Initial setup of the client/server mode

In order to set up a basic OpenVPN server, we first create a server configuration file using the following steps:

1. Create the following file

   proto udp
   port 1194
   dev tun
   server 10.200.0.0 255.255.255.0
   topology subnet
   persist-key
   persist-tun
   keepalive 10 60
   
   dh       /etc/openvpn/movpn/dh2048.pem
   ca       /etc/openvpn/movpn/movpn-ca.crt
   cert     /etc/openvpn/movpn/server.crt
   key      /etc/openvpn/movpn/server.key
   
   user  nobody
   group nobody  # use ‘group nogroup’ on Debian/Ubuntu
   
   verb 3
   daemon
   log-append /var/log/openvpn.log

2. Then, save it as movpn-04-01-server.conf. A detailed explanation of each of the configuration lines will be given later.
3. Start the OpenVPN server:

   [root@server] # openvpn --config movpn-04-01-server.conf
   

4. The command will not produce any output on the command line, as all output is redirected to the log file /var/log/openvpn.log. Check this file for OpenVPN’s startup message details:

   OpenVPN 2.3.2 x86_64-redhat-linux...