Skip to content

d3vilh/openvpn-ui

Folders and files

NameName
Last commit message
Last commit date

Latest commit

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Repository files navigation

OpenVPN UI

OpenVPN server web administration interface.

Quick to deploy and easy to use, makes work with small OpenVPN environments a breeze.

Openvpn-ui home screen

latest version Docker Image Version (tag latest semver) Docker Image Size (tag)

latest version Docker Image Version (tag latest semver)

Features

  • Status page that shows server statistics and list of connected clients
  • Supports OpenVPN tunnel(dev tun) or bridge(dev tap) server configurations
  • Easy to generate, download, renew, revoke, delete and view client certificates
  • Client can have secret passphrase and static IP assigned during client certificate generation
  • Two factor authentication (2FA/MFA) support
  • Change predefined EasyRSA vars including certificates and CRL expiration time
  • Maintain EasyRSA PKI infrastructure (init, build-ca, gen-dh, build-crl, gen-ta, revoke)
  • Change OpenVPN Server configuration via web interface
  • Easy to preview OpenVPN Server logs
  • Restart OpenVPN Server and OpenVPN UI from web interface
  • OpenVPN-UI users management. Administrators has full access, regular users to Certificates management, logs and status page only.
  • OpenVPN-UI Admin user and password can be passed via environment variables to container
  • Updated infrustracture:
    • Alpine Linux as fastest and secure base image
    • GoLang 1.21
    • Beego 2.1 with all vulnerabilities fixed
    • Easy-rsa 3.X
    • Openssl 3.X
    • OpenVPN 2.5.8 Server is fully compatible
  • Support any architecture, ready images for AMD64 and ARM available on Docker Hub.

Part of following projects:

  • Openvpn-aws OpenVPN and OpenVPN-UI for any Cloud, VM or x86 bare metal server.
  • Raspberry-gateway simple yet powerful home gateway environment with Pi-Hole +Unbound, VPN, Torrent client and Internet monitoring, all managed by Portainer.

Installation

For the best experience, it is recommended to deploy it within a Docker environment consisting of two distinct containers:

  • The d3vilh/openvpn-server Back-End container (openvpn) for running OpenVPN server.
  • OpenVPN UI Front-End container (openvpn-ui) for efficient management of the OpenVPN server environment.

However it works fine as standalone application with standalove OpenVPN server as well.

Intel x86 and AMD64 platforms

You can run both containers from the official openvpn-server repository, docker-compose-openvpnui.yml. It includes all the files in its main directory.

For automated installation on baremetal x86-64 servers, Cloud or VM installation, please use openvpn-aws project. It, as well, includes all the necessary scripts for easy installation of OpenVPN-UI and OpenVPN server on any x86-64 platform.

Raspberry-pi and other ARM platforms

For Raspberry-Pi and other ARM devices, consider Raspberry-Gateway project. It has all the necessary scripts for easy installation and lot of additional features.

You can run both containers from the openvpn-server repository as well (use docker-compose-openvpnui.yml). It includes all the files in its main directory, as well.

Manual installation

With Docker-compose

Running this image with docker-compose.yml file

    openvpn-ui:
       container_name: openvpn-ui
       image: d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
       environment:
           - OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME={{ ovpnui_user }}
           - OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD={{ ovpnui_password }}
       privileged: true
       ports:
           - "8080:8080/tcp"
       volumes:
           - ./:/etc/openvpn
           - ./db:/opt/openvpn-ui/db
           - ./pki:/usr/share/easy-rsa/pki
           - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
       restart: always

You can couple OpenVPN-UI with recommended d3vilh/openvpn-server image and here is updated docker-compose.yml for it:

