[Solved] OpenVPN 2.4.0 on Raspbian Stretch will not start by systemctl

[BobAGI]

I have installed OpenVPN server on a Raspberry Pi3B running Raspbian Stretch (via apt-get) and configured it with /etc/openvpn/server/server.conf.
I followed this tutorial on installing OpenVPN server on Debian Stretch.
But when I try to start it using systemctl it fails to run:

Code: Select all

sudo systemctl start openvpn

There is no error message or such but it seems not to work and there is no openvpn process visible in the process list and there is no entry in the log file at all.
But it runs if I start it from the command line like this:

Code: Select all

sudo openvpn /etc/openvpn/server/server.conf

While it is running like this I can connect from my phone, but it fails during the authentication step (different topic regarding HMAC).
But in any case the log fills up with a zillion items and then in the end I can see the transactions from my connection attempt. Not so if I try running as a service...
So I looked in the systemd services and found this:

Code: Select all

# cat /lib/systemd/system/openvpn.service
# This service is actually a systemd target,
# but we are using a service since targets cannot be reloaded.

[Unit]
Description=OpenVPN service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/bin/true
ExecReload=/bin/true
WorkingDirectory=/etc/openvpn

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

In this service file there is no trace of the actual program to run! ExecStart=/bin/true surely cannot start openvpn, right?
But this is what the installer put on my system, so is there some hidden trick that makes it actually work?
And if started without the config file on the command line, where does openvpn look for its configuration?
Notice:
OpenVPN version 2.4.0 is the latest available via apt-get for Raspbian Stretch.
The server.conf file looks like this:

View OriginalServer Config

#################################################
# Sample OpenVPN 2.0 config file for #
# multi-client server. #
# #
# This file is for the server side #
# of a many-clients <-> one-server #
# OpenVPN configuration. #
# #
# OpenVPN also supports #
# single-machine <-> single-machine #
# configurations (See the Examples page #
# on the web site for more info). #
# #
# This config should work on Windows #
# or Linux/BSD systems. Remember on #
# Windows to quote pathnames and use #
# double backslashes, e.g.: #
# "C:\\Program Files\\OpenVPN\\config\\foo.key" #
# #
# Comments are preceded with '#' or ';' #
#################################################

# Which local IP address should OpenVPN
# listen on? (optional)
;local a.b.c.d

# Which TCP/UDP port should OpenVPN listen on?
# If you want to run multiple OpenVPN instances
# on the same machine, use a different port
# number for each one. You will need to
# open up this port on your firewall.
port 1199

# TCP or UDP server?
;proto tcp
proto udp

# "dev tun" will create a routed IP tunnel,
# "dev tap" will create an ethernet tunnel.
# Use "dev tap0" if you are ethernet bridging
# and have precreated a tap0 virtual interface
# and bridged it with your ethernet interface.
# If you want to control access policies
# over the VPN, you must create firewall
# rules for the the TUN/TAP interface.
# On non-Windows systems, you can give
# an explicit unit number, such as tun0.
# On Windows, use "dev-node" for this.
# On most systems, the VPN will not function
# unless you partially or fully disable
# the firewall for the TUN/TAP interface.
;dev tap
dev tun

# Windows needs the TAP-Win32 adapter name
# from the Network Connections panel if you
# have more than one. On XP SP2 or higher,
# you may need to selectively disable the
# Windows firewall for the TAP adapter.
# Non-Windows systems usually don't need this.
;dev-node MyTap

# SSL/TLS root certificate (ca), certificate
# (cert), and private key (key). Each client
# and the server must have their own cert and
# key file. The server and all clients will
# use the same ca file.
#
# See the "easy-rsa" directory for a series
# of scripts for generating RSA certificates
# and private keys. Remember to use
# a unique Common Name for the server
# and each of the client certificates.
#
# Any X509 key management system can be used.
# OpenVPN can also use a PKCS #12 formatted key file
# (see "pkcs12" directive in man page).
ca /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/ca.crt
cert /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/AGIVPN.crt
key /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/AGIVPN.key # This file should be kept secret

# Diffie hellman parameters.
# Generate your own with:
# openssl dhparam -out dh2048.pem 2048
dh /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/dh2048.pem

# Network topology
# Should be subnet (addressing via IP)
# unless Windows clients v2.0.9 and lower have to
# be supported (then net30, i.e. a /30 per client)
# Defaults to net30 (not recommended)
topology subnet

