openvpn[]: Options error: In [CMD-LINE]:1: Error opening configuration file

Question

when trying to service openvpn start

Oct 12 14:02:01 ccushing1 openvpn[9091]: Options error: In [CMD-LINE]:1: Error opening configuration file: devnet-client-vm.conf

running openvpn devnet-client-vm.conf works just fine. Why does openvpn not start? how can I fix it?

Solution 1

You might want to run

fixfiles -R openvpn restore

An ls -alZ should give you something like this (showing your files are in the correct selinux context now):

[root@server openvpn]# ls -alZ /etc/openvpn/
drwxr-xr-x. root    root    system_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 .
drwxr-xr-x. root    root    system_u:object_r:etc_t:s0       ..
drwxr-xr-x. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 certs
-rw-r--r--. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 dh2048.pem
drwxr-xr-x. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 easy-rsa
-rw-------. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_rw_t:s0 ipp.txt
-rw-------. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 ta.key
-rw-------. openvpn openvpn unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 server.conf

If you have a statement like

status openvpn-status.log

in your openvpn config file, you might notice the server still won't start. A peek at the /var/log/audit/audit.log will reveal

type=AVC msg=audit(1413580155.710:1265): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=19725 comm="openvpn" name="openvpn-status.log" dev="dm-1" ino=54153273 scontext=system_u:system_r:openvpn_t:s0 tcontext=unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 tclass=file

Changing the context of this file to rw does the trick:

chcon -t openvpn_etc_rw_t openvpn-status.log

and

[root@server openvpn]# ls -alZ openvpn-status.log
-rw-------. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_t:s0 openvpn-status.log

will become

-rw-------. root    root    unconfined_u:object_r:openvpn_etc_rw_t:s0 openvpn-status.log

Afterwards the call

service openvpn@server start

worked flawlessly.

[root@server openvpn]# service openvpn@server status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status  [email protected]
[email protected] - OpenVPN Robust And Highly Flexible Tunneling Application On server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2014-10-17 23:13:49 CEST; 9s ago
  Process: 20445 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon --writepid /var/run/openvpn/%i.pid --cd /etc/openvpn/ --config %i.conf (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 20449 (openvpn)
   CGroup: /system.slice/system-openvpn.slice/[email protected]
           └─20449 /usr/sbin/openvpn --daemon --writepid /var/run/openvpn/server.pid --cd /etc/openvpn/ --config server.conf

Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20445]: ROUTE_GATEWAY xx.xxx.xx.x/255.255.255.0 IFACE=eth0 HWADDR=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: GID set to nobody
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: UID set to nobody
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: UDPv4 link local (bound): [undef]
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: UDPv4 link remote: [undef]
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: MULTI: multi_init called, r=256 v=256
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: IFCONFIG POOL: base=10.8.0.4 size=62, ipv6=0
Oct 17 23:13:49 server systemd[1]: Started OpenVPN Robust And Highly Flexible Tunneling Application On server.
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: IFCONFIG POOL LIST
Oct 17 23:13:49 server openvpn[20449]: Initialization Sequence Completed

PS: I'm on Centos 7.

Solution 2

For anyone else that finds this thread, I had the problem on Fedora 26. Turns out the instructions I was following had you put the conf files in /etc/openvpn directory, but they need to go in /etc/openvpn/server.

Solution 3

The problem is SELinux, editing /etc/sysconfig/selinux and setting SELINUX=permissive and then rebooting fixed it for me. I remember in fedora that there was a command that had to be run to allow the cert directory to be used properly, but I forget what that command is. Setting to permissive fixes completely but a more preferred way would be to fix it so that it can use the directory properly.

Comments

[AlexWalterbos]

THANK YOU. For others that have to go this deep: You have to copy your ca, crt and key (so two .crt files and a .key) file to the same directory

[oucil]

This was also the solution for me on CentOS 8

[ansi_lumen]

This should be marked as the correct answer.

[G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica']

@GAD3R: Huh?  It appears to me that this does provide an answer to the question; every bit as much as Jeremiah’s answer, which is similar (but not identical).