---
version: "3.5"

services:
    openvpn:
       container_name: openvpn
       image: d3vilh/openvpn-server:latest
       privileged: true
       ports: 
          - "1194:1194/udp"
       environment:
           TRUST_SUB: 10.0.70.0/24
           GUEST_SUB: 10.0.71.0/24
           HOME_SUB: 192.168.88.0/24
       volumes:
           - ./pki:/etc/openvpn/pki
           - ./clients:/etc/openvpn/clients
           - ./config:/etc/openvpn/config
           - ./staticclients:/etc/openvpn/staticclients
           - ./log:/var/log/openvpn
           - ./fw-rules.sh:/opt/app/fw-rules.sh
           - ./server.conf:/etc/openvpn/server.conf
       cap_add:
           - NET_ADMIN
       restart: always

    openvpn-ui:
       container_name: openvpn-ui
       image: d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
       environment:
           - OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
           - OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD=gagaZush
       privileged: true
       ports:
           - "8080:8080/tcp"
       volumes:
           - ./:/etc/openvpn
           - ./db:/opt/openvpn-ui/db
           - ./pki:/usr/share/easy-rsa/pki
           - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
       restart: always

Where:

  • TRUST_SUB is Trusted subnet, from which OpenVPN server will assign IPs to trusted clients (default subnet for all clients)
  • GUEST_SUB is Gusets subnet for clients with internet access only
  • HOME_SUB is subnet where the VPN server is located, thru which you get internet access to the clients with MASQUERADE
  • fw-rules.sh is bash file with additional firewall rules you would like to apply during container start

docker_entrypoint.sh will apply following Firewall rules:

IPT MASQ Chains:
MASQUERADE  all  --  ip-10-0-70-0.ec2.internal/24  anywhere
MASQUERADE  all  --  ip-10-0-71-0.ec2.internal/24  anywhere
IPT FWD Chains:
       0        0 DROP       1    --  *      *       10.0.71.0/24         0.0.0.0/0            icmptype 8
       0        0 DROP       1    --  *      *       10.0.71.0/24         0.0.0.0/0            icmptype 0
       0        0 DROP       0    --  *      *       10.0.71.0/24         192.168.88.0/24

Here is possible content of fw-rules.sh file to apply additional rules:

~/openvpn-server $ cat fw-rules.sh
iptables -A FORWARD -s 10.0.70.88 -d 10.0.70.77 -j DROP
iptables -A FORWARD -d 10.0.70.77 -s 10.0.70.88 -j DROP
With Dockerfile

Run this image using the Dockerfile

Run the OpenVPN-UI image

docker run \
-v /home/pi/openvpn:/etc/openvpn \
-v /home/pi/openvpn/db:/opt/openvpn-ui/db \
-v /home/pi/openvpn/pki:/usr/share/easy-rsa/pki \
-v /home/pi/openvpn/log:/var/log/openvpn \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
-e OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME='admin' \
-e OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD='gagaZush' \
-p 8080:8080/tcp \
--privileged d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest

Run the OpenVPN Server image:

cd ~/openvpn-server/ && 
docker run  --interactive --tty --rm \
  --name=openvpn-server \
  --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \
  -p 1194:1194/udp \
  -e TRUST_SUB=10.0.70.0/24 \
  -e GUEST_SUB=10.0.71.0/24 \
  -e HOME_SUB=192.168.88.0/24 \
  -v ./pki:/etc/openvpn/pki \
  -v ./clients:/etc/openvpn/clients \
  -v ./config:/etc/openvpn/config \
  -v ./staticclients:/etc/openvpn/staticclients \
  -v ./log:/var/log/openvpn \
  -v ./fw-rules.sh:/opt/app/fw-rules.sh \
  -v ./server.conf:/etc/openvpn/server.conf \
  --privileged d3vilh/openvpn-server:latest
Building own image

Building own image

Prerequisites

As prerequisite, you need to have Docker and GoLang to be installed and running:

sudo apt-get install docker.io -y
sudo systemctl restart docker

To install Golang go to https://go.dev/dl and copy download URL for Go1.20.X version of your arch and follow the instructions below.

Example for ARM64:

wget https://golang.org/dl/go1.20.linux-arm64.tar.gz
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.20.linux-arm64.tar.gz
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin" >> /etc/profile
source /etc/profile
go version 
Building the image

To build the OpenVPN-UI image:

cd build; ./build_openvpn-ui.sh

The new image will have openvpn-ui name.

