Centos 8: Install via repository (recommended)

The recommended method to install the OpenVPN Access Server is to use the official OpenVPN Access Server software repository. You will need to be logged on to your Linux system either on the console or via SSH, and have root privileges. Then copy and paste the commands below to add the repository to your system, and install the OpenVPN Access Server client bundle and the OpenVPN Access Server package itself. Installing the package ‘openvpn-as’ will automatically pull in the required client bundle as well.

dnf -y install https://as-repository.openvpn.net/as-repo-centos8.rpm

dnf -y install openvpn-as

Centos 7: Install via repository (recommended)

dnf -y install https://as-repository.openvpn.net/as-repo-centos7.rpm


dnf -y install openvpn-as

Admin UI

The Admin UI is the web-based GUI for managing your OpenVPN Access Server. We also refer to it as the Admin Web UI. Typically, it is the address of your server with /admin/ appended, for example https://192.168.70.222/admin/.

When you sign in to the Admin Web UI, you can manage the configuration, certificate, users, and so on as an administrative user. The web-based GUI provides simplified management of complex VPN features rather than having to run Linux-based commands and scripts.

Client UI

The Client UI is the web-based GUI where users sign in and download clients or configuration files. Typically, it is the address of your server, https://192.168.70.222 as an example.

When a user signs in here with the credentials as set up in the Admin Web UI, they can download pre-configured Connect clients for Windows and macOS. There are also links to the Linux, Android, and iOS client programs. You can also find a configuration profile to import into an already installed client.

Sometimes upon first boot of the OpenVPN Access Server Virtual Appliance the ovpn-init script does not run properly. The ovpn-init script pre-configures certain setting in order for the OpenVPN Access Server to run properly including the listening adapters and listening ports.

If you are unable to connect to your OpenVPN Access Server Admin or Client UI please run the following command in your terminal:

/usr/local/openvpn_as/bin/ovpn-init --force

After running that command run through the Install Script and you should be able to now access the Admin and Client UI.