OpenVPN Support Forum

I'm configuring an OpenVPN network to let external clients connect to an internal server (and each other) through a secure channel. I have configured the server with the client-to-client option, to ensure that all the clients can ping each other, but I want them to also be able to access server-side resources running on the same VPS as the OpenVPN server itself.

Looking at the man pages, and the server interfaces, I can see that the server automatically assigns the address 10.8.0.1 for itself, but strangely, from the client's perspective, this address doesn't actually represent the server, but instead points back towards the client itself. So for example, if I want to access a web server that's running beside the OpenVPN server, I would normally try to connect to http://10.8.0.1:80/, but for some reason this gets routed back to my own workstation, and connects to my local web server instead. Because of this, what should be the server's address, effectively acts as a localhost address, making it impossible to access other server-side resources.

I know that optimally we should deploy the OpenVPN server to its own dedicated VPS, and let clients access other resources on the network, but in our current situation this is not possible, so we have to install OpenVPN on the same machine that is also hosting out internal web server (and some other resources).

So to summarize my questions: Why is 10.8.0.1 routed back towards the client as if it was a loopback adapter? How can I configure the server in a way that allows clients to "see" other services running beside the OpenVPN server process on the same VPS?

Hi,

A possibility I can think of is that you have an overlapping network, check here:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... gConflicts


Remarks:
Not sure about having --management on 0.0.0.0 is a good idea.
Please read section Management Interface Options in manual 2.5: https://build.openvpn.net/man/openvpn-2 ... vpn.8.html

--tls-crypt does not need --key-direction

Pippin wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 19, 2022 8:31 pm

A possibility I can think of is that you have an overlapping network, check here:
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... gConflicts

Now that you're mentioning it... I think I accidentally installed the regular OpenVPN package instead of the OpenVPN Connect client earlier today. After I realized that I downloaded the wrong installer, I just kind of ignored it. But apparently it already configured the TAP adapter for itself, which caused my configuration to break.

Now I just have to figure out how to fully uninstall OpenVPN from my windows machine (just running the uninstaller didn't get rid of the TAP adapter).

Do you have a suggestion as to how I could uninstall the OpenVPN that I accidentally installed?

If no, you still helped me realize what's causing this behavior, so thank you!

Hi,

I´m not a Windows user but read that TAP adapter can be uninstalled through Device Manager, including software for the device...?

Pippin wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 19, 2022 9:01 pm

I´m not a Windows user but read that TAP adapter can be uninstalled through Device Manager, including software for the device...?

Hi,

Yes, that was it. Everything works now. Thank you again!

Nice, glad it helped.