Install issue with Ubuntu Server

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jloven
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:32 pm

Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by jloven » Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:45 pm

Hey all,

Looking for any tips or similar experiences to try and help resolve this issue. I have recently decided to spin up 2 VPN servers to operate in failover mode. Let me know your experiences with this!



The operating system is Ubuntu 20 live server (20.04) and the VPN server I am using is OpenVPN AS (2.9.6). I successfully built the primary node a week or so ago and ran in to almost no issues with the setup. It is currently up and doing its job in a single node configuration.

On the second server VM, Ubuntu installed no issues, the issue comes when I install OpenVPN server. I was following the instruction here https://openvpn.net/vpn-software-packages/ Correcting some minor command issues with line 3. I am able to run the installer via repository, I have also started over and tried manually.

The moment its installed the VM loses network connection and is no longer able to be connected to via SSH (putty) and is just unreachable on the network. I am able to login to it through the host and ping out. I can confirm that OpenVPN is installed, its service is on the server and running. When I stop the service I regain connection and am able to SSH. The issue appears to be directly with the OpenVPN application but I just used this installer with no issues.

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks for advice in advance!

chilinux
OpenVPN Power User
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:31 am

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by chilinux » Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:19 pm

Are you trying to do High Available Fail-over or are you trying to do a Cluster?

jloven
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:32 pm

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by jloven » Tue Nov 23, 2021 1:43 pm

I plan to us the Active/Standby Failover model. Its the option built into OpenVPN AS server.

Though, my issue isn't with setting that up (yet), my issue comes from a clean install of openVPN AS. Soon as the installer is finishing up the server goes offline and is unreachable by any means besides through console access from the host.

thank you for responding!

chilinux
OpenVPN Power User
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:31 am

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by chilinux » Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:24 pm

A clean install shouldn't have any impact on the networking.

What is the exact command you are running when it goes offline?
By install do you just running apt or are you running ovpn-init or something else?

jloven
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:32 pm

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by jloven » Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:45 pm

That's my thought as well. These are the commands I am running to install OpenVPN.

apt update && apt -y install ca-certificates wget net-tools gnupg
wget -qO - https://as-repository.openvpn.net/as-repo-public.gpg | apt-key add -
echo "deb http://as-repository.openvpn.net/as/debian focal main">/etc/apt/sources.list.d/openvpn-as-repo.list

^This line is an error but I manually added the file path to the list

apt update && apt -y install openvpn-as

^ Its once that final command runs and is near completion that I the server goes offline and is only accessible through the host via console.


I found those commands to install openVPN on https://openvpn.net/vpn-software-packages/

The installer has worked for me before in the past.

chilinux
OpenVPN Power User
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:31 am

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by chilinux » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:07 pm

Had you already run "apt update" before doing the install? Or did apt update actually update other packages that impacted networking?

jloven
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:32 pm

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by jloven » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:18 pm

I ran apt update before doing install.

The apt update did not impact networking.

chilinux
OpenVPN Power User
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:31 am

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by chilinux » Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:25 pm

If you uninstalled openvpn-as and re-installed it then it won't be a true clean install unless you had run "ovpn-init" before uninstalling openvpn-as.

If there is previous sqlite database files from a previous configuration then OpenVPN AS may be starting up uCARPd with incorrect parameters that is causing networking to stop.

I would recommend logging into the VM console and see if ucarpd shows up on a process listing.

jloven
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:32 pm

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by jloven » Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:49 pm

"I would recommend logging into the VM console and see if ucarpd shows up on a process listing."

To clarify, I never uninstalled OpenVPN. This is being done on a brand new VM, I rebuilt the VM every-time I started this process over so the VM should have no files left over from anything previous as its a brand new install that HAS had its updates.

After review, I did not see ucarpd running in the process listing.

chilinux
OpenVPN Power User
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 8:31 am

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by chilinux » Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:22 pm

I got nothing then. uCARPd will only be a factor when OpenVPN AS has been configured to run in Primary/Standby Failover mode. A completely fresh install will not use uCARPd.

I'm not aware of anything with simply installing the OpenVPN AS package that should cause networking to stop.

Only other thing I can think of is something might have happen with iptables. However, that seems like a long shot. Once you log in from the console, you can try either flushing the iptables or resetting it back to the rules you had before installing OpenVPN AS.

Out of curiosity, what hypervisor software are you using? QEMU/KVM? XenServer? VMware? Hyper-V?

Your best bet at this point is to open a support ticket.

jloven
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:32 pm

Re: Install issue with Ubuntu Server

Post by jloven » Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:36 pm

I will likely try your long shots and open a ticket at this point. I am using VMware.

Its almost like there is an issue with a config file right from the repository, I followed these same steps 3 weeks ago and spun up the primary node and that works fine in our test network.

I appreciate your help on this matter!

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