Info about openvpn server

[bnhf]

Info about openvpn server

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

What OS are you using (Raspbian, Debian, Ubuntu) and what version (Buster, Bullseye, etc)?

Are you launching the container via Portainer Stacks (as shown below), and have you set your environment variables?

Please login through a terminal, and post the output of pivpn -d

[swimer-girl]

OS: Ubuntu 16.04 xenial
Yes, I launch the container via Portainer Stacks. I use the environment variables as you used

• PIVPN_SERVER=vpn_ac01d026-c0d2-4203-9441-bd9e1e35b5a3
• PIVPN_CONF=server.conf

debug.log

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

Looks like the issue is here, based on your debug log:

Oct 14 15:35:45 vpn ovpn-server[4583]: MANAGEMENT: Socket bind failed on local address [AF_INET]REDACTED:2080: Address already in use (errno=98)
Oct 14 15:35:45 vpn ovpn-server[4583]: Exiting due to fatal error

So PiVPN isn't running, and even if it were the port we need to use for the management interface isn't open. I believe the problem may be your use of 127.0.0.1 instead of 0.0.0.0 for the IP of the host. My recollection is that in a Docker environment, 127.0.0.1 refers to the container, and 0.0.0.0 to the host. It's also possible you're already using port 2080 for something else, but I think my first explanation is more likely.

Edit your settings file in the WebUI to match the Management setting shown below and reboot, and of course, make sure that all the other OpenVPN server settings are the way you want them:

[swimer-girl]

I checked everything and made changes.
Here is the result of the command again pivpn -d
debug.log

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

OK, PiVPN is running now and listening on the management port. Is the WebUI showing you status information on the Home page now? OPENVPN VERSION, OPERATING SYSTEM, ARCHITECTURE and the like?

[swimer-girl]

I see only this.

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

How do you have your settings page configured in the UI? You may need to use the IP address of your host computer rather than the hostname -- which may or may not resolve depending on your network setup. Hostname is used in this example, but just replace it with the LAN IP of your host:

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

Just to clarify I'm talking about the "Management interface address" field. Try using the IP address of the host with a :2080 after.

[swimer-girl]

I understood you, I just wrote the answer and tried to realize my epic-fail.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this setting. Only did it in the wrong context.
I tried to specify different options: localhost, 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1.
But I never had an idea to put exactly the host-IP of the machine on my local network.
Now everything works for me.
Mega giant thanks for your help.
You are amazing!!!

[swimer-girl]

While I was tinkering with the code, I found where you can make other changes for me. For example, fix config files and other points related specifically to the openvpn server.
But what IP to use in this setting, I did not guess

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

Out of curiosity, how are you handling reaching your external (public) IP from an OpenVPN client? Do you have a static IP, or are you using a Dynamic DNS service to give you a reliable hostname?

[swimer-girl]

I have port forwarding configured from the firewall to my openvpn server for client. Server has static IP.

[bnhf]

@swimer-girl

So in that same Settings page, there's a field for "Server Address (external)". This refers to the IP address you get from your Internet provider, if it's a static address you can use that directly. If not, you're going to want to sign-up with a DDNS service so that you have a hostname you can use that will keep track of an occasionally changing Internet IP address from that ISP.

[swimer-girl]

In this field I used my external IP from my Internet provider, yes.