[Solved] Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

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Dodgy Bob
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:14 pm

[Solved] Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by Dodgy Bob »

Hey folks,

Was wondering if someone might be able to offer some advice my way please?

I've been having some issues with getting OpenVPN up and running on my Gargoyle'd Netgear WNDR3800. Gargoyle on the router is presently at stable 1.8.1.

I've managed to enter in enough info and place an auth.txt file on the router such that the status of OpenVPN says "Running, not connected", but that's pretty much as far as it goes! The logs keep churning out the following:

Code: Select all

Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 user.notice root: openvpn stopped, restarting
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.err openvpn(custom_config)[7271]: event_wait : Interrupted system call (code=4)
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.notice openvpn(custom_config)[7271]: SIGTERM[hard,] received, process exiting
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.notice openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: OpenVPN 2.3.6 mips-openwrt-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [MH] [IPv6] built on Nov  7 2015
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.notice openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.2d 9 Jul 2015, LZO 2.08
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.warn openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: WARNING: file '/etc/openvpn/auth.txt' is group or others accessible
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.warn openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: WARNING: file '/etc/openvpn/grouter_client_fwqzmttbjnga.key' is group or others accessible
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.notice openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: Socket Buffers: R=[163840->327680] S=[163840->327680]
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.notice openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: UDPv4 link local: [undef]
Sun Aug 13 16:06:01 2017 daemon.notice openvpn(custom_config)[7292]: UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]104.237.90.30:1195
So, ummm, yeah, any advice please?

I got this far by following a set of instructions on Reddit for PIA. However, I'm trying to setup my config with ExpressVPN and didn't have a *.pem file - something I'm guessing that is specific to PIA.

Link is here (sorry, I'm new, so can't post full URL!): www . reddit . com /r/PrivateInternetAccess/comments/65soyr/how_to_set_up_a_gargoyle_router_with_pia/

Thanks folks.

Kind regards,
Dodgy Bob

Dodgy Bob
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:14 pm

Re: Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by Dodgy Bob »

Folks,

Apologies, I totally missed this post >> www . gargoyle-router . com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9129#p45410 << here in this forum and on reading that, I've noticed a couple of little things that are different to what I've done, so I'm going to have a play once home from work and see where this leads me now.

On another note, how do I completely and cleanly start over with everything OpenVPN in Gargoyle?

Is the reset button enough or will there still be files left over on the router that will need to be deleted?

Just asking so that in case things simply keep on not working, then I can start over cleanly and properly and hope that my next run at it might actually work!

Kind regards,
Dodgy Bob

tapper
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Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 5:49 pm
Location: Stoke-on-trent UK

Re: Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by tapper »

Hi there mate. I don't know much about setting up a VPN but if I was you I would upgrade to Gargoyle 1.9.2 It's More stable than 1.8.1 IMO. When you upgrade you can flash with out saving settings witch will be a good way for you to wipe any settings from when you have bin setting up the vpn. good luck mate! Let us know how you get on.
Linksys WRT3200ACM
NETGEAR Nighthawk R7800
NETGEAR R6260

Dodgy Bob
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:14 pm

Re: Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by Dodgy Bob »

Hey tapper and others,

OK, so turns out that the main thing that was tripping me up was that the TLS key needed to be in-line, that or it needed to be referenced to an actual file like the CA, Client Cert and Client Key were.

Basically, the only reference to the TLS Key in my conf file was a "tls-client" command and of course that had nothing to do with the actual TLS key itself. Once I added the <tls-auth>,</tls-auth> section to my conf file, with the TLS key inside of that obviously, all started working as it should - woot!

Now my OpenVPN status is "Running, Connected".

I put together some doco linked below in case others run into any issues or want to know how things got up and running for me.