Standalone installation

Standalone installation without docker and docker-compose

If you have your OpenVPN server up and running on the same host, you can install OpenVPN-UI as standalone application. For this you need to have GoLang installed on your host to build all the necessary binaries on the server itself.

To make installation easier, version 0.9.5 now includes a standalone-install.sh script. This script helps you step by step, starting with downloading and installing GoLang, and ending with building the binaries.

At the moment script supports Debian based systems only.

Here is installation process example:

superdude@bookworm64:~/build/openvpn-ui/build$ ./standalone-install.sh
This script will install OpenVPN-UI and all the dependencies on your local environment. No containers will be used.
Do you want to continue? (y/n)y
Golang version 1.21 is not installed.
Would you like to install it? (y/n) y
--2024-02-20 16:37:47--  https://golang.org/dl/go1.21.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
go1.21.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz      100%[========================================================>]  63.53M  3.01MB/s    in 20s
2024-02-20 16:38:08 (3.23 MB/s) - 'go1.21.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz' saved [66618285/66618285]
Would you like to run apt-get update? (y/n) y
Updating current environment with apt-get update
[sudo] password for superdude:
No VM guests are running outdated hypervisor (qemu) binaries on this host.
Would you like to download all necessary Go modules? (y/n) y
Downloading all Go modules (go mod download)
Would you like to install Beego v2? (y/n) y
Installing BeeGo v2
go: downloading github.com/beego/bee/v2 v2.0.2-0.20230830024958-01d397161933
go: downloading github.com/matttproud/golang_protobuf_extensions v1.0.4
Would you like to build OpenVPN-UI and install qrencode? (y/n) y
Installing OpenVPN-UI and qrencode
Cloning qrencode into build directory
Cloning into 'qrencode'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 35, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (8/8), done.
Building and packing OpenVPN-UI
2024/02/20 17:15:07 INFO     ▶ 0001 Getting bee latest version...
2024/02/20 17:15:08 INFO     ▶ 0002 Your bee are up to date
______
| ___ \
| |_/ /  ___   ___
| ___ \ / _ \ / _ \
| |_/ /|  __/|  __/
\____/  \___| \___| v2.1.0
2024/02/20 17:20:55 SUCCESS  ▶ 0004 Build Successful!
2024/02/20 17:21:02 SUCCESS  ▶ 0009 Application packed!
Building qrencode
Moving qrencode to GOPATH
All done.
superdude@bookworm64:~/build/openvpn-ui/build$ 

After build and installation is complete:

  1. Put archive openvpn-ui.tar.gz with binaries to the desired directory where you would like to run OpenVPN-UI from.
  2. Uncompress it with tar -xzf openvpn-ui.tar.gz.
  3. Double check openvpn-ui binary has +x permissions for your user.
  4. Create db directory in the same directory where openvpn-ui binary is located.
  5. Update OpenVpnPath and EasyRsaPath with real location of your OpenVPN server config (/etc/openvpn) and EasyRSA (/usr/share/easy-rsa) in main application config file - ./conf/app.conf file.
  6. Set EnableAdmin = false and RunMode = prod in the same file, if you don't need to run BeeGo in development mode and don't need BeeGo admin console to run (in most cases you don't need it).
  7. On the first run set OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME and OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD environment variables to create admin user with secret password:
export OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
export OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD=$3kR3tPa$Sw0rd
  1. doublecheck enviroment variables are set properly:
echo $OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME
echo $OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD

This should return your username and password you will use for the first login into UI. It is mandatory to set this vars on the first application start only. So OpenVPN-UI will create your Admin user with your own credentials.

