Has improved internal app access by allowing secure user onboarding and simplified network whitelisting
What is our primary use case?
The main use case for OpenVPN Access Server is making internal web applications and using them within our organization. We have many internal apps, such as Re:dash for analytics, and internal peering and accessing different VM machines and internal servers.
I have hosted OpenVPN Access Server in my VM for one of those internal apps. From that VM, I have done the VPC peering to our different VPCs. And I have hosted, for example, Re:dash, an analytics tool for our internal company members. So we use VPN to whitelist them, and then they can internally use Re:dash for the analytics dashboard, querying, and connecting to the different databases and all.
What is most valuable?
The best features OpenVPN Access Server offers is whitelisting members in my company who have joined recently. It is really easy to use, and it is really easy to set up OpenVPN Access Server as an internal app.
When whitelisting members, I just add the name of the user. I go into User Permissions, add the name of the person I'm going to whitelist, and send them the credentials. They are able to log in and authenticate using an authenticator app and are easily able to onboard on OpenVPN Access Server and access internal apps.
It is easy to whitelist new apps that I'm going to host or when I've created a new VPC. I will do the VPC peering where I have hosted OpenVPN Access Server, and I can easily add the IP or CIDR of that particular new VPC or subnet which I'm going to use for my new app in the UI.
Before using OpenVPN Access Server, only developers mainly had access to databases. We can create read-only users for databases and internally give them access using OpenVPN Access Server. It has been really useful, as we don't have to give access to everyone, and just give access to OpenVPN Access Server, and they are able to access databases or internal websites.
The change has mainly led to the onboarding process being more smoothed out. It is really fast and saves developers' time. It saves my time as a DevOps engineer, setting up things for people.
What needs improvement?
The plan for OpenVPN Access Server could be improved. When adding new people, better plans for startups would be beneficial. I'm working in a startup and sometimes people think we should take the enterprise plan or not. If there was a dedicated plan for startups, it would be really helpful. For instance, providing store credit for OpenVPN Access Server through a startup program, similar to YC's program which gives credit to new startups.
UI-wise, OpenVPN Access Server is easy to manage, but the overall overview dashboard in the admin portal could be improved. Currently, you have to go through dropdowns to find where to add users or whitelist IPs. Creating an onboarding dashboard where an admin person can find these things easily would be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for around two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
OpenVPN Access Server has been stable since the last six months with no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have hosted OpenVPN Access Server in a VM. It does not utilize much memory or CPU on the VM. So far, I have been using around 40 users, and I did not need to scale it up. I think just scaling the VM would help in case it is needed.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't used customer support from OpenVPN Access Server.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I haven't used any other solutions on the VPN side. OpenVPN Access Server was the first tool I have used for whitelisting people, but it did not give me any reason to move to any other product. It has been good.
How was the initial setup?
I found some open-source documentation for setting up OpenVPN Access Server. It was really easy to set up initially. I got some networking issues from the VPC peering side, but it was resolved from open-source references.
What about the implementation team?
I have utilized the access controls feature of OpenVPN Access Server, including an auto-login feature. For some developers who are heavily using OpenVPN Access Server, I allow an auto-login feature. For others, they still have to put the MFA code from the authenticator app.
What was our ROI?
I haven't seen exact numbers from the investment side, but OpenVPN Access Server has been really useful and saved a lot of time for developers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for OpenVPN Access Server is really good, not that expensive. I am easily able to add new users from the OpenVPN Access Server official website. I would suggest adding a startup plan for small startups would be really helpful.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing OpenVPN Access Server, I haven't evaluated any other options. Some of my colleagues recommended OpenVPN Access Server, and I went through it, and it has been really useful.
What other advice do I have?
I would suggest for others looking into using OpenVPN Access Server, people find it difficult sometimes to self-host. Find the right documentation and go through it. Mostly it is all about networking. If your basics of networking are clear, you will be able to host it easily.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate OpenVPN Access Server a nine.
Secures access to AWS resources with straightforward setup and a clean admin interface while lacking an official Linux client
What is our primary use case?
I use OpenVPN Access Server to restrict access to internal AWS-hosted resources.
How has it helped my organization?
I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for several months as a lightweight, cost-effective VPN solution deployed on an EC2 instance. My primary requirement was to secure access to internal AWS resources without adding unnecessary complexity or overhead. OpenVPN Access Server met that need well.
What is most valuable?
The setup process is straightforward, with good support for common operating systems. The admin interface is clean, making configuration and user management easy even for teams without deep networking expertise.
What needs improvement?
The lack of an official Linux client is a clear gap. The community-maintained alternative is functional but not as stable or polished as the official Windows and macOS clients.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for 3 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There were no stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There were no scalability issues.
What other advice do I have?
Having an officially supported Linux client would significantly improve usability and reliability across all platforms.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
"OpenVPN: A Trusted Solution for Safe Connectivity"
What do you like best about the product?
I like that OpenVPN Access Server provides secure and reliable remote connectivity with strong encryption. It’s easy to set up, works across multiple platforms, and offers flexible configuration options for teams of any size.
What do you dislike about the product?
