I'm extremely confused by this, and it seems completely wrong but I have no idea how so I'll start from the beginning.
I configured openvpn on my Debian server using this guide. After I copied the necessary files over to my archlinux desktop and attempted to run the script, I noticed the connection just timed out:
$ openvpn server.ovpn
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 OpenVPN 2.4.6 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [LZ4] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [MH/PKTINFO] [AEAD] built on Apr 24 2018
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 library versions: OpenSSL 1.1.0h 27 Mar 2018, LZO 2.10
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 TCP/UDP: Preserving recently used remote address: [AF_INET]<server-ip>:1194
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 Socket Buffers: R=[212992->212992] S=[212992->212992]
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 UDP link local: (not bound)
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 UDP link remote: [AF_INET]<server-ip>:1194
Thu Aug 2 18:50:29 2018 NOTE: UID/GID downgrade will be delayed because of --client, --pull, or --up-delay
Thu Aug 2 18:51:29 2018 TLS Error: TLS key negotiation failed to occur within 60 seconds (check your network connectivity)
Thu Aug 2 18:51:29 2018 TLS Error: TLS handshake failed
Thu Aug 2 18:51:29 2018 SIGUSR1[soft,tls-error] received, process restarting
Thu Aug 2 18:51:29 2018 Restart pause, 5 second(s)
^CThu Aug 2 18:51:32 2018 SIGINT[hard,init_instance] received, process exiting
I thought it might be a firewall issue so I decided to temporarily drop my firewall while I tested this, but no luck (I've done this on both my client and my server):
$ sudo iptables -L -v
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 15 packets, 1056 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 8 packets, 768 bytes)
pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination
I decided to make sure I was actually attempting to make a connection, so I opened wireshark and saw this:
1 <my-ip> <server-ip> OpenVPN 56 MessageType: P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V2
2 <server-ip> <my-ip> ICMP 84 Destination unreachable (Port unreachable)
3 <my-ip> <server-ip> OpenVPN 56 MessageType: P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V2
4 <server-ip> <my-ip> ICMP 84 Destination unreachable (Port unreachable)
15 <my-ip> <server-ip> OpenVPN 56 MessageType: P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V2
16 <server-ip> <my-ip> ICMP 84 Destination unreachable (Port unreachable)
29 <my-ip> <server-ip> OpenVPN 56 MessageType: P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V2
32 <server-ip> <my-ip> ICMP 84 Destination unreachable (Port unreachable)
51 <my-ip> <server-ip> OpenVPN 56 MessageType: P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V2
52 <server-ip> <my-ip> ICMP 84 Destination unreachable (Port unreachable)
Since I know there's no firewall rule blocking it, I went to see if open vpn is even, running:
$ sudo lsof -i | grep -i vpn
$ sudo ps ax | grep -i vpn
19969 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep -i vpn
Nothing comes back. I check the systemd to make sure it didn't crash:
$ systemctl status openvpn
● openvpn.service - OpenVPN service
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/openvpn.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Thu 2018-08-02 09:37:24 CDT; 11h ago
Process: 12769 ExecStart=/bin/true (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 12769 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Tasks: 0 (limit: 4915)
CGroup: /system.slice/openvpn.service
It says it exited success, but then I noticed, "ExecStart=/bin/true". What the heck? I open up the service file, and see this:
$ cat /lib/systemd/system/openvpn.service
# This service is actually a systemd target,
# but we are using a service since targets cannot be reloaded.
[Unit]
Description=OpenVPN service
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/bin/true
ExecReload=/bin/true
WorkingDirectory=/etc/openvpn
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
I admit, openvpn is a complex piece of software I don't fully understand, but how is ExecStart=/bin/true
correct? I have a hard time believing this is just a placeholder that somehow made it into production since someone much smarter than I would have caught it by now, but I just don't understand. What is the point of this and how do I make openvpn wait to preform the handshake?