
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:68              0.0.0.0:*                           383/dhcpcd      
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:37979           0.0.0.0:*                           518/weavedconnectd.
udp        0      0 192.168.2.35:123        0.0.0.0:*                           505/ntpd        
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:123           0.0.0.0:*                           505/ntpd        
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:123             0.0.0.0:*                           505/ntpd        
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:57997           0.0.0.0:*                           361/avahi-daemon: r
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5353            0.0.0.0:*                           361/avahi-daemon: r
udp        0      0 192.168.2.35:56300      192.168.2.1:5351        ESTABLISHED 518/weavedconnectd.
udp6       0      0 fe80::8701:d877:a52:123 :::*                                505/ntpd        
udp6       0      0 ::1:123                 :::*                                505/ntpd        
udp6       0      0 :::123                  :::*                                505/ntpd        
udp6       0      0 :::5353                 :::*                                361/avahi-daemon: r
udp6       0      0 :::48111                :::*                                361/avahi-daemon: r

Once again, here is the service status after a fresh restart:

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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ service openvpn status
   openvpn.service - OpenVPN service
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvpn.service; enabled)
   Active: active (exited) since Mon 2016-05-16 07:18:23 UTC; 10min ago
  Process: 484 ExecStart=/bin/true (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 484 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   CGroup: /system.slice/openvpn.service

In order to get it working, I should either restart the service or (as I just found out) start it, as if it weren't already running.

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pi@raspberrypi:~ $ service openvpn start

[icefire]

Ok, I managed to solve it. The solution is quite simple actually - I just removed the line

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 local 192.168.2.33 

from server.conf

What is actually the point of having such a line at all? The Pi has only one local static IP address, in this case 192.168.2.33 so the openvpn service cannot listen on any other IP address.

[Traffic]

--local specifies the address for openvpn to bind to and listen on ..

See --local in The Manual v23x

The real problem you have is that your network is not available when openvpn starts.
You need to change your startup procedure ..

[bick]

I came to the forums due to this same problem. I even created a script to restart openvpn w/ a cron job set to run at boot. This still did not work. I had to log in to the Pi and run the restart command myself.

Commenting out the local x.x.x.x line in server.conf did the trick for me as well. However, I would rather not have to comment out that line. Any tips though on how to change the startup procedure so that openvpn is not started until after networking? I am unsure how to go about figuring that out. If you could point me in the right direction, I would be happy to rtfm.

[TinCanTech]

Any tips though on how to change the startup procedure

See the documentation for your operating system (which you also fail to mention) ..

HOWTO:
https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-sour ... html#start

Wiki:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/HOWTO

Please see:
HOWTO: Request Help !