Our infrastructure in AWS needed to be accessed only by authorized users. OpenVPN gave us the option to have our employees access the server securely from all over the world.
OpenVPN Access Server (50 Connected Devices) / Self-Hosted VPN
OpenVPN Inc. | 2.13.1Linux/Unix, Ubuntu Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS - 64-bit Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
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Secure access to global infrastructure is enabled with minimal configuration and effective MFA compliance
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Some of our IT infrastructures, such as file servers and dev/testing servers, were on-premises. Maintaining and scaling these became troublesome. So, we decided to move to the AWS cloud. Once in the cloud, we needed our employees to have access from all around the world. We looked up the VPN options in AWS and OpenVPN seemed to fit our need. We have been running it for several months and it is working great for us.
What is most valuable?
To be honest, everything came pre-setup out of the box and we did not have to change much of the configuration. We do love the MFA option that forces all the users to comply.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Palo Alto before, but the cost was out of our budget.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We recommend checking the compliance you need for the project and picking the product that meets those requirements within the best price. For us, it was OpenVPN.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We considered Palo Alto and Cisco as alternate solutions.
What other advice do I have?
We were surprised how straightforward it was to integrate with AWS. We had a little hiccup with installing the certificate, but we read the documentation and everything was sorted out. We would recommend creating tutorial videos of setup and common troubleshooting. People prefer to watch video guides rather than read documentation.
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)
Open VPN Review
What do you like best about the product?
OpenVPN Access Server Review
As a cybersecurity compliance professional, I appreciate OpenVPN Access Server for its balance of security, flexibility, and ease of deployment. It provides a reliable way to establish secure remote access while maintaining compliance with frameworks like HITRUST and SOC 2.
As a cybersecurity compliance professional, I appreciate OpenVPN Access Server for its balance of security, flexibility, and ease of deployment. It provides a reliable way to establish secure remote access while maintaining compliance with frameworks like HITRUST and SOC 2.
What do you dislike about the product?
Limited Built-in Reporting: While logging is available, the built-in reporting and analytics features are lacking. More advanced insights often require external tools.
Resource Consumption: Compared to other VPN solutions, OpenVPN Access Server can be resource-intensive, especially at scale.
Resource Consumption: Compared to other VPN solutions, OpenVPN Access Server can be resource-intensive, especially at scale.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
OpenVPN Access Server helps solve several critical security and access management challenges, ultimately benefiting both security posture and operational efficiency.
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?
Positive
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
Very bad initial experience
What do you like best about the product?
I included the questions I had on the initial email and they still set me up with a lo-level dev who was only capable of drawing figma squares on their VERY LIMITED visual. This was honestly the worst customer experience I have had from someone I was trying to give money to. It is like they only hire incompetent people.
What do you dislike about the product?
Not much especially since they aren't OPEN any more.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Not much. There is plenty of TRUE open source options out there that I will be exploring.
Support and commercial assistance
What do you like best about the product?
OpenVPN Access Server is very easy to use, the management and isolation of networks and sub-networks is really simplified. The connection in SAML really facilitates user connection and especially that of the administrator. The support is excellent, always a response in a very short time and very quick commercial follow-up.
What do you dislike about the product?
It would be interesting to have more autonomy over license management, being able to add or remove according to the client's needs without necessarily going through the sales representative each time. This remains a detail and perhaps an idea, but nothing serious in itself!
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The connection to company resources securely, securing user access using SAML via Microsoft or Google Authenticator, and the online documentation which is really very comprehensive.
Quick and thorough support
What do you like best about the product?
Easy to setup. Works well. Easy to use client interface.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is a slight learning curve with using a Linux OS.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Was able to migrate a server to Azure and give users access to the server using the VPN created with OpenVPN Access Server.
Excellent and fast VPN service
What do you like best about the product?
I have a use case where we are running two parallel VPNs. OpenVPN blows our other VPN server out of the water in terms of speed.
What do you dislike about the product?
The setup for an Ubuntu OpenVPN access server is a little complicated if you aren't accustomed to Linux - also keeping it secure with best practices; but this isn't OpenVPN's problem.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Fast reliable split-tunnel vpn for our devops
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