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I have problem connecting to OpenVPN server. Where are OpenVPN log files and how do I find the connection details?

Kevin Bowen
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Hojat Taheri
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6 Answers6

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If you are using the network manager plugin (network-manager-openvpn), look into /var/log/syslog

This should give you the last logs of openvpn:

$ grep VPN /var/log/syslog

Connection details are to be found in /etc/openvpn/

shakaran
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Lilley
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    Could also be called openvpnas.log in /var/log/ – Victor S Jul 12 '18 at 19:57
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    This was good in 2014 and searches might lead to here. In 2021, many distros switched to systemd and the logs are accessible via journalctl, see https://askubuntu.com/questions/885383/where-are-network-manager-logs-16-04. – Hermann Feb 08 '21 at 09:55
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    grep vpn -i /var/log/syslog is better to use.

    grep is case-sensitive by default and in my case it was missing an important warning : Jan 11 22:12:06 blablabla-nix nm-openvpn[3890]: WARNING: Your certificate has expired!

     – kinORnirvana Jan 12 '22 at 09:57
  • even better, use less to browse easily in your terminal: grep -i VPN /var/log/syslog | less +G – scrat.squirrel Dec 03 '23 at 23:45
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By default, in most distros, OpenVPN log output goes to the syslog, which is usually at /var/log/syslog

However, your config files can set the logfile location explicitly, e.g.:

log-append /var/log/openvpn.log

This works for both OpenVPN clients and servers. OpenVPN config files are usually located in /etc/openvpn and usually named *.conf. server.conf is canonical; client config filenames are usually like <client name/>.conf.

Kaz Wolfe
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Ri4a
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Log file location

On servers, OpenVPN is usually run as a system service, i.e., started with the --daemon option. According to the OpenVPN man page, using the --daemon [progname] option has the following effect:

Become a daemon after all initialization functions are completed. This option will cause all message and error output to be sent to the syslog file (such as /var/log/messages), except for the output of scripts and ifconfig commands, which will go to /dev/null unless otherwise redirected. The syslog redirection occurs immediately at the point that --daemon is parsed on the command line even though the daemonization point occurs later. If one of the --log options is present, it will supercede (sic) syslog redirection.

Use either of the --log file or --log-append file options if you want OpenVPN messages to be logged to a different file. The --log option causes the specified log file to be over-written each time the OpenVPN daemon starts while the --log-append option adds new entries to the log file. These options can also be set in the OpenVPN configuration file, e.g.,

log /var/log/openvpn.log

Verbosity

The --verb option can be used to set the log file verbosity from 0 (no output except for fatal errors) to 11 (for maximum debugging information). The man page specifies levels of 1 to 4 as the appropriate range for normal usage. This behaviour can be set in the OpenVPN configuration file, e.g.,

verb 3
Anthony Geoghegan
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  • I changed to verb 2 from the default 3, but there was no noticeable difference. I then rm openvpn.log thinking of restarting a fresh log. But openvpn.log didn't get created and I now can't find the logs. Where has the log gone to now? I created a new openvpn.log but it remained at size 0. – Old Geezer Aug 20 '19 at 04:03
  • @OldGeezer That would best be asked as a new question where you can provide specific details about the configuration of your OpenVPN and OS logging (systemd/syslog) configuration. – Anthony Geoghegan Aug 20 '19 at 11:25
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Use the -l or --syslog argument calling openconnect. Now you can check with tail -f /var/log/syslog

ǝlpoodooɟƃuooʞ
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For people from 2023 who googled this, here is how you can view OpenVPN logs in modern Ubuntu with systemd via journalctl:

sudo journalctl -u openvpn-server@server.service

Then by pressing Shift + G you can scroll down to the most recent lines.

You can also activate follow mode by specifying -f to automatically scroll down as new entries come:

sudo journalctl -u openvpn-server@server.service -f
finnan
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It is supposed to be in your home directory (home directory of the user whom executing it), eg ~. Running an ls -l command will perhaps reveal it. On the other hand, you may start openvpn with --debug option to capture what's happening realtime on the terminal.

Lashae
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