Check my client status

iomartin

Hello,

I'm new to OpenVPN and VPN in general. I'm a client connecting to a VPN server, and I want to know at a certain time if I'm connected or not. I've searched around and found some solutions to check, from the server side, which clients are connected to me, but not the opposite. I want to know if and to which server I'm connected to.

Thanks!

m.ardito

Hi!

how do you connect to the server?
if you're on windows and use the openvpn-gui.exe, you have a taskbar icon which show all the details...

Marco

iomartin

m.ardito wroteHi!

how do you connect to the server?
if you're on windows and use the openvpn-gui.exe, you have a taskbar icon which show all the details...

Marco

I use Linux, and I run

sudo openvpn --config myconfigfile.ovpn

brendan

ifconfig will show you the IPs associated with all interfaces. if you have a TUN or TAP interface up and connected, it likely has an IP. also, your routing table will have changes made to it. netstat -nr would show you some info around that. you could also look for the port you are connected to in netstat output. sudo netstat -nap |grep :<the_port_you_use_for_openvpn>

m.ardito

if you're using a desktop, there could be some "applet" for the network manager, like this

http://www.bestvpnservice.com/tutorials/58/ivpn-openvpn-linux-ubuntu-setup.html

see this step:<<VPN Connection Setup : Step 12. If the connection was successfull, you should see a small lock next to the Network Manager icon>>

or see this other
http://gopenvpn.sourceforge.net/

<<gopenvpn is a simple graphical front-end for OpenVPN, the open source VPN solution.

It provides a GNOME system tray icon from which OpenVPN connections can be started and stopped, and a dialog from which OpenVPN's logs can be viewed. It can manage multiple simultaneous connections, and graphically indicates when you're connected to a VPN tunnel. >>

something like that could help you too... but it all depends a lot on what is your working environment...

Marco

[deleted]

Thanks for the toturial
really helped me to get trough this
but it is still very complicated:D

The_Gringo

Hi.

So, when OpenVPN client is running like a service in Windows, how can I see a visual state of the connection? The taskbar icon status connection remains "offline" and if I try to running it an error message appear ´cause, of course, it is running ... any help please ?

ecrist

You'll want to either query the status directly using the management console or via the status file. From the man page:

--status file [n]
Write operational status to file every n seconds.
Status can also be written to the syslog by sending a SIGUSR2 signal.

With multi-client capability enabled on a server, the status file includes a list of clients and a routing table. The output format can be controlled by the --status-version option in that case.

For clients or instances running in point-to-point mode, it will contain the traffic statistics.

You can leverage the SIGUSR2 signal to force openvpn to write a log entry in syslog (if enabled) instead of querying the file.

The_Gringo

Thanks for your response. I´m trying to implement the service mode option on Windows client to avoid users to shut down it and skip web redirection traffic restrictions, so a standard account with no administrative privileges cannot stop the service on Windows, but in this scenario users cannot see the green icon on taskbar when tunnel is up and it is a little confuse to them, that is why I´m asking to visual indicator for them and not for support purposes.

TinCanTech

When openvpn is run using the system service the Gui is not aware of the VPN or it's status.

You must start the VPN from the GUI for the GUI to have access to this information.

The_Gringo

TinCanTech wrote When openvpn is run using the system service the Gui is not aware of the VPN or it's status.

You must start the VPN from the GUI for the GUI to have access to this information.

Thanks. I supposed that. On Windows XP I could enable the "Show icon in task notification area when connected" over the TAP adapter and solve the situation but this option was removed since Windows Vista and apparently I'm lost now.

TinCanTech

I believe the developer of the GUI is considering a mechanism to do what you want but it is only at a very preliminary stage at present.

The_Gringo

TinCanTech wrote I believe the developer of the GUI is considering a mechanism to do what you want but it is only at a very preliminary stage at present.

I found a third app that resolve the problem adding the old style computer icon on the taskbar, its free and working fine. It's called "Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7" but also works on Windows 10.

More info on: http://www.itsamples.com/network-activity-indicator.html