# Configure server mode and supply a VPN subnet
# for OpenVPN to draw client addresses from.
# The server will take 10.8.0.1 for itself,
# the rest will be made available to clients.
# Each client will be able to reach the server
# on 10.8.0.1. Comment this line out if you are
# ethernet bridging. See the man page for more info.
server 10.8.0.0 255.255.255.0

# Maintain a record of client <-> virtual IP address
# associations in this file. If OpenVPN goes down or
# is restarted, reconnecting clients can be assigned
# the same virtual IP address from the pool that was
# previously assigned.
ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt

# Configure server mode for ethernet bridging.
# You must first use your OS's bridging capability
# to bridge the TAP interface with the ethernet
# NIC interface. Then you must manually set the
# IP/netmask on the bridge interface, here we
# assume 10.8.0.4/255.255.255.0. Finally we
# must set aside an IP range in this subnet
# (start=10.8.0.50 end=10.8.0.100) to allocate
# to connecting clients. Leave this line commented
# out unless you are ethernet bridging.
;server-bridge 10.8.0.4 255.255.255.0 10.8.0.50 10.8.0.100

# Configure server mode for ethernet bridging
# using a DHCP-proxy, where clients talk
# to the OpenVPN server-side DHCP server
# to receive their IP address allocation
# and DNS server addresses. You must first use
# your OS's bridging capability to bridge the TAP
# interface with the ethernet NIC interface.
# Note: this mode only works on clients (such as
# Windows), where the client-side TAP adapter is
# bound to a DHCP client.
;server-bridge

# Push routes to the client to allow it
# to reach other private subnets behind
# the server. Remember that these
# private subnets will also need
# to know to route the OpenVPN client
# address pool (10.8.0.0/255.255.255.0)
# back to the OpenVPN server.
;push "route 192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0"
;push "route 192.168.20.0 255.255.255.0"
#Bosse home local network
push "route 192.168.119.0 255.255.255.0"
#AGI local network
;push "route 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0"

# To assign specific IP addresses to specific
# clients or if a connecting client has a private
# subnet behind it that should also have VPN access,
# use the subdirectory "ccd" for client-specific
# configuration files (see man page for more info).

# EXAMPLE: Suppose the client
# having the certificate common name "Thelonious"
# also has a small subnet behind his connecting
# machine, such as 192.168.40.128/255.255.255.248.
# First, uncomment out these lines:
;client-config-dir ccd
;route 192.168.40.128 255.255.255.248
# Then create a file ccd/Thelonious with this line:
# iroute 192.168.40.128 255.255.255.248
# This will allow Thelonious' private subnet to
# access the VPN. This example will only work
# if you are routing, not bridging, i.e. you are
# using "dev tun" and "server" directives.

# EXAMPLE: Suppose you want to give
# Thelonious a fixed VPN IP address of 10.9.0.1.
# First uncomment out these lines:
;client-config-dir ccd
;route 10.9.0.0 255.255.255.252
# Then add this line to ccd/Thelonious:
# ifconfig-push 10.9.0.1 10.9.0.2

# Suppose that you want to enable different
# firewall access policies for different groups
# of clients. There are two methods:
# (1) Run multiple OpenVPN daemons, one for each
# group, and firewall the TUN/TAP interface
# for each group/daemon appropriately.
# (2) (Advanced) Create a script to dynamically
# modify the firewall in response to access
# from different clients. See man
# page for more info on learn-address script.
;learn-address ./script

# If enabled, this directive will configure
# all clients to redirect their default
# network gateway through the VPN, causing
# all IP traffic such as web browsing and
# and DNS lookups to go through the VPN
# (The OpenVPN server machine may need to NAT
# or bridge the TUN/TAP interface to the internet
# in order for this to work properly).
push "redirect-gateway def1 bypass-dhcp"

# Certain Windows-specific network settings
# can be pushed to clients, such as DNS
# or WINS server addresses. CAVEAT:
# http://openvpn.net/faq.html#dhcpcaveats
# The addresses below refer to the public
# DNS servers provided by opendns.com.
;push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.222.222"
;push "dhcp-option DNS 208.67.220.220"

# Uncomment this directive to allow different
# clients to be able to "see" each other.
# By default, clients will only see the server.
# To force clients to only see the server, you
# will also need to appropriately firewall the
# server's TUN/TAP interface.
;client-to-client

# Uncomment this directive if multiple clients
# might connect with the same certificate/key
# files or common names. This is recommended
# only for testing purposes. For production use,
# each client should have its own certificate/key
# pair.
#
# IF YOU HAVE NOT GENERATED INDIVIDUAL
# CERTIFICATE/KEY PAIRS FOR EACH CLIENT,
# EACH HAVING ITS OWN UNIQUE "COMMON NAME",
# UNCOMMENT THIS LINE OUT.
;duplicate-cn

