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Step 1 – Install OpenVPN

On Linux systems, there are multiple ways to install and use OpenVPN. This guide focuses on the widely-supported OpenVPN Open-Source CLI program ‘openvpn’, but any other OpenVPN installation or Network Manager that supports OpenVPN configurations will work.

If you have trouble following our guide, try finding an OpenVPN installation guide specific to your Linux distribution.

Install the OpenVPN Package

Use the appropriate Linux installation command to install the `openvpn` package. For instance:

  • Ubuntu/Debian:
    sudo apt-get install openvpn
  • Fedora:
    sudo dnf install openvpn
  • CentOS/RHEL:
    sudo yum install openvpn
  • Arch Linux:
    sudo pacman -S openvpn

Step 2 – Download an Arresti VPN Connection Profile

After installing OpenVPN, you will need a connection profile specific to your ArrestiVPN
account. Follow these steps to download it:

  1. Open a web browser.
  2. Go to the Arresti VPN downloads page: https://portal.arresti.com/downloads.php.
  3. Log in with your user credentials.
  4. Scroll down to review the list of server locations.
  5. Save the resulting .ovpn file to your Linux system.
A screenshot of the downloads page of ArrestiVPN.

Step 3 – Manually Start the Connection

To start a connection profile manually, use the following command:

sudo openvpn --config /path/to/your/configuration/profile.ovpn

For example:

sudo openvpn --config /path/to/AUSSydneyDirect.ovpn

You can verify the status of your connection by using a third-party service like https://whatismyipaddress.com/ that show you where your computer is connecting from, and the IP address that appears to the websites and services you use.

Optional Advanced Options

Auto-Login Connection via the Service Daemon

To set up an auto-login connection:

  1. Place the client.ovpn file in the /etc/openvpn/ directory.
  2. Rename the file to end with .conf. For example:
sudo mv /etc/openvpn/client.ovpn /etc/openvpn/client.conf
  1. Enable the OpenVPN service to run after a reboot:

Systemd (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, RHEL):

sudo systemctl enable openvpn@client
sudo systemctl start openvpn@client

SysVinit (Older distributions):

sudo service openvpn start
sudo chkconfig openvpn on
  1. Reboot the system to apply changes:
sudo reboot

The auto-login profile will be picked up automatically, and the connection will start by itself. You can verify this by checking the output of the ifconfig command, where you should see a tun0 network adapter listed:

ifconfig