Kind regards,
Dodgy Bob

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/0B82 ... ue&sd=true

[Edit: Updated the Google Docs link; it should just work now without the need of sending me a request for it!]
Last edited by Dodgy Bob on Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ispyisail
Moderator
Posts: 5180
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by ispyisail »

Thanks

encro
Posts: 76
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2015 10:52 am
Location: au.victoria

Re: [Solved] Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by encro »

Thanks Dodgy Bob, I had noticed that sometimes PIA fails to reconnect after a router reboot. I might have to do some additional testing based on your work with tls-auth.

Hopefully the discoveries we are making allow some background changes for Gargoyle that will allow it to be completely done from the UI in future.
Netgear WNDR3700v4 (N600) - Gargoyle 1.14.x
D-Link DIR-835 - Gargoyle 1.7.1 (Deceased)
Manual set up for PIA's OpenVPN in (Private Internet Access): https://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9129&p=45410#p45410

Hedgewizard
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2017 5:09 am

Re: [Solved] Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by Hedgewizard »

Thanks Dodgybob for your hard work - brilliant job. I'm wondering, what's going to be the best way to switch server locations when needed?

Is it going to mean running through steps 24 to the end each time, or is there a smarter solution?

Dodgy Bob
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:14 pm

Re: [Solved] Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by Dodgy Bob »

Hedgewizard wrote:I'm wondering, what's going to be the best way to switch server locations when needed?

Is it going to mean running through steps 24 to the end each time, or is there a smarter solution?
Hey there Hedgewizard,

In all honesty, I'm not sure - sorry.

I haven't actually looked at this for a while and since I needed a VPN for a specific purpose, at a specific time (*ahem* insert specific streaming service here *ahem*), I haven't revisited this since creating the doco.

Further, due to family budget constraints, my VPN service was only for the month and so until the situation changes, I won't have access to test things out.

Going back, what I remember though is that no, I don't think there is an auto-magical way of changing the server you connect to. However, it should be a simple case of editing the config file (grouter_client_[randomcharacters].conf) on the router via WinSCP, just like you do at Step.34.

Just change the line that has the current server you connect to on it, to the new server you want to connect to, save the file, then stop/start the VPN Service via Gargoyle and you should be back up and running, connected to the new server you want to be connected to ... at least, it should be as easy as that!

I may very well be wrong, but hopefully I'm not: I don't think that your UserID, Password, Certificates and Keys change server to server.

Easiest way to check though would be to download multiple (say 3 or 4) zip and/or OpenVPN files from different ExpressVPN locations/servers and using 7-zip to extract the zip file and then Notepad++ for the individual files, check and compare the data inside each file.

Either way, give it a burl and see how you go.

Kind regards,
Dodgy Bob

JoeKing
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2017 8:08 pm

Re: Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by JoeKing »

Dodgy Bob wrote:Hey tapper and others,

OK, so turns out that the main thing that was tripping me up was that the TLS key needed to be in-line, that or it needed to be referenced to an actual file like the CA, Client Cert and Client Key were.

Basically, the only reference to the TLS Key in my conf file was a "tls-client" command and of course that had nothing to do with the actual TLS key itself. Once I added the <tls-auth>,</tls-auth> section to my conf file, with the TLS key inside of that obviously, all started working as it should - woot!

Now my OpenVPN status is "Running, Connected".

I put together some doco linked below in case others run into any issues or want to know how things got up and running for me.

Kind regards,
Dodgy Bob

Link: https://drive./open?id=0B82ooC8QcXYMTGNiOVdWaXVPR28

I just had to say your guide is awesome. Thank you so much.

Statik
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:38 am

Re: [Solved] Trouble Setting Up OpenVPN with a Provider...

Post by Statik »

I am struggling to setup NordVPN on Gargoyle 1.9.1. I have followed the different links here to no avail. I have followed the OpenWRT and NordVPN instructions, to no avail. Can anyone lend a hand?

What I have:
the ovpn file
the ca.crt file
the tls.key file
a text file (auth.txt) with my user/pass

I have not found a way to setup openVPN with those files that results in a running instance.

Statik

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