OpenVPN TLS handshake faield, keeps reconnecting forever

abderrahman

Hi,

Seems like all posts that like this one keep getting moved to this subforum

Anyway, I subscribed to a VPN service, which offers a modified OpenVPN among other choices. But I wanted to use the vanilla OpenVPN. I had no problems with the service's client BTW

OpenVPN connects normally, but after some time it starts reconnecting (yellow tray icon) and PING starts giving "timeout"... when I disconnect the internet service resumes just normal!! Meaning that OpenVPN itself just stops responding to connections and assumes it lost connectivity. I need to click "disconnect" then connect again

I'm connecting through UDP, I tried both a DNS address & IP... both eventually give the same result

My VPN provider is reliable and I highly doubt it's a problem on his side. My internet service is horrible, but again, I didn't have problems with the provider's client... and the problem is nonetheless OpenVPN's inability to reconnect

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote xxx.xxx.xxx 1194
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
persist-key
persist-tun
ca xx.crt
tls-client
remote-cert-tls server
auth-user-pass login.conf
comp-lzo
verb 1
reneg-sec 0

Mon Feb 25 23:22:23 2013 [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Mon Feb 25 23:22:23 2013 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
Mon Feb 25 23:22:25 2013 NOTE: OpenVPN 2.1 requires '--script-security 2' or higher to call user-defined scripts or executables
Mon Feb 25 23:22:37 2013 RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: xxx.xxxx.xxx: The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found.

4 minutes later and it's still "reconnecting"!! Disconnect, click connect again and everything is working!! Disconnect VPN or try to use a connection bridged directly to the network adapter and PING works just fine!

abderrahman

I can't find an 'edit' button for the OP

I did Google the problem before posting, so I hope it's not a case of RTFM
Most of the posts I've seen suggest that the problem is because two clients are trying to connect to the same server using the same certificate. This is not the case as the connection is successfully established about an hour before

Mon Feb 25 22:14:38 2013 OpenVPN 2.3.0 x86_64-w64-mingw32 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [PKCS11] [eurephia] [IPv6] built on Feb 14 2013
Enter Management Password:
Mon Feb 25 22:14:38 2013 NOTE: OpenVPN 2.1 requires '--script-security 2' or higher to call user-defined scripts or executables
Mon Feb 25 22:14:39 2013 UDPv4 link local: [undef]
Mon Feb 25 22:14:39 2013 UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]184.75.214.2:1194
Mon Feb 25 22:14:40 2013 WARNING: this configuration may cache passwords in memory -- use the auth-nocache option to prevent this
Mon Feb 25 22:15:08 2013 [server] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]184.75.214.2:1194
Mon Feb 25 22:15:11 2013 do_ifconfig, tt->ipv6=0, tt->did_ifconfig_ipv6_setup=0
Mon Feb 25 22:15:11 2013 open_tun, tt->ipv6=0
Mon Feb 25 22:15:11 2013 TAP-WIN32 device [Local Area Connection 4] opened: \\.\Global\{4C3AA638-A923-41B4-8C92-04661854FD08}.tap
Mon Feb 25 22:15:11 2013 Notified TAP-Windows driver to set a DHCP IP/netmask of 10.152.1.18/255.255.255.252 on interface {4C3AA638-A923-41B4-8C92-04661854FD08} [DHCP-serv: 10.152.1.17, lease-time: 31536000]
Mon Feb 25 22:15:11 2013 Successful ARP Flush on interface [25] {4C3AA638-A923-41B4-8C92-04661854FD08}
Mon Feb 25 22:15:16 2013 Initialization Sequence Completed
-
-
-
Mon Feb 25 23:22:23 2013 [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Mon Feb 25 23:22:23 2013 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
Mon Feb 25 23:22:25 2013 NOTE: OpenVPN 2.1 requires '--script-security 2' or higher to call user-defined scripts or executables
Mon Feb 25 23:22:37 2013 RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: xxx.xxxx.xxx: The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found. 
Mon Feb 25 23:28:12 2013 RESOLVE: signal received during DNS resolution attempt
Mon Feb 25 23:28:12 2013 SIGTERM[hard,init_instance] received, process exiting

[deleted]

It is saying there is a dns error at the end.. Why?

abderrahman

I don't know. I'm guessing it's OpenVPN itself, because of the modification of routing tables when it connects that everything goes through it until you disconnect... maybe?

My DNS is Google Public 8.8.8.8, so it's not the problem. And if I put the IP address instead, it still gives TLS shake error or whatever

abderrahman

[Not being able to edit a post after few hours of posting is a bit annoying]

Here's something I've noticed: as I mentioned in OP due to some circumstances I now live in a country with a very dreary internet service. I get my internet connection through a LAN line (coming from a DSL router), and that line is connected to my wireless router. Sometimes (by which I mean about 20 times-a-day) the LAN disconnects or the DSL router losses connectivity

When that happens, OpenVPN gets:

Tue Feb 26 17:52:03 2013 [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Tue Feb 26 17:52:03 2013 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
Tue Feb 26 17:52:05 2013 NOTE: OpenVPN 2.1 requires '--script-security 2' or higher to call user-defined scripts or executables
Tue Feb 26 17:52:17 2013 RESOLVE: Cannot resolve host address: xxx.xxxx.xxx: The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found.

But when normal connectivity returns, OpenVPN still can't resolve the address and I have to terminate & connect again. Otherwise it's stuck in "reconnecting" mode forever not being able to contact the DNS (the problem I'm trying to find a solution to)
Is there something I can do? Why can't OVPN just reconnect?