  1. Run ./openvpn-ui binary and login with your new credentials.

  2. Go to Configuration > OpenVPN Server and update all the fields with your current server.conf options.

  3. For security reasons you have to unset vars after successful login, so it will be removed from the local server environment:

unset OPENVPN_ADMIN_USERNAME
unset OPENVPN_ADMIN_PASSWORD

Upgrade to new Version

During the installtion or upgrade process OpenVPN-UI by itself does not do any changes to your OpenVPN server configuration or PKI infrastructure. However it is recommended to perform backup of your PKI infrastructure, server.conf, client.conf and data.db before following with upgrade steps.

Backup

Backup

To backup your PKI infrastructure, server, client configuration files and OpenVPN-UI DB you can use backup.sh script which is in build/assets directory (since the release 0.6), it is also part of openvpn-aws and Raspberry-Gateway projects (right in openvpn-server directory).

Copy the script in your home directory(any directory in fact):

cp -p build/assets/backup.sh ~/

Then run the script:

sudo ./backup.sh -b ~/openvpn-server backup/openvpn-server-030923-1

this will create backup of all necessary files, from ~/openvpn-server to ~/backup/openvpn-server-030923-1.

You can confirm all files are backed up and go to the "Upgrade" step.

Upgrade

Upgrade

To upgrade OpenVPN-UI to the latest version, you have to save old container image, remove old container and deploy new container with upgraded image.

Preparation
  1. Check which OpenVPN-UI version image is currently used:
docker inspect --format='{{json .Config.Labels}}' d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
{"maintainer":"Mr.Philipp <d3vilh@github.com>","version":"0.5"}

Note: Old container versions (below ver 0.5) does not have "version" tag.

  1. Tag current container image with backup tag:
docker tag d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest local/openvpn-ui:backup
  1. Make sure your docker-compose.yml file is up to date with desired new version of image. Our assumption that desired is the latest version:
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $ cat docker-compose.yml | grep image
       image: d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $

During the next container start, docker will use image tag from this file to deploy new container.

Upgrade Steps
  1. Pull new image to your host. Old image will be replaced:
docker pull d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
  1. Confirm new image is pulled with desired version:
docker inspect --format='{{json .Config.Labels}}' d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
{"maintainer":"Mr.Philipp <d3vilh@github.com>","version":"0.9.4"}
  1. Stop and remove old container:
docker rm openvpn-ui --force
  1. Deploy new container with updated image:
cd ~/openvpn-server
docker-compose up -d
  1. Verify both containers are up and running:
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $ docker logs openvpn-ui
...
2023/09/03 12:38:50.650 [I] [server.go:280]  http server Running on http://:8080
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $

admin@aws3:~/openvpn $ docker logs openvpn
...
Start openvpn process...
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $
Verification process

Now when new OpenVPN-UI version is deployed, the DB schema were updated to the latest version automatically during the container start.

  • All tables were updated with new fields, existed fields in those tables were not touched to be sure you won't loose any data.
  • New tables were created with default values.

Now you need to go to Configuration > OpenVPN Server in OpenVPN UI webpage and review and update all options fields very carefully.

Here is example of Server configuration page with new fields after the upgrade from version 0.3 to 0.9:

Openvpn-ui upgrade

You have to update empty fields with options from your current server.conf and only then press Save Config button.

All fields to review are marked with ! sign:

Openvpn-ui upgrade

Here is how it should looks like:

Openvpn-ui upgrade

Important Note!: In version 0.6 format of some fields has been changed! Please pay attention that before saving config you have to update all the fields with new format, otherwise OpenVPN Server will not start.

New server.conf file will be applied immedeately, after you press Save Config button.

Next, you have to update OpenVPN UI, OpenVPN Client and EasyRSA vars pages the same way.

And you are done with the upgrade process.

DB Schema changes
DB Schema changes 0.3 to 0.9 versions

You have nothing to do with the DB schema, just for your information.