# The keepalive directive causes ping-like
# messages to be sent back and forth over
# the link so that each side knows when
# the other side has gone down.
# Ping every 10 seconds, assume that remote
# peer is down if no ping received during
# a 120 second time period.
keepalive 10 120

# For extra security beyond that provided
# by SSL/TLS, create an "HMAC firewall"
# to help block DoS attacks and UDP port flooding.
#
# Generate with:
# openvpn --genkey --secret ta.key
#
# The server and each client must have
# a copy of this key.
# The second parameter should be '0'
# on the server and '1' on the clients.
tls-auth /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/ta.key 0 # This file is secret

# Select a cryptographic cipher.
# This config item must be copied to
# the client config file as well.
# Note that 2.4 client/server will automatically
# negotiate AES-256-GCM in TLS mode.
# See also the ncp-cipher option in the manpage
cipher AES-256-CBC

# Enable compression on the VPN link and push the
# option to the client (2.4+ only, for earlier
# versions see below)
;compress lz4-v2
;push "compress lz4-v2"

# For compression compatible with older clients use comp-lzo
# If you enable it here, you must also
# enable it in the client config file.
comp-lzo

# The maximum number of concurrently connected
# clients we want to allow.
max-clients 20

# It's a good idea to reduce the OpenVPN
# daemon's privileges after initialization.
#
# You can uncomment this out on
# non-Windows systems.
user openvpn
group nogroup

# The persist options will try to avoid
# accessing certain resources on restart
# that may no longer be accessible because
# of the privilege downgrade.
persist-key
persist-tun

# Output a short status file showing
# current connections, truncated
# and rewritten every minute.
status /etc/openvpn/log/openvpn-status.log

# By default, log messages will go to the syslog (or
# on Windows, if running as a service, they will go to
# the "\Program Files\OpenVPN\log" directory).
# Use log or log-append to override this default.
# "log" will truncate the log file on OpenVPN startup,
# while "log-append" will append to it. Use one
# or the other (but not both).
;log openvpn.log
log-append /etc/openvpn/log/openvpn.log

# Set the appropriate level of log
# file verbosity.
#
# 0 is silent, except for fatal errors
# 4 is reasonable for general usage
# 5 and 6 can help to debug connection problems
# 9 is extremely verbose
verb 4

# Silence repeating messages. At most 20
# sequential messages of the same message
# category will be output to the log.
;mute 20

# Notify the client that when the server restarts so it
# can automatically reconnect.
explicit-exit-notify 1

#Strong authentication digest:
# Auth Digest
auth SHA512
# Limit Ciphers
tls-cipher TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-GCM-SHA384:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-128-GCM-SHA256:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-CBC-SHA:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-CAMELLIA-256-CBC-SHA:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-128-CBC-SHA:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-CAMELLIA-128-CBC-SHA

On the client side on my phone I have this ovpn file (slightly privatized):

View OriginalClient OVPN file

client
dev tun
proto udp
remote home.xxxx.com 1199
resolv-retry infinite
nobind
persist-key
persist-tun
mute-replay-warnings
remote-cert-tls server
#ns-cert-type server
#key-direction 1
cipher AES-256-CBC
comp-lzo
verb 1
mute 20
<ca>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIE2TCCA8GgAwIBAgIJAJMTJXcJkGNdMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMIGjMQswCQYD
...
89FvrhLAXczJQPduQj5GhL+cWb4XemFm3tiaC2stCgMF6i9d9bSKgxQYmySS
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
</ca>
<cert>
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIFNDCCBBygAwIBAgIBAjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADCBozELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMx
....
6LgPwwBd2imqJS2NmY/HZkur4gH/f/XD8Mac2pZrcKhsVVS2YB9aFg==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
</cert>
<key>
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,DCE114A8BB614F48

H+8YNHMHgC12ypLJf5ClcjhFdqHqsB0ererKtoeBoWPbtkH2DnbKfzug4k/fdX30
....
1HoVHYbpZ5BGbqKXq0DiSKsIWY0zBzXgPJVSlwH+enJ00othBB3HNFvFgsk8GVCs
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
</key>
<tls-auth>
#
# 2048 bit OpenVPN static key
#
-----BEGIN OpenVPN Static key V1-----
8fe4da3d17700799bcaf37db4305be1d
....
3b44895127e04c931dc20cd106e7ea10
-----END OpenVPN Static key V1-----
</tls-auth>

[dariusz]

make sure to run

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

every time when new server instance (conf file) is created.