I dislike that the initial setup and configuration can be a bit complex for beginners, and managing advanced features sometimes requires a deeper understanding of networking concepts.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
OpenVPN Access Server solves the problem of secure remote access to internal networks and resources. It allows me to safely connect from anywhere, protect data with strong encryption, and maintain consistent access for teams, which improves productivity and ensures data privacy.
Great piece of software and very fast and to the point help-desk
What do you like best about the product?
Quite frankly, I do not use the OpenVPN Access Server. I just use OpenVPN to VPN-into my Raspberri. After having used it for 2.5 years, to full satisfaction, it stopped working. Some inspection revealed that the certificates were invalidated. As I did not remember how I got this all to work, I contacted the help-desk. Within an hour I received an answer plus a pointer to where to find the info on fixing this. 2 hours later everything worked again. I have recently had some other interactions with Customer Support of other, rather expensive products. If all Customer Service Support would work as well as OpenVPN, wow, then the world would be a much better place!
What do you dislike about the product?
I actually contemplated installing OpenVPN Access Server instead of fixing the old, single user OpenVPN. I found it very complicated from the outset.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
secure access to my home network
Setup and cross-platform integration simplify secure network access
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for OpenVPN Access Server is access to private subnets.
What is most valuable?
What I appreciate the most about OpenVPN Access Server is that it's very easy to set up.
OpenVPN Access Server has helped in meeting my organization's security requirements. I get to keep everything in the cloud private. People on the outside cannot see it, and this I use to connect.
What needs improvement?
There are ways OpenVPN Access Server could be improved. There are many small things, such as resetting MFA. There are tasks that require logging onto the server to run commands, which is not intuitive through the UI. If they had a one-click setup where you provide credentials instead of manually running commands, that would be beneficial. But it remains quite simple, which is why people appreciate it.
I assess the compatibility of OpenVPN Access Server with different client software and operating systems as quite easy. It's very good and simple to use. That's one of the reasons we use it. It's easy to set up the server side and the client side for users. It doesn't matter if it's Windows, Apple, Mac, or Linux - they're all very easy.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for seven to eight years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
OpenVPN Access Server scales with the growing needs of my organization. I have had some clients who expanded their usage, starting with three users, then increasing to 10, then to 20 users, each one in a different cloud with different licenses. It's not very easy to expand, and it would be beneficial if the process were simpler.
How are customer service and support?
I had to use their customer service and technical support for OpenVPN Access Server. It was very good, and I would rate it an eight.
How would you rate customer service and support?
What was our ROI?
I have not really seen any ROI from OpenVPN Access Server. It's very hard to measure ROI as it's just a method of connection.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I had considered other solutions before choosing OpenVPN Access Server, such as AWS VPN and others, but OpenVPN Access Server is simply easier to use.
What other advice do I have?
Regarding OpenVPN Access Server's advanced monitoring and reporting tools, I have not seen many features. They have a basic log, which is sufficient most of the time.
I found the setup and pricing of OpenVPN Access Server very easy since I've set it up many times. Even the first time wasn't particularly complicated.
I use the feature for hybrid deployment on OpenVPN Access Server in the cloud, not on-premises.
Overall, my experience with OpenVPN Access Server on a scale of one to 10 is a nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Very rapid customer support
What do you like best about the product?
Easy installation, easy maintenance, no frills
What do you dislike about the product?
I miss support for Ubuntu 24.10, needed to deploy Docker image which makes IP configuration a little bit more complex
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
OpenVPN helps setting up quickly secure communications
easy to use
What do you like best about the product?
easy to install and easy to use. we use it for our company for easy handling of vpn users
What do you dislike about the product?
The documentation of installing openvpn access server by cloudformation stack on AWS looks a little bit outdated.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
secure instances
OpenVPN is an excellent choice
What do you like best about the product?
We migrated VPN solutions around 4 years ago and identified OpenVPN as the ideal solution for us. It ticked a lot of boxes for us, particularly with regards to 2FA and a zero trust approach to user's access with profiles. Pricing is very competitive too. Customer support is very good too, I recently had to contact them about an issue following a Ubuntu upgrade and received helpful and prompt responses
What do you dislike about the product?
Some management tasks are command line only and can be tricky to locate initially but there are plenty of support resources available
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
OpenVPN provides my business with a secure VPN that is easy for staff to use
Happy that we switched to OpenVPN AS
What do you like best about the product?
Administration interface is nice. Coming from a console only OpenVPN installation, it is much easier to set things up using a UI. I had to use customer support once and they were fast and helped to resolve the problem quickly. We use it on daily basis to access restricted resources and we had very little problems.
What do you dislike about the product?
Somewhat complicated deployment in Azure. I would have expected a better experience there, but part of that is definitely due to my inexperience in network configuration. Differences between the community OpenVPN and this product caused some confusion.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It solved the problem of yearly re-configuring the OpenVPN server on our EdgeRouter. Distribution of the VPN profiles is a huge help and the MFA option is a must have feature in these times.
Great tool
What do you like best about the product?
It can be used in different devices. Minimal setup required to get it working
What do you dislike about the product?
One tedious task is dealing with SSL certificates and not a a clear straight forward way of doing it automatically.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Resources hidden under a private network and allowing people to access the private network.