Version Table New Field New OpenVPN UI gui location
0.3 o_v_config o_v_config_log_version Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.3 o_v_config o_v_config_status_log Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.3 settings server_address moved to Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.3 settings open_vpn_server_port moved to Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.4 o_v_client_config new table Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.4 easy_r_s_a_config new table Configuration > EasyRSA vars
0.4 settings easy_r_s_a_path Configuration > OpenVPN-UI
0.5 no schema changes no schema changes no schema changes
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_topology Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_user Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_group Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_client_config_dir Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config crl Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config t_l_s_control_channel Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config t_l_s_min_version Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config t_l_s_remote_cert Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_ncp_ciphers Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_logfile Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_log_verbose Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_status_log Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config o_v_config_status_log_version Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config custom_opt_one Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config custom_opt_two Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.6 o_v_config custom_opt_three Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.7 no schema changes no schema changes no schema changes
0.8 no schema changes no schema changes no schema changes
0.9 no schema changes no schema changes Donate here https://u24.gov.ua
0.9.2 user is_admin Your username > Profile
0.9.3 o_v_config func_mode Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.9.3 o_v_config script_security Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.9.3 o_v_config user_pass_verify Configuration > OpenVPN Server
0.9.3 o_v_client_config func_mode Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.9.3 o_v_client_config t_f_a_issuer Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.9.3 o_v_client_config custom_conf_one Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.9.3 o_v_client_config custom_conf_two Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.9.3 o_v_client_config custom_conf_three Configuration > OpenVPN Client
0.9.4 no schema changes no schema changes no schema changes
0.9.5 no schema changes no schema changes no schema changes
Fallback

Fallback

If for some reason you would like to fallback to the previous version, you need to stop container, restore image, then restore all the files from backup you did before and finally run container with previous image.

Container and image fallback
  1. Stop and remove updated openvpn-ui container:
docker rm openvpn-ui --force
  1. Remove updated openvpn-ui image:
docker image rm d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
  1. Restore old openvpn-ui image:
docker tag local/openvpn-ui:backup d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
  1. Confirm you have old image version:
docker inspect --format='{{json .Config.Labels}}' d3vilh/openvpn-ui:latest
{"maintainer":"Mr.Philipp <d3vilh@github.com>","version":"0.5"}
Restore OpenVPN Server enviroment
  1. Run restore script:
sudo ./backup.sh -r ~/openvpn-server backup/openvpn-server-030923-1

This will restore all the enviroment files from backup directory to ~/openvpn-server directory.

Note v.0.3: There was bug in version 0.3 where data.db file were not shared over the volume, so you have to restore it manually: docker cp backup/data.0.3.db openvpn-ui:/opt/openvpn-ui/data.db

Restore container
  1. Run docker-compose up to deploy new container with old image:
cd ~/openvpn-server
docker-compose up -d
  1. Verify both containers are up and running:
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $ docker logs openvpn-ui
...
2023/09/03 12:38:50.650 [I] [server.go:280]  http server Running on http://:8080
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $

admin@aws3:~/openvpn $ docker logs openvpn
...
Start openvpn process...
admin@aws3:~/openvpn $

Thats it you are back to the previous version.

Configuration

OpenVPN UI can be accessed on own port (*e.g. http://localhost:8080), the default user and password is admin/gagaZush preconfigured in config.yml if you are using Raspberry-Gateway or Openvpn-aws projects. For standalone installation, you can pass your own credentials via environment variables to container (refer to Manual installation).

Container volume

The container volume can be initialized by using the d3vilh/openvpn-server image with included scripts to automatically generate everything you need on the first run:

  • Diffie-Hellman parameters
  • an EasyRSA CA key and certificate
  • a new private key
  • a self-certificate matching the private key for the OpenVPN server
  • a TLS auth key from HMAC security

However you can generate all the above components on OpenVPN UI Configuration > Maintenance page.

EasyRSA vars

You can update all EasyRSA parameters with OpenVPN UI on Configuration > EasyRSA vars page. You also can set custom EasyRSA vars for every new Client Certificate during its creation.

If you are running OpenVPN-UI as manuall installation, please be sure easy-rsa.vars is set properly and placed in .config container volume as easy-rsa.vars.

In this case your custom EasyRSA options will be applied on the first OpenVPN Server start post PKI init step.

