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:
The OpenVPN 3 Linux client (recommended for modern Linux distributions).
The OpenVPN open-source CLI program.
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.
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.
User credentials for Access Server.
Root access to your Linux machine command-line interface (CLI).
Open the OpenVPN 3 for Linux webpage in a browser.
Click Install OpenVPN 3 Linux.
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.
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.
Connect to the console with root privileges.
Download and import a connection profile (.ovpn file) directly from Access Server:
openvpn3-as --name <MY_CONFIG_NAME> https://myserver.example.net/Enter your desired file name.
Enter the Access Server domain name or IP address.
When prompted, enter your username and password.
The
openvpn3-astool imports the file into the OpenVPN3 Linux configuration manager using the file name defined.
You can now connect to Access Server.
Start a VPN session with the connection profile:
openvpn3 session-start --config ${client.ovpn}Manage a running VPN session:
openvpn3 sessions-list
Refer to the OpenVPN 3 Linux community documentation for more.
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.
Install the openvpn package.
Download a connection profile from the Client Web UI.
Import the connection profile.
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:
apt-get install openvpnDownload 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.
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Open a web browser.
Enter the URL for your Client Web UI.
Sign in with your user credentials.
Select the user-locked or auto-login profile from the download options.
Save the client.ovpn file to your Linux operating system.
Import the connection profile
Start a connection with an auto-login profile manually:
openvpn --config client.ovpnStart a connection with a user-locked profile manually:
openvpn --config client.ovpn --auth-user-passStart a connection with the auth-retry parameter for multi-factor authentication:
openvpn --config client.ovpn --auth-user-pass --auth-retry interactTo 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.
If you'd like to connect via a GUI, you can use the Gnome NetworkManager VPN plugin, NetworkManager-openvpn. We don't provide the detailed steps here. Refer to the NetworkManager project documentation.