[TinCanTech]

So I looked in the systemd services and found this:
<..>
In this service file there is no trace of the actual program to run!

That is the openvpn.service unit file which you start like so:

Code: Select all

# service openvpn start

[BobAGI]

That is the openvpn.service unit file which you start like so:

Code: Select all

# service openvpn start

If this would be the case then I assume that whatever openvpn will do it will log to the logfile, but the log directory only contains stuff from 6 hours ago when I last ran it manually.
My suspicion is that openvpn does not understand where to look for the config file.
A consequence of this is that there must be some configuration possibility in the service system to specify this.
When googling systemd services I find people making services run by creating a script that is called from [Service]ExecStart= line.
In that script all needed parameters for the program to run can be specified.
But the service file created by the apt-get install openvpn call does not contain that as shown above.
Last time I built an OpenVpn server on RPi it was in Wheezy times and the service system was different.

I have saved the configuration to /etc/openvpn/server/server.conf as I have understood the correct place is.
But it seems not to look there because the log dir is set in that file and nothing is entered into it.
So I tried to copy it to /etc/openvpn but it does not look there either, no log entry anywhere and no trace in the process list.

It seems so strange that if I manually run openvpn with an argument as the conf file then it starts up and logs to the correct place and waits for a connection. But if I try to start it as a service nothing happens not even logging.
And this includes /var/log/syslog
Any other ideas, please?

[BobAGI]

make sure to run
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
every time when new server instance (conf file) is created.

I think that would only be needed if it actually is running when the conf file is modified.
However in my case it is not, my problem is that I cannot get it to start except from the command line and in that case I can do nothing like inspecting logfiles and such until I shut it down with Ctrl-C and get back to the command prompt...

[TinCanTech]

You probably need to edit /etc/default/openvpn

[BobAGI]

You probably need to edit /etc/default/openvpn

Right, I have gotten that advice also in one of my threads in the RPi forum....
The reply I got from epoch1970 cleared the remaining issues I had on the server I was setting up.

And it raised an interesting way to allow/disallow web browsing through the tunnel too, which I have posted on here.
If that works out (I will test after dinner), then I can make a VPN server that has different modes of operation for two classes of users, the ones who need to browse via VPN and the ones who do not and want their own ISP speeds on the net.
I hope it will work!

[BobAGI]

Back again after doing this:
1) I made a copy of the /etc/openvpn/server.conf and called it serverweb.conf
2) I edited the server.conf and changed the following to make it not handle web requests:

Code: Select all

port 1198  #Use port 1198 for local-only access
server 10.8.1.0 255.255.255.0  #Use 10.8.1.0 instead of 10.8.0.0
ifconfig-pool-persist ipp2.txt  #Use separate persist file
;push "redirect-gateway def1 bypass-dhcp" #Disable tunnel gateway for this profile
status /etc/openvpn/log/openvpn-status2.log #Separate logfiles
log-append  /etc/openvpn/log/openvpn2.log
verb 3  #Less logging

3) I added an iptables rule to handle the new VPN subnet:

Code: Select all

# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.8.1.0/24 -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

4) I copied the client OVPN file to a new name and changed its port to 1198
5) I also ran these commands afterwards:

Code: Select all

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart openvpn

Following this I transferred the new OVPN file to my phone and registered it as a new profile.
Result:
When I used the profile which ran on port 1199 it worked just as before. I could access the local resources as well as the web. And checking the IP address on the web showed it to be the external address of the Internet fiber router.
When I used the other profile on 1198 I could reach the internal network on the server side, but I could not reach the Internet.
So the attempt to check the external address failed because dyndns.com was not reachable.

Conclusion:
- The two-server configuration actually does work!
- I am missing something in the setup that allows the client to remain on the Internet while accessing local resources through the tunnel.

Seems like the last problem is caused by the openvpn client switching off the default gateway during the connect phase even though it is not receiving a push to replace it.
What can be done to fix this last remaining issue?

[BobAGI]

Full solution:
When I used a Windows7 PC as the client I got the expected behaviour:
Both connections gave me access to the remote LAN.
One gave me Internet through the tunnel and the other Internet via my client-side gateway and ISP.

The reason I could not see this is that apparently OpenVPN-Connect on my Android phones is unable to do split tunnel operation so there Internet just disappeared. Found this out today when I had access to a Win7 PC on a different LAN for testing.