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OpenVPN Access Server OpenVPN Access Server

Container

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OpenVPN Access Server is a full featured secure network tunneling VPN software solution that integrates OpenVPN server capabilities, enterprise management capabilities, simplified OpenVPN Connect UI, and OpenVPN Client software packages that accommodate Windows, MAC, Linux, Android, and iOS environments.

Configuration

Type
Container
Platform
linux
Image
linuxserver/openvpn-as:latest
Ports
943:943/tcp9443:9443/tcp1194:1194/udp
Volumes
/config : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/OpenVPN-AS
Env vars
INTERFACE=eth0PUID=1000PGID=100
Restart
unless-stopped

Template by mikestraney

Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying OpenVPN Access Server

Installation method

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

  1. Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
  2. Log into your Portainer web UI
  3. Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
  4. Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
  5. Select OpenVPN Access Server, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me demo

More install options in our documentation.

Serve OpenVPN Access Server on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.

Proxying openvpn-access-server.example.com to http://openvpn-as:943

Add this to your Caddyfile

openvpn-access-server.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://openvpn-as:943
}

Check the logs first

Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.

  • In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run docker logs openvpn-as
  • Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:943 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

  • Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :943
  • Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 943:943 only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.

Running but the page won't load

The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.

  • Use your server's real IP: http://your-server-ip:943. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
  • Give it a minute after first deploy, openvpn-as can take a while to initialise.
  • Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 943

Permission denied on volumes

If the logs show "permission denied", the app can't write to its data folder on the host.

  • Fix the ownership: sudo chown -R 1000:100 /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/OpenVPN-AS
  • Or set the PUID and PGID variables (defaults 1000:100) to match your own user, found with id $USER

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull linuxserver/openvpn-as:latest

  • "manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists. This template uses latest, so try pinning a specific version instead.
  • "toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with docker login to raise it.
  • "no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with docker system prune

"exec format error"

This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.

  • Check yours with uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.

Container keeps restarting

The unless-stopped restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.

  • Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
  • Get the exit code with docker inspect openvpn-as --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
  • Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

A single container

OpenVPN Access Server runs as one container, the simplest kind of app here. Just the one image to pull and nothing else wired up alongside it.

The app image

An image is the app packed up ready to go, everything OpenVPN Access Server needs bundled into one download. This template pulls linuxserver/openvpn-as:latest, which Docker fetches once and then starts your own copy from.

Where the image comes from

Docker pulls its images from registries, public libraries of ready-built apps. OpenVPN Access Server's comes from Docker Hub, published by linuxserver.

Version tags

The bit after the colon in the image name is the version tag. Here it's latest, which always points at the newest build, so a redeploy can bump you to a newer release without you asking. Pin a specific tag if you would rather stay on one version.

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 943:943 means it's reachable on port 943 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. It opens:

  • 943:943
  • 9443:9443
  • 1194:1194 over UDP

Volumes

A volume is where OpenVPN Access Server keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

  • /config from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/OpenVPN-AS on the host

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. OpenVPN Access Server takes 3 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:

  • INTERFACE, defaults to eth0
  • PUID, defaults to 1000
  • PGID, defaults to 100

Restart policy

The restart policy here is unless-stopped, so Docker restarts OpenVPN Access Server after a crash or reboot, but leaves it off when you stop it on purpose. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Users and permissions

The PUID and PGID settings tell it which user and group to act as on your host. Point them at your own account (find yours with id $USER) so the files it writes into your mounted folders come out owned by you rather than root.

Networking

Nothing custom is set, so OpenVPN Access Server sits on Docker's default bridge network: its own private space that reaches the outside world only through the ports it publishes.

Container name

Once it's deployed, Portainer names the container openvpn-as. That's what you'll spot in the containers list and use in commands like docker logs openvpn-as.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set OpenVPN Access Server up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying OpenVPN Access Server is a click rather than a wall of config.