openvpn doesn't find conf files outside /etc/openvpn

[jhulio]

I want to run openvpn as a systemd service.

I downloaded my openvpn configuration files from my VPN provider.

I have one configuration file per VPN server.

I put one of those files inside /etc/openvpn to be recognized my openvpn.

Let's say the file is called /etc/openvpn/server534.conf.

Then I run

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sudo systemctl start openvpn-client@server534

In "server534.conf", I modified this line:

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auth-user-pass

to:

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auth-user-pass /home/myname/vpncredentials.txt

Because in the future I would like to start the service at login without manually inserting username and password.

However, as can be seen by the error logs in "journalctl -xe", the file "/home/myname/vpncredentials.txt" does not exist for openvpn started in this way. A "cat /home/myname/vpncredentials.txt" shows the file correctly.

If I move "vpncredentials.txt" inside /etc/openvpn and modify the configuration file accordingly, it works.

Why openvn does not recognize configuration files outside of /etc/openvpn?

How can I keep my configuration file outside /etc/openvpn?

[TinCanTech]

You cannot use /home with openvpn and systemd because it is protected. Instead use /etc/openvpn/foo

[jhulio]

Thanks for your answer.

What does it mean "it is protected"?

What the protection is, how is it called?

Can you point me to bibliographic references to study this protection?

[TinCanTech]

systemd settings