Ubuntu

File permissions make file unopenable?

Asked by Chris Crofton-Sleigh

Hi,

This is really a question for the forum but I have spent the best part of 20 minutes trying, without success, to log on to the Ubuntu forum so I am asking it here.

I am trying to set up a VPN connection in Ubuntu 14.04 and have downloaded and installed all the requisite files. I wanted to test the connection by typing:

'openvpn /etc/openvpn/idc/client.conf'

and get an error which says that the file 'client.conf' can't be opened.

Is this because I need to change the file permissions or because the file ought to be in the OpenVPN directory or because it might be corrupt?

I obtained the file 'client.conf' from 'usr/share/doc/openvpn/examples/sample-config.files' and transferred it to /etc/openvpn/idc where I edited it with the necessary parameters that the VPN provider sent me.

I would be grateful for any help

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

What is the output of:

ls -la /etc/openvpn/idc/client.conf; lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

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Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#2

In most cases openvpn has to be started as root. This will also solve the permission problem. Try:
sudo openvpn /etc/openvpn/idc/client.conf

Just to be sure: you don't put quotes around it.

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Chris Crofton-Sleigh (chris-cs62) said : 		#3

Hi actionparsnip,

Here is the output from that set of commands:

chis@chris-PC1:~$ sudo ls -la /etc/openvpn/idc/client.conf; lsb_release -a; uname -a
[sudo] password for chis:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3495 Jul 1 17:46 /etc/openvpn/idc/client.conf
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Release: 14.04
Codename: trusty
Linux chris-PC1 3.13.0-30-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jun 9 22:45:01 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

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Chris Crofton-Sleigh (chris-cs62) said : 		#4

Thanks for your suggestion, Thomas,

I tried that but am not sure what to make of the output. here it is:

chis@chris-PC1:~$ sudo openvpn /etc/openvpn/idc/client.conf
Wed Jul 2 12:44:22 2014 OpenVPN 2.3.2 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [eurephia] [MH] [IPv6] built on Feb 4 2014
Wed Jul 2 12:44:22 2014 WARNING: file '/etc/openvpn/idc/vpnclient.key' is group or others accessible
Wed Jul 2 12:44:22 2014 Socket Buffers: R=[212992->131072] S=[212992->131072]
Wed Jul 2 12:44:22 2014 NOTE: UID/GID downgrade will be delayed because of --client, --pull, or --up-delay
Wed Jul 2 12:44:22 2014 UDPv4 link local: [undef]
Wed Jul 2 12:44:22 2014 UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]77.92.68.63:9081
Wed Jul 2 12:45:22 2014 TLS Error: TLS key negotiation failed to occur within 60 seconds (check your network connectivity)
Wed Jul 2 12:45:22 2014 TLS Error: TLS handshake failed
Wed Jul 2 12:45:22 2014 SIGUSR1[soft,tls-error] received, process restarting
Wed Jul 2 12:45:22 2014 Restart pause, 2 second(s)
Wed Jul 2 12:45:24 2014 Socket Buffers: R=[212992->131072] S=[212992->131072]
Wed Jul 2 12:45:24 2014 UDPv4 link local: [undef]
Wed Jul 2 12:45:24 2014 UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]77.92.68.63:9081

Revision history for this message
Chris Crofton-Sleigh (chris-cs62) said : 		#5

Hi again Thomas,

I didn't realise that one had to open OpenVPN as root. That is obviously why the 'client.conf' file could not be opened, so thanks for pointing that out.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#6

the config file is only readable by root. Users can read the ACLs on a file, so I don't know why you added sudo there when I didn't have it on my command.

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