During the setup of your Azure virtual machine, you should have selected to use an SSH public key under authentication type. If you chose Password instead, you cannot use SSH to access your Azure VM. Using an SSH connection tool such as PuTTY, point to the IP address or hostname of your instance, and load the private key file for authentication. This key must be the same key you used with the Azure VM setup. For more detailed information, please refer to Microsoft’s SSH documentation.

When configuring OpenVPN Access Server on your Azure virtual machine, there is a step where you set up security groups. We have already preconfigured the rules for this so there is no need to create additional rules under NIC network security group. Under Configure network security group, when you click on Create new, you’ll see the preconfigured settings we’ve defined. You can review them and click OK.

Your OpenVPN Access Server resource on Azure needs a Static IP address, rather than a dynamic one. You should assign this when you are creating your resource. To do this, you’ll find it under the Networking setup step.

Under Public IP, click on Create new and choose from the options that pop up on the right. Enter a Name for the IP, the SKU, and select Static under Assignment.

This step is especially important if you will be getting a commercial SSL certificate that would be valid for your VPN administration portal. Selecting a static IP makes it easier for you to point your DNS records to the correct IP address for a custom domain or FQDN for your VPN server.