Installing and Configuring OpenVPN (CentOS 7)

To access vSphere/NSX-T, you must install the OpenVPN client software on your local computer and establish a VPN connection.

This article explains how to install and configure the OpenVPN client software on a local computer running the CentOS 7 distribution to establish a VPN connection to your Private Cloud.

Prerequisites:

• You have administrator rights.
• You have logged in on your local PC.

Important: The OpenVPN client software is not available in the default repository. It is available in the EPEL repository.

1. Open the terminal.
2. To install the EPEL repository, type the following command:

[root@localhost ~]# yum install epel-release

1. The following message is then displayed:

Is this ok [y/N]:

1. Type y and press the Enter key.
2. The EPEL repository is installed.
3. To install the OpenVPN client software, type the following command:

[root@localhost ~]# yum install openvpn

1. The following message is displayed:

Install 2 Packages

Total download size: 583 k
Installed size: 1.4 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y

1. Type y and press the Enter key.
2. The following message is displayed:

Downloading packages:
warning: /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7/epel/packages/openvpn-2.4.11-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 352c64e5: NOKEY
Public key for openvpn-2.4.11-1.el7.x86_64.rpm is not installed
(1/2): openvpn-2.4.11-1.el7.x86_64.rpm                     | 527 kB   00:00
(2/2): pkcs11-helper-1.11-3.el7.x86_64.rpm                 |  56 kB   00:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                              1.7 MB/s | 583 kB  00:00
Retrieving key from file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
Importing GPG key 0x352C64E5:
 Userid     : "Fedora EPEL (7) <[e-mail]>"
 Fingerprint: 91e9 7d7c 4a5e 96f1 7f3e 888f 6a2f aea2 352c 64e5
 Package    : epel-release-7-11.noarch (@extras)
 From       : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7

1. Type y and press Enter.
2. The OpenVPN client software is installed.

Downloading the Configuration File

To configure the OpenVPN client software, you need a specific *.ovpn file. To download it, proceed as follows:

1. Log in to your IONOS CLOUD account.
2. In the Data Center Designer (DCD), go to Menu > Private Cloud > Login.
3. Log in to the Cloud Panel with your credentials.
4. Click on the Server & Cloud tile. If necessary, select the appropriate Server & Cloud contract. The Cloud Panel opens.
5. To download the configuration file, click on VPN in the Private Cloud section.
6. The configuration file is then downloaded.

Configuring OpenVPN

Prerequisites: You have installed the unzip program on your computer. You can install the unzip program by entering the following command:

[root@localhost ~]# yum install unzip

1. Copy the OpenVPN configuration file (e.g. vpn1234B_1.ovpn) to the installation directory. Example:

[root@localhost ~]# cp -i /home/vpn123456789.zip /etc/openvpn/

1. Change to the destination directory:

[root@localhost ~]# cd /etc/openvpn/

1. Verify that the file has been copied to the destination directory:

root@localhost:~# ls /etc/openvpn/

1. Extract the zip file. Example:

[root@localhost ~]# unzip vpn123456789.zip

Additional Information

• Establish a VPN Connection to the Private Cloud (Linux)