Using the --lport option returns an error

uncs-frank

I have a guest virtual machine (VirtualBox) behind a NAT and am port forwarding the OpenVPN connection to the machine. Because of this, I need to have my listening port set to a consistent port number (as opposed to having an ephemeral port number). I have tried the following command:

openvpn --lport 55555 *.ovpn

I get an error saying I incorrectly used the parameters, but don't know what I did wrong?

TinCanTech

Your command is bogus .. read the howto.

uncs-frank

TinCanTech wrote Your command is bogus .. read the howto.

I'd need to change the conf file?

client
dev tun
proto udp
sndbuf 0
rcvbuf 0
remote 54.193.147.96 1194
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
explicit-exit-notify 3
persist-key
persist-tun
remote-cert-tls server
auth SHA512
cipher AES-256-CBC
key-direction 1
verb 3
reneg-sec 0

Would I need to add lport 55555 within there?

openvpn_inc

Hello uncs-frank,

As stated in the manual in one of the first paragraphs:
https://build.openvpn.net/man/openvpn-2.5/openvpn.8.html

OpenVPN allows any option to be placed either on the command line or in a configuration file. Though all command line options are preceded by a double-leading-dash ("--"), this prefix can be removed when an option is placed in a configuration file.

So if you have an option you want to use you can do something like:
openvpn --bla bla

Or you can put it in the config file without the -- dashes like so in config.ovpn:
bla bla

And then load that with openvpn --config config.ovpn

I recommend reading the reference manual for more information.

Kind regards,
Johan