Default EasyRSA configuration can be set in ~/openvpn-server/config/easy-rsa.vars file:

set_var EASYRSA_DN           "org"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_COUNTRY  "UA"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_PROVINCE "KY"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_CITY     "Kyiv"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_ORG      "SweetHome"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_EMAIL    "sweet@home.net"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_OU       "MyOrganizationalUnit"
set_var EASYRSA_REQ_CN       "server"
set_var EASYRSA_KEY_SIZE     2048
set_var EASYRSA_CA_EXPIRE    3650
set_var EASYRSA_CERT_EXPIRE  825
set_var EASYRSA_CERT_RENEW   30
set_var EASYRSA_CRL_DAYS     180

In the process of installation these vars will be copied to container volume /etc/openvpn/pki/vars and used during all EasyRSA operations.

Network configuration

This setup use tun mode by default, because it works on the widest range of devices. tap mode, for instance, does not work on Android, except if the device is rooted.

The default topology is subnet, because it works on the widest range of OS. p2p, for instance, does not work on Windows.

The server config by default specifies push redirect-gateway def1 bypass-dhcp, meaning that after establishing the VPN connection, all traffic will go through the VPN. This might cause problems if you use local DNS recursors which are not directly reachable, since you will try to reach them through the VPN and they might not answer to you. If that happens, use public DNS resolvers like those of OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) or Google (8.8.4.4 and 8.8.8.8).

If you wish to use your local DNS server (Pi-Hile?), you have to modify a dns-configuration with your local DNS IP address.

This also can be done easy via "Configuration" > "OpenVPN Server" > "Push DHCP" options on OpenVPN UI webpage.

OpenVPN client subnets. Guest and Home users

By default d3vilh/openvpn-server OpenVPN server uses option server 10.0.70.0/24 as "Trusted" subnet to grab dynamic IPs for all your Clients which, by default will have full access to your "Private/Home" subnet, as well as Internet over VPN. However you can be desired to share internet over VPN with specific, Guest Clients and restrict access to your "Private/Home" subnet. For this scenario d3vilh/openvpn-server server.conf configuration file has special route 10.0.71.0/24 option, aka "Guest users" subnet.

OpenVPN Subnets

To assign desired subnet policy to the specific client, you have to define static IP address for the client during its profile/Certificate creation. To do that, just enter "Static IP (optional)" field in "Certificates" page and press "Create" button.

Keep in mind, by default, all the clients have full access, so you don't need to specifically configure static IP for your own devices, your home devices always will land to "Trusted" subnet by default.

Firewall rules

By default docker_entrypoint.sh of d3vilh/openvpn-server OpenVPN Server container will apply following Firewall rules:

IPT MASQ Chains:
MASQUERADE  all  --  ip-10-0-70-0.ec2.internal/24  anywhere
MASQUERADE  all  --  ip-10-0-71-0.ec2.internal/24  anywhere
IPT FWD Chains:
       0        0 DROP       1    --  *      *       10.0.71.0/24         0.0.0.0/0            icmptype 8
       0        0 DROP       1    --  *      *       10.0.71.0/24         0.0.0.0/0            icmptype 0
       0        0 DROP       0    --  *      *       10.0.71.0/24         192.168.88.0/24

You can apply optional Firewall rules in ~/openvpn-server/fw-rules.sh file, which will be executed on the container start.

Here is example of blocking all the traffic between 2 "Trusted" subnet clients:

~/openvpn-server $ cat fw-rules.sh
iptables -A FORWARD -s 10.0.70.88 -d 10.0.70.77 -j DROP
iptables -A FORWARD -d 10.0.70.77 -s 10.0.70.88 -j DROP

Check detailed subnets description on here.

