--- title: 'Tutorial: Connect to Access Server with Linux' canonical: https://openvpn.net/as-docs/tutorials/tutorial--connect-with-linux/ product: Access Server Docs description: Follow this guide to install the OpenVPN client on Linux to connect to Access Server with a connection profile. --- # Tutorial: Connect to Access Server with Linux ## Overview This tutorial is for Linux users who want to connect to Access Server. You can follow the steps below to connect with one of three options: 1. The OpenVPN 3 Linux client (recommended for modern Linux distributions). 2. The OpenVPN open-source CLI program. 3. The Gnome NetworkManager GUI. ### Discussed in this tutorial: - The OpenVPN 3 Linux client is the **openvpn3** package. - The OpenVPN open-source CLI program is the **openvpn** package. - The Gnome NetworkManager program uses the **NetworkManager-openvpn** VPN plugin. > **Tip** > > If you also work with Access Server on the Linux server, that package is **openvpn-as**. It's not used for connecting as a client, but it's helpful to know the difference. ## Option 1: Connecting with the OpenVPN 3 Linux client (using openvpn3-as to download a profile) Follow the steps in these sections to install the OpenVPN 3 Linux client, download a connection profile from Access Server, and connect to your server. The OpenVPN 3 Linux client is built on top of the OpenVPN 3 Core Library, which is also used in OpenVPN Connect and OpenVPN for Android. It's built around a completely different architecture regarding usage, focusing more on allowing ordinary, unprivileged users on a system to start and manage their own VPN sessions. You can find more details in the [OpenVPN Community documentation](https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/OpenVPN3Linux). ### Prerequisites - User credentials for [Access Server](https://openvpn.net/access-server/). > **Tip** > > Contact your Access Server administrator if you don't have credentials. - A [supported Linux distribution](https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/OpenVPN3Linux). - Root access to your Linux machine command-line interface (CLI). ### Step 1: Install the openvpn3 package 1. Open the [OpenVPN 3 for Linux webpage](https://openvpn.net/community-docs/openvpn-client-for-linux.md) in a browser. > **Tip** > > This page also includes details about advanced features. 2. Click **Install OpenVPN 3 Linux**. 3. Follow the steps to run the commands under the **Stable repository** section appropriate for your Linux distribution. You should now have the `openvpn3` package installed. ### Step 2: Download and import a connection profile using openvpn3-as After installing, you need a connection profile. Access Server generates this file for your specific user account. It includes the required certificates and connection settings for a VPN session. 1. Connect to the console with root privileges. 2. Download and import a connection profile (.ovpn file) directly from Access Server: ``` openvpn3-as --name https://myserver.example.net/ ``` Enter your desired file name. Enter the Access Server domain name or IP address. 3. When prompted, enter your username and password. - The `openvpn3-as` tool imports the file into the OpenVPN3 Linux configuration manager using the file name defined. > **Tip** > > The \ is an "alias name" associated with your connection profile (.ovpn file). ### Step 3: Start a VPN session You can now connect to Access Server. - Start a VPN session with the connection profile: ``` openvpn3 session-start --config ``` - Manage a running VPN session: ``` openvpn3 sessions-list ``` Refer to the [OpenVPN 3 Linux community documentation](https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/OpenVPN3Linux) for more. ## Option 2: OpenVPN open-source CLI program You can connect to Access Server with the open-source client program, **openvpn**. Most Linux distributions have this package available. The **openvpn** client program supports the option to connect to multiple OpenVPN servers simultaneously, and it includes a server component that can automatically and silently start any auto-login profile in the **/etc/openvpn** directory even before a user signs in. You can set this service component to launch at startup with tools available in your Linux distribution. On Ubuntu and Debian, when you install the **openvpn** package, it's automatically configured to start at boot time. This outlines the necessary steps to connect to Access Server using the OpenVPN open-source client, **openvpn**. 1. Install the **openvpn** package. 2. Download a connection profile from the Client Web UI. 3. Import the connection profile. 4. Start a VPN session. ### Install the **openvpn** package Use the appropriate Linux install command to install the **openvpn** package. For example, use this command for Ubuntu: ```cmd apt-get install openvpn ``` ### Download a connection profile from the Client Web UI After installing, you need a connection profile. Access Server generates this file for your specific user account. \[empty\] 1. Open a web browser. 2. Enter the URL for your Client Web UI. 3. Sign in with your user credentials. 4. Select the user-locked or auto-login profile from the download options. 5. Save the **client.ovpn** file to your Linux operating system. ### Import the connection profile Start a connection with an auto-login `profile` manually: ```bash openvpn --config client.ovpn ``` Start a connection with a user-locked profile manually: ```bash openvpn --config client.ovpn --auth-user-pass ``` Start a connection with the **auth-retry** parameter for multi-factor authentication: ```bash openvpn --config client.ovpn --auth-user-pass --auth-retry interact ``` To start an auto-login connection via the service daemon, place **client.ovpn** in **/etc/openvpn/** and rename the file. The name must end with **.conf** as the file extension. Ensure the service daemon is enabled to run after a reboot, then reboot the system. The auto-login type profile picks up automatically and the connection starts itself. You can verify this by checking the output of the **ifconfig** command where you should see a **tun0** network adapter in the list. > **Note** > > The **openvpn** client doesn't automatically implement DNS servers pushed by the VPN server. To accomplish this, you must install a DNS management program such as **resolvconf** or **openresolv**, but those many clash with existing network management software in your OS. > > The main reason the **openvpn** client doesn't do this is that in Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS, there's a single method of handling DNS management, making it easy to create a software client for those operating systems to handle DNS. But Linux has so many variations and supports different programs and methods for DNS, so the **openvpn** client doesn't include built-in DNS support. > > Fortunately, on Ubuntu and Debian, the **/etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf** script comes with the **openvpn** package that handles DNS implementation on those operating systems. Follow these optional steps to activate it. ## Option 3: NetworkManager If you'd like to connect via a GUI, you can use the [Gnome NetworkManager VPN](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/NetworkManager/VPN) plugin, **NetworkManager-openvpn**. We don't provide the detailed steps here. Refer to the [NetworkManager project documentation](https://networkmanager.dev/docs/). > **Caution** > > This requires a tricky setup. If you're setting up your business VPN server to route traffic for some internal resources, while allowing internet traffic to be sent outside the VPN tunnel, this split-tunnel setup isn't supported by the NetworkManager VPN plugin out of the box. You must ensure that internet traffic isn't sent over the VPN by default. > > Also, older versions might not understand the .ovpn file format, requiring you to create separate files for the embedded certificates. > > However, the advantage of using the GUI component is that you can start/stop the connection from the desktop environment on Linux. --- Prev: [Client Connection Setup](https://openvpn.net/as-docs/tutorials/client-connection-setup.md) Next: [Tutorial: Connect to Access Server on macOS with OpenVPN Connect](https://openvpn.net/as-docs/tutorials/tutorial--connect-with-macos.md) Index: https://openvpn.net/as-docs/llms.txt