external connection

[vpn_newbie]

I need some help figuring out what is causing the connection issue connecting from a public library with openvpn.

I have successfully installed OpenVPN and successfully connected at my home network. I created a DYNDNS hostname to resolve dynamic DNS.

I have listed my server.conf and client.conf below in this post. When I go to my local library to test my OpenVPN connection to my home network. I get this issues:

1) I cannot ping my DYNDNS hostname.
2) OpenVPN hangs at ISP Dynamic IP Address (71.252.203.43) and no progress from there.


On my server.conf window at home I see this message. Why is OpenVPN opening port 1024 below.
Please help me debug what I am doing wrong. Thank you in advance for all replies.

{{{{Thu Jul 7 11:48:42 2011 us=367483 read UDPv4 [EHOSTUNREACH]: No route to host (code=113)
Thu Jul 7 11:48:49 2011 us=590556 thinkx1/71.252.203.43:1024 UDPv4 WRITE [53] to 71.252.203.43:1024: P_DATA_V1 kid=0 DATA len=52
Thu Jul 7 11:48:50 2011 us=818777 read UDPv4 [EHOSTUNREACH]: No route to host (code=113)
Thu Jul 7 11:48:58 2011 us=19237 thinkx1/71.252.203.43:1024 [thinkx1] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Thu Jul 7 11:48:58 2011 us=19301 thinkx1/71.252.203.43:1024 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, client-instance restarting}}}}


My server.conf

;local 10.xx.xx.3

port 1194

;proto tcp
proto udp

;dev-node MyTap
ca /etc/openvpn/2.0/keys/ca.crt
cert /etc/openvpn/2.0/keys/server.crt
key /etc/openvpn/2.0/keys/server.key # This file should be kept secret

client.conf

client
;dev tap
dev tun
;dev-node MyTap

;proto tcp
proto udp

remote emvsys.dyndns.org 1194
;remote my-server-2 1194

;remote-random

resolv-retry infinite

nobind

;user nobody
;group nobody

persist-key
persist-tun


;http-proxy-retry # retry on connection failures
;http-proxy [proxy server] [proxy port #]

;mute-replay-warnings

ca "c:\\\\config\\ca.crt"
cert "c:\\\\config\\thinkx1.crt"
key "c:\\\\config\\thinkx1.key"

ns-cert-type server

;tls-auth ta.key 1

;cipher x
comp-lzo


verb 3

;mute 20

[maikcat]

hi there,

port 1194

;proto tcp
proto udp

;dev-node MyTap
ca /etc/openvpn/2.0/keys/ca.crt
cert /etc/openvpn/2.0/keys/server.crt
key /etc/openvpn/2.0/keys/server.key # This file should be kept secret

is this your server conf?
looks a little crippled to me..
for testing ,try switch to tcp ,and try to telnet to it
if you dont get something back maybe they block you.

Michael.

[vpn_newbie]

Thanks for the reply maikat.

I am able to connect now. The strange thing is that I cannot connect from one specific public library close to my home. I can connect from a Starbucks or Barnes and noble bookstore.

Once I am connected I use Xming and putty to rdesktop into a windows desktop. Do you have any security tips? I want to be able to connect remotely that way. My VPN server is running CentOS 5. Is my connection safe?

I am also considering FTP to transfer file and auth-PAM username/password protection. Let me know. Thank you in advance.

[maikcat]

hi there,

>The strange thing is that I cannot connect from one specific public library close to my home. I can connect from a Starbucks or Barnes and noble bookstore.

maybe they block (or limit) outgoing traffic...

>Xming

this is X server AFAIK
can you explain the steps you take to connect (and where),
because i didnt got it quite right...

>My VPN server is running CentOS 5. Is my connection safe?
if traffic destined to your server lan passes through openvpn,yes it is safe.

Michael.

[vpn_newbie]

Thank you Michael for the reply.

>Xming

>>this is X server AFAIK
>>can you explain the steps you take to connect (and where),
>>because i didnt got it quite right...

I configured Putty with X-ming server to run x-windows from the command line from my client vpn. Basically I am trying to use Putty to X-server into the Linux VPN server so I can rdesktop into my Windows client machines on my network. I am just using the Linux server as the VPN server. Is this safe?

I am also going to turn on Samba share between linux vpn server and windows client machine so I can SFTP between the client and the vpn server. Is this safe?

Thank you in advance for replying to my newbie questions.