Connecting to a VM via OpenVPN

Note

Previously, connect-proxy was used to provide access to Supercell VMs. That method is now depricated. See the following for connecting via OpenVPN.

The virtual machines on Supercell can be accessed via OpenVPN. Send an email with the following information to mailto:support@osuosl.org?subject=Supercell-OpenVPN to request access.

  • Real name
  • Preferred username
  • Email address
  • Project name

What you get from us:

  • client certificate <username>.crt
  • client private key: <username>.key
  • server certificate: ca.crt

Settings:

  • server: funnel.osuosl.org:1194
  • type: Certificate (TLS)
  • protocol: UDP
  • compression: None
  • device type: TUN

Network Manager (Linux) - Preferred Method

Packages:

  • Debian/Ubuntu: sudo aptitude install openvpn network-manager-openvpn

Procedure:

  • Place your key, certificate, and server certificate to a secure location of your choice such as ~/.openvpn/. Set paranoid permissions (-r-x—— or similar).
  • Install Network Manager (installed by default in many Linux distributions)
  • Install the Network Manager OpenVPN package
  • Open Network Manager
  • Add a new VPN connection:
    • Connection name: <witty name>
    • Gateway: funnel.osuosl.org
    • Type: Certificates (TLS)
    • User Certificate: <username>.crt
    • CA Certificate: ca.crt
    • Private Key: <username>.key
    • Private Key Password: <password> (if applicable)
    • Advanced->Make sure ‘Use LZO data compression’ is unchecked
    • IPv4 Settings->Routes...->Use this connection only for resources on its network: ✔ (if unchecked, all network traffic is routed through the VPN)
  • Apply
  • Click on the Network Manager status bar icon and select VPN Connections-><witty name>
  • Wait until connection is established

Trouble shooting

Shotgun style - try again, reboot, disable network devices, do the chicken dance. If all else fails, try the command line version. If that works, try this again, maybe it just didn’t like you the first time.

OpenVPN command-line client

Packages:

Procedure:

  • Place your key, certificate, and server certificate to a secure location of your choice such as /etc/openvpn/. Set paranoid permissions (-r-x—— or similar).
  • Create a configuration file in a location of your choice such as /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf. Here is an example configuration file:
client                         # Client mode
dev tun                        # Create a TUN device (not TAP)
proto udp                      # Use UDP (not TCP)
#comp-lzo                      # Don't enable LZO compression

remote funnel.osuosl.org 1194  # Server settings
remote-cert-tls server         # Use TLS to check server identity

ca /etc/openvpn/ca.crt                      # Server certificate
cert /etc/openvpn/<username>.crt            # Client certificate
key /etc/openvpn/<username>.key             # Client private key

resolv-retry infinite          # Never give up trying to connect to the
                               # server (useful for unreliable internet
                               # connections and laptops)
nobind                         # Don't bind a local port

# Drop privileges after initialization (not applicable to Windows)
user nobody
group nobody

# Preserve state across restarts.
persist-key
persist-tun

mute-replay-warnings           # Do not complain about duplicate packets
                               # (common on wireless networks)

# Verify server certificate by checking that the certicate has the
# nsCertType field set to 'server'. See:
# http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html#mitm
ns-cert-type server

verb 4                         # Set log file verbosity
script-security 3 system       # Enable dns-pushing

# For Ubuntu:
up /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf
down /etc/openvpn/update-resolv-conf

# For Gentoo:
up /etc/openvpn/up.sh
down /etc/openvpn/down.sh

# For Fedora:
up /usr/share/doc/openvpn-2.1.1/contrib/pull-resolv-conf/client.up
down /usr/share/doc/openvpn-2.1.1/contrib/pull-resolv-conf/client.down
  • Run OpenVPN: openvpn /etc/openvpn/openvpn.conf

OpenVPN for Windows

The OpenVPN Windows installer is available at: http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/downloads.html

OpenVPN for Mac

OpenVPN software for Mac can be found at: https://code.google.com/p/tunnelblick/