OpenVPN Pstree structure

All the Server and Client configuration located in Docker volume and can be easely tuned. Here are tree of volume content:

|-- server.conf   //OpenVPN server configuration file
|-- clients
|   |-- your_client1.ovpn
|-- config
|   |-- client.conf
|   |-- easy-rsa.vars //EasyRSA vars draft, see below real vars file.
|-- db
|   |-- data.db       //OpenVPN UI DB
|-- log
|   |-- openvpn.log
|-- pki
|   |-- ca.crt
|   |-- vars          // EasyRSA real vars, used by all applications
|   |-- certs_by_serial
|   |   |-- your_client1_serial.pem
|   |-- crl.pem
|   |-- dh.pem
|   |-- index.txt
|   |-- ipp.txt
|   |-- issued
|   |   |-- server.crt
|   |   |-- your_client1.crt
|   |-- openssl-easyrsa.cnf
|   |-- private
|   |   |-- ca.key
|   |   |-- your_client1.key
|   |   |-- server.key
|   |-- renewed
|   |   |-- certs_by_serial
|   |   |-- private_by_serial
|   |   |-- reqs_by_serial
|   |-- reqs
|   |   |-- server.req
|   |   |-- your_client1.req
|   |-- revoked
|   |   |-- certs_by_serial
|   |   |-- private_by_serial
|   |   |-- reqs_by_serial
|   |-- safessl-easyrsa.cnf
|   |-- serial
|   |-- ta.key
|-- staticclients    //Directory where stored all the satic clients configuration

Generating .OVPN client profiles

How to generate .OVPN client profile You can update external client IP and port address anytime under `"Configuration > OpenVPN Client"` menue.

For this go to "Configuration > OpenVPN Client":

Configuration > Settings

And then update "Connection Address" and "Connection Port" fields with your external Internet IP and Port.

To generate new Client Certificate go to "Certificates", then press "Create Certificate" button, enter new VPN client name, complete all the rest fields and press "Create" to generate new Client certificate:

Server Address Create Certificate

To download .OVPN client configuration file, press on the Client Name you just created:

download OVPN

Install Official OpenVPN client to your client device.

Deliver .OVPN profile to the client device and import it as a FILE, then connect with new profile to enjoy your free VPN:

PalmTX Import PalmTX Connected

Renew Certificates for client profiles

How to renew old client profile To renew certificate, go to `"Certificates"` and press `"Renew"` button for the client you would like to renew certificate for: Renew OpenVPN Certificate

Right after this step new Certificate will be genrated and it will appear as new client profile with the same Client name. At this point both client profiles will have updated Certificate when you try to download it.

Once you will deliver new client profile with renewed Certificate to you client, press "Revoke" button for old profile to revoke old Certificate, old client profile will be deleted from the list.

If, for some reason you still would like to keep old certificate you have to "Revoke" new profile, old certificate will be rolled back and new profile will be deleted from the list.

Renewal process will not affect active VPN connections, old client will be disconnected only after you revoke old certificate or certificate term of use will expire.

Revoking .OVPN profiles

How to revoke client certificate

If you would like to prevent client to use yor VPN connection, you have to revoke client certificate and restart the OpenVPN daemon. You can do it via OpenVPN UI "Certificates" menue, by pressing `"Revoke"`` amber button:

Revoke Certificate

Certificate revoke won't kill active VPN connections, you'll have to restart the service if you want the user to immediately disconnect. It can be done from the same "Certificates" page, by pressing Restart red button:

OpenVPN Restart

You can do the same from the "Maintenance" page.

After Revoking and Restarting the service, the client will be disconnected and will not be able to connect again with the same certificate. To delete the certificate from the server, you have to press "Remove" button.

Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Starting from vestion 0.9.3 OpenVPN-UI has Two Factor Authentication (2FA) feature. OpenVPN-UI uses oath-toolkit for two factor authentication. Means you don't need any ThirdParty 2FA provider. When generating 2FA-enabled certificates OpenVPN-UI will provide QR code with 2FA secret, which you can scan with your 2FA app (Google Authenticator iOS, Android, Microsoft Authenticator iOS, Android, etc) to get 2FA token for connection with this certificate.

2FA Certificates Renewal, Revoke and Delete process is the same as for regular certificates.

