OpenVPN

Deploy OpenVPN, an open source virtual private network (VPN) application for creating encrypted tunnels to secure data transfer between computers that aren't on the same local network. Use it to route traffic through a server you control or to access applications that aren't exposed directly to the public internet.

1. Deploy OpenVPN

Estimated deployment time: 2–5 minutes

Follow the deployment instructions from the Get started section to configure the app, deploy it, and verify software installation.

For information on the app-specific configurations, see the Configuration options section.

Base distribution and plan

Supported distribution: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Recommended plans: All plan types and sizes can be used. Select a plan with enough outbound network transfer for your expected VPN traffic.

Configuration options

Configure the required options to deploy your instance. For additional customization, add advanced options.

The table maps the Cloud Manager UI fields to their corresponding API/CLI keys (stackscript_data) required for automated deployments.

StackScript ID: 401719

UI field	API/CLI key	Description
Required options
Limited sudo user	`user_name`	Your preferred username for the limited sudo user entered without any capital letters, spaces, or special characters. When adding a limited sudo user, the user is created with a strong generated password for your new Linode instance, and the account is assigned to the `sudo` group, which provides elevated permissions when running commands with the `sudo` prefix. Note: For easier and more secure access with the sudo user, add an account SSH key for the Cloud Manager user during deployment and select that user as an `authorized_user`. Their SSH pubkey will be assigned to both the root and limited user.
Email address (for the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate)	`soa_email_address`	Your email address to use for generating SSL certificates.
Advanced options
Disable root access over SSH	`disable_root`	Applies to a limited sudo user. To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes. Defaults to No. Note: When you disable the root user from logging in over SSH and don't provide a valid Account SSH Key assigned to the `authorized_user`, you can still switch to the root user. To do that, log in as root via the Lish console and run `cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials` to view the generated password for the limited sudo user.
Linode API token	`token_password`	Applies to a custom domain. The Linode API token if you want to use Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain. Follow Manage personal access tokens to get your token on your account with `Read/Write` access to `Domains`. If you provide the token along with the subdomain and domain, the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. If you don't provide the token, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
Subdomain	`subdomain`	Applies to a custom domain. The subdomain you want to use, like `blog` for `blog.example.com`. Use it only if you specify a Domain.
Domain	`domain`	Applies to a custom domain. The domain name you want to use, like `example.com`. Use it only if you specify a Linode API token.
Optional data exporter Add-ons	`add_ons`	An option to include add-ons for your deployment. Possible values are: none (default) newrelic node_exporter mysqld_exporter

Notes:

After the app deployment completes, the passwords for your limited sudo user and the OpenVPN administrator user are generated and stored in the .credentials file in the home directory. Log in to your instance as root through the Lish console or SSH, then run cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials to view its contents. You can also display the OpenVPN login details directly by running the cat /usr/local/openvpn_as/init.log | grep 'To login' command.

You can automatically configure a custom domain (optional) during deployment. To do that:

First, configure your domain to use Linode’s name servers via your registrar. See Configure your domain's authoritative name servers for details.

Once you complete that, specify the Linode API token, subdomain, and domain for the app in Cloud Manager or via API/CLI/Terraform.

Use API, CLI, or Terraform

In addition to deploying the app to a new Linode instance via Cloud Manager, you can also use the Linode API, CLI, or Terraform. When running the operation, you need to provide the StackScript ID, supported Linux distribution, and app-specific fields along with the standard Linode deployment configurations.

Note: Generate a personal access token to authenticate your API, CLI, or Terraform requests.

curl --location 'https://api.linode.com/v4/linode/instances' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer abc123def456hij789klm' \
  --data-raw '{
    "region": "us-east",
    "type": "g6-standard-2",
    "image": "linode/ubuntu24.04",
    "label": "my-openvpn-one-click-app",
    "root_pass": "@C0mpl3x#P@ssw0rd",
    "stackscript_id": 401719,
    "stackscript_data": {
      "soa_email_address": "jsmith@example.com",
      "user_name": "jsmith"
    }
  }'

linode-cli linodes create \
  --region us-east \
  --type g6-standard-2 \
  --label my-openvpn-one-click-app \
  --image linode/ubuntu24.04 \
  --root_pass @C0mpl3x#P@ssw0rd \
  --stackscript_id 401719 \
  --stackscript_data '{"soa_email_address":"jsmith@example.com", "user_name":"jsmith"}'

resource "linode_instance" "my-linode" {
  region         = "us-east"
  type           = "g6-standard-2"
  label          = "my-openvpn-one-click-app"
  image          = "linode/ubuntu24.04"
  root_pass      = "@C0mpl3x#P@ssw0rd"
  stackscript_id = 401719
  stackscript_data = {
    "soa_email_address" = "jsmith@example.com"
    "user_name"         = "jsmith"
  }
}

2. Access OpenVPN

Open the interfaces

OpenVPN admin interface: https://[ip-address]/admin
OpenVPN client interface: https://[ip-address]:943/

Replace [ip-address] with the IP address of your Linode instance or use your instance's default rDNS value such as 192-0-2-1.ip.linodeusercontent.com. See the Manage IP addresses on a Linode guide for information on viewing the rDNS value.

Use openvpn as the administrator username and the generated password from the .credentials file to log in to the OpenVPN admin interface. For details on logging in for the first time and changing the password, see Access Server setup and configuration guide.

The client interface provides links to download the OpenVPN client software.

Connect to the VPN

To open a connection to your OpenVPN server from your computer, install OpenVPN client software on each device that will connect to the server, then use the client interface to download and import the connection profile.

Additional resources

For more information about the installed packages, see their official documentation.

OpenVPN Community Resources

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Note that we can't vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted resources.