OpenVpn Connect daemon with login/password

Official client software for OpenVPN Access Server and OpenVPN Cloud.
Post Reply
randomUser124
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:02 am

OpenVpn Connect daemon with login/password

Post by randomUser124 » Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:05 am

Hello,

I have a opvn config file working fine when using the OpenVpn Connect app. The authentication is based on login/password, and the app does well remember my password.

Now I would like to configure it as daemon, to automatically start at system boot. How can I achieve this? If I just refer to the opvn config file it won't work, since the login/password is not saved in there...

Thank you

User avatar
openvpn_inc
OpenVPN Inc.
Posts: 1333
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:41 am

Re: OpenVpn Connect daemon with login/password

Post by openvpn_inc » Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:29 am

Hello randomUser124,

There's two ways to go about this. The best way is to use a connection profile that doesn't require username and password. The worst way is putting the username/password in a plain-text file and referencing that with the auth-user-pass directive. Both methods will lead to a solution that doesn't require the user to interactively enter the credentials, so that the connection can be established automatically.

If you're using OpenVPN Cloud or OpenVPN Access Server you can arrange things so that it doesn't require username/password.

Then you can run OpenVPN Connect v3 as windows service daemon:
https://openvpn.net/vpn-server-resource ... emon-mode/

Good luck,
Johan
Image OpenVPN Inc.
Answers provided by OpenVPN Inc. staff members here are provided on a voluntary best-effort basis, and no rights can be claimed on the basis of answers posted in this public forum. If you wish to get official support from OpenVPN Inc. please use the official support ticket system: https://openvpn.net/support

randomUser124
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:02 am

Re: OpenVpn Connect daemon with login/password

Post by randomUser124 » Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:36 am

Thank you very much for this fast reply.
The login and password of the VPN is actually managed by Active Directory server, and is the user login/pwd for its windows domain. So storing it in plain text doesn't seem a good option :)

I'll investigate about OpenVPN Access Server

Thank you again

randomUser124
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:02 am

Re: OpenVpn Connect daemon with login/password

Post by randomUser124 » Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:08 pm

By the way, what happens if I use certificates for authentication? I still need to input the passphrase of the certificates somewhere, right?

User avatar
openvpn_inc
OpenVPN Inc.
Posts: 1333
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:41 am

Re: OpenVpn Connect daemon with login/password

Post by openvpn_inc » Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:21 am

Hello randomUser124,

> By the way, what happens if I use certificates for authentication? I still need to input the passphrase of the certificates somewhere, right?

No, that would entirely defeat the purpose of unattended logins. Then you're just moving the problem of entering credentials from one place to another.

Kind regards,
Johan
Image OpenVPN Inc.
Answers provided by OpenVPN Inc. staff members here are provided on a voluntary best-effort basis, and no rights can be claimed on the basis of answers posted in this public forum. If you wish to get official support from OpenVPN Inc. please use the official support ticket system: https://openvpn.net/support

Post Reply