To enable 2FA you have to:

  • Go to "Configuration > OpenVPN Client" page and enable "Two Factor Authentication" option to switch Certificates interface to 2FA mode, so you can generate certificates with 2FA enabled and access 2FA QR code for already generated certificates.

    Note: You can generate 2FA-ready certificates at this stage, then deliver 2FA Certificates to all your client devices and enable 2FA Server support later, when you'll be ready to use it. Before that Server will still accept non 2FA-ready certificates only.

  • Go to "Configuration > OpenVPN Server" page and enable "Two Factor Authentication" option for OpenVPN Server backend. Once 2FA is enabled for Server, OpenVPN-Server will allow 2FA connections only (non 2FA-ready certificates won't connect).

2FA .OVPN profiles creation

How to generate 2FA Certificate

Procedure for 2FA generation is the same as for regular certificate, but you have to use the uniq 2FA Name in the email-kind format:

2FA Certificate create

Note: For Multifactor Authentication (MFA), you can add one more password by completing Passphrase option.

Both Passphrase and Client Static IP are optional parameters.

When you complete all the fields, click on Create and your new 2FA Certificate will be ready.

Once this done, you can click on the new certificate in the Certificates page to see all the details including QR code for 2FA token:

2FA Certificate details

You can copy or email this information directly to happy 2FA certificate owner.

2FA certificates usage

How to add 2FA profile to client

To use 2FA certificate you have to install 2FA app on your device (Google Authenticator iOS, Android, Microsoft Authenticator iOS, Android, etc) and scan QR code from the Certificates details page.

After scanning QR-code, new Authenticator profile will be created in your 2FA app with the same name as your 2FA Certificate name:

2FA Authenticator

Then you have to download and deliver .OVPN profile to OpenVPN Connect app and open it as a file. Following window appear:

2FA OpenVPN Connect profile add

Click Add to add new profile to OpenVPN Connect. Then you will be asked to enter your Username. As username use 2FA Name which you used during Certificate/profile generation (as precisely as you can. 2FA Name is part of authentication process):

2FA OpenVPN Connect profile username

When you'll be prompted to Enter the password, you have to enter your 2FA token from your 2FA app:

2FA OpenVPN Connect profile 2FA password

Connection will be suceeded if you entered 2FA Name and 2FA token correctly.

For MFA authentication you can use optional Passphrase when generating new Client certificate, to protect your 2FA token with additional password. In this case you have to enter your Passphrase as a Private Key Password and 2FA token as Password:

2FA OpenVPN Connect profile 2FA and Certificate passwords

User Management

Starting from v.0.9.2 OpenVPN UI has user management feature.

You can create and delete users with different privileges - Administrators or regular users:

  • Administrators has full access
  • Regular users has access to Home page, Certificates and Logs pages only. This users can create, renew, revoke and delete all the certificates.
How to manage OpenVPN-UI Users

This functionality available via "Users Profiles" page:

Username > Profile

Then, if your user have enough privilegies you can Create new profile or manage profiles of other users:

New OpenVPN UI Profile creation OpenVPN UI Profiles management

Screenshots:

OpenVPN-UI Login screen

OpenVPN-UI Home screen

OpenVPN-UI Certificates screen

OpenVPN-UI Create Certificate screen

OpenVPN-UI Expire Certificate details

OpenVPN-UI OK Certificate details

OpenVPN-UI EasyRSA vars screen

OpenVPN-UI EasyRSA vars config view screen

OpenVPN-UI Maintenance screen

OpenVPN-UI Server Configuration screen

OpenVPN-UI Server Configuration edit screen

OpenVPN-UI Client Configuration screen

OpenVPN-UI Configuration screen

OpenVPN-UI User Profile

New OpenVPN UI Profile creation

OpenVPN UI Profiles management

OpenVPN-UI Logs screen

Дякую and Kudos to the initiator of this project

Kudos to @adamwalach for development of the original OpenVPN-WEB-UI project which was used as solid foundation for OpenVPN UI.

Buy Me A Coffee