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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: 'Configure P2S VPN clients - certificate authentication - OpenVPN - Linux' |
| 3 | +titleSuffix: Azure Virtual WAN |
| 4 | +description: Learn how to configure a Linux VPN client solution for Virtual WAN P2S configurations that use certificate authentication and an OpenVPN client. |
| 5 | +author: cherylmc |
| 6 | +ms.service: azure-virtual-wan |
| 7 | +ms.custom: linux-related-content |
| 8 | +ms.topic: how-to |
| 9 | +ms.date: 02/06/2025 |
| 10 | +ms.author: cherylmc |
| 11 | +--- |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +# Configure OpenVPN client for User VPN P2S certificate authentication connections - Linux |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +This article helps you connect to your Azure virtual network (VNet) using Virtual WAN User VPN (point-to-site) and **Certificate authentication** from Linux using an OpenVPN client. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +## Before you begin |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +Verify that you are on the correct article. The following table shows the configuration articles available for Azure Virtual WAN P2S VPN clients. Steps differ, depending on the authentication type, tunnel type, and the client OS. |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +[!INCLUDE [P2S client configuration articles](../../includes/virtual-wan-vpn-client-install-articles.md)] |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +### Prerequisites |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +This article assumes that you've already performed the following prerequisites: |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +* You configured a virtual WAN according to the steps in the [Create User VPN point-to-site connections](virtual-wan-point-to-site-portal.md) article. Your User VPN configuration must use certificate authentication and the OpenVPN tunnel type. |
| 28 | +* You generated and downloaded the VPN client configuration files. For steps to generate a VPN client profile configuration package, see [Generate VPN client configuration files](virtual-wan-point-to-site-portal.md#p2sconfig). |
| 29 | +* You can either generate client certificates, or acquire the appropriate client certificates necessary for authentication. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +### Connection requirements |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +To connect to Azure using the OpenVPN client using certificate authentication, each connecting client requires the following items: |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +* The Open VPN Client software must be installed and configured on each client. |
| 36 | +* The client must have the correct certificates installed locally. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +### Workflow |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +The workflow for this article is: |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +1. Install the OpenVPN client. |
| 43 | +1. View the VPN client profile configuration files contained in the VPN client profile configuration package that you generated. |
| 44 | +1. Configure the OpenVPN client. |
| 45 | +1. Connect to Azure. |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +### About certificates |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +For certificate authentication, a client certificate must be installed on each client computer. The client certificate you want to use must be exported with the private key, and must contain all certificates in the certification path. Additionally, for some configurations, you'll also need to install root certificate information. |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +The OpenVPN client in this article uses certificates exported with a *.pfx* format. You can export a client certificate easily to this format using the Windows instructions. See [Export a client certificate - pfx](../vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-certificates-point-to-site.md#clientexport). If you don't have a Windows computer, as a workaround, you can use a small Windows VM to export certificates to the needed *.pfx* format. At this time, the [OpenSSL](../vpn-gateway/point-to-site-certificates-linux-openssl.md) Linux instructions we provide only result in the *.pem* format. |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +## <a name="openvpn"></a>Configuration steps |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +This section helps you configure Linux clients for certificate authentication that uses the OpenVPN tunnel type. To connect to Azure, download the OpenVPN client and configure the connection profile. |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +[!INCLUDE [Configuration steps for OpenVPN Linux](../../includes/vpn-gateway-config-openvpn-linux.md)] |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +## Next steps |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +For additional steps, return to the [Create a Virtual WAN P2S User VPN connection](virtual-wan-point-to-site-portal.md) article. |
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