Run OpenVPN Client as Service

March 19, 2021

Run OpenVPN client as a background service that starts on boot

Install openVPN

apt update
apt install openvpn

Create an ovpn folder to hold your ovpn files

cd /etc/openvpn
mkdir ovpn

Place all the ovpn files you have, in this folder. This is especially important if your VPN provider gives you openVPN files to multiple regions

Provide VPN credentials

Create a .test.auth file in the /etc/openvpn folder. This file would have 2 lines with your username and password as follows:

< username >
< password >

Note The auth file name should be .<vpn conf name>.auth. In this case, its .test.auth since its meant to be used for test.conf

Edit the systemd file to use this auth file

systemctl edit --full openvpn@test

Find the following line in it (look for the one that starts with ExecStart:

ExecStart=/usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon ovpn-%i --status /run/openvpn/%i.status 10 --cd /etc/openvpn --script-security 2 --config /etc/openvpn/%i.conf --writepid /run/openvpn/%i.pid

Append the following to it:

--auth-user-pass /etc/openvpn/.%i.auth

The final result should be as follows:

ExecStart=/usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon ovpn-%i --status /run/openvpn/%i.status 10 --cd /etc/openvpn --script-security 2 --config /etc/openvpn/%i.conf --writepid /run/openvpn/%i.pid --auth-user-pass /etc/openvpn/.%i.auth

Create a link to the ovpn file you want to use

Create a symbolic link to the ovpn file in the /etc/openvpn folder but with a .conf extension instead of the .ovpn extension

cd /etc/openvpn
ln -s ovpn/test.ovpn test.conf

Reload systemd for changes to reflect

systemctl daemon-reload

Managing the VPN connection

Enable the connection so that its started on boot

systemctl enable openvpn@test

Start the VPN connection created above by:

systemctl start openvpn@test

Check the status by:

systemctl status openvpn@test

Disconnect by:

systemctl stop openvpn@test