OpenVPN Access Server Reviews

Our primary use case was to give mobile knowledge workers a secure connection across the Internet to our LAN, whether by laptop, mobile tablet or smart phone.

It allowed people to remotely access files from their mobile devices. It was so easy for end-users to use that they were able to work more efficiently no matter where they were, whether at a client’s campus, home, traveling – wherever they had a device and internet access.

This open-source solution provided the easiest UX for our end-users and had the greatest interoperability with all the operating systems we used, including but not limited to: iOS, Android, OS X, Windows, and Linux.

The upgrade path from older versions was more difficult than we wanted to tackle, so we ran an older version of the software for longer than I wanted. Patching, updating, and migrating to newer versions was a problem for us. That said, we were on a rather old version that I inherited yet it worked rock solid.

No issues.

We more than doubled our staff at my previous company and our OpenVPN appliance handled it well.

Tech support wasn’t needed during my 5 years administrating OpenVPN.

OpenVPN was already implemented when I took over the IT department. I do know that there was also a Cisco VPN product in place, but it was finicky and many of our end-users had issues with the Cisco VPN. At the time, it also didn’t work on mobile devices and the required ports were blocked by certain ISPs (like some hotel internet connections, cellular providers, etc.)

In-house expertise.

At one point I had to purchase addition connection licenses. I was very pleased with the pricing and licensing; so much easier than navigating the confusing jungle of Microsoft and Cisco licensing and pricing. That alone made the product a delight to manage.

I didn’t purchase OpenVPN, but I have evaluated other products for other departments I managed at other companies. Cisco and Fortinet are the two I remember off hand.

We did not use this product on AWS. We hosted the server on our network.

My advice would be, if OpenVPN fits your environment and needs, it’s a great solution. Do it.

Interoffice connections. We had offices in India and the US. To connect both of them to the same environment, we were using OpenVPN for that. It was so we could maintain a file store, exchange files and documents securely through our own proprietary mechanism, instead of having to rely on Dropbox and the like. 

Interoperability between different offices. We didn't have to keep exchanging documents via email and other tech. We were able to maintain a common file store because of the complete VPN setup we had using OpenVPN.

The compatibility with almost any Linux operating system, and how easy it is to write scripts and generate keys for people to use and log in. I found it easy to deploy quickly.

Some of the issues we faced were things like, if someone's key is not working, or if we had to remove someone's permission from it, or maybe an employee left the company and we had to take their key out. That seemed a little bit more complicated than it had to be.

Also, I think right now the GUI part of it is locked out behind the pay wall. It could use something that gives it a very basic, minimal, graphic interface for logging in, for the community version. That would probably be a good step forward.

We did not encounter any stability issues in our scope.

Our use case was less complex than most. We did not come across any issues with scalability.

I usually found support online, so I didn't have to use tech support.

We started off with OpenVPN when we were evaluating what we could use for our needs and we ended up with OpenVPN. I have used other VPN solutions at other offices, but in the cases that I've dealt with, OpenVPN was the choice.

If we had to create something for someone who was not necessarily tech savvy, I had to set that up on their computer, I had to write "read me's" and other things so that they could install their client and then connect to the VPN by themselves. So it was hard to set up for people who are not tech savvy. I had to actively provide assistance and walk them through the whole process.

The product's pricing is good value, definitely. It is one of the best features, I would say.

Evaluate the product before seeing which type of licensing is good for you. I think there is a good evaluation method available for OpenVPN, so you can just evaluate if it meets your needs. Then go forward with the right licensing policy.

OpenVPN is a good option for kick-starting any kind of interoperability between offices. It doesn't have a huge setup time, so it's a quick way to start experimenting with how the organization would work with its VPN requirements. Even if your requirements are very small, it's a very convenient to start off with this solution.

I rate it at eight out of 10 because it gives value for what it provides. You need technical know-how to get started on it, but it is also very swift. It has all the right features but it's technically challenging if you're not tech savvy. Providing clients with keys is not that straightforward.

My entire engineering team can access our infrastructure from anywhere in the world, securely.

Privacy and cryptography for my network communication.

Maybe provide a GUI or Web UI to manage users. Today these features are in the Pro Edition or are done by scripts.

No issues with scalability.

No issues with scalability.

The community is great. We are able to find a lot of documentation on the Web.

Cisco VPN, L2TP/IPsec. OpenVPN is easier to maintain and use, save us time.

Straightforward, a server is installed in a few minutes.

The Pro Edition has a reasonable price per user.

Cisco VPN.

I use it as server and client in AWS. The first reason is to provide a kind of crypted VLAN.

No real advice to give, except to be careful with the traffic in/out on extensive usage.

I rate it 10 out of 10. Simple to install and maintain, easy to find documentation or help in Google.

Try it. It's really fast to PoC and validate this solution.

I mainly use OpenVPN for remote access.

The most valuable feature is that I can access my local network remotely and avoid doing all the port forwarding and redirections, and so on.

The server configuration file needs to be improved, it's the biggest problem in the configuration process. I would also like the product's routing to be easier.

I've been using OpenVPN for almost three years.

OpenVPN is very stable.

The initial setup is a little complex - you need to know what you're doing to go through the process. I would rate the setup process two out of five.

OpenVPN is a free and open-source solution.

Before choosing OpenVPN, I tested the Microsoft Remote Access VPN, and I can say that Microsoft are far away from OpenVPN's level and have a lot of work to get there which can get really expensive.

If somebody asked me about VPNs, I would recommend OpenVPN 100%. I would rate it seven out of ten.

I have used this solution for five years (2008-2013) as the company's main business solution, and then, for a year (2017), as a custom solution for secure AWS access.

I was using it on AWS to create secure access to internal VPC services. It is a lightweight, easy to setup solution.

Several years ago, I was working on a Consumer VPN service provider, and OpenVPN was a great base to provide such services. It is much easier to scale and troubleshoot compared to regular Windows-based VPN solutions or PPTP daemon.

• Easy to setup and manage
• Great documentation
• Community support

At the moment, I am not working too closely with the product.

No issues.

No issues.

On a scale of one to 10, I would rate technical support as a nine.

Just regular Windows Server PPTP/L2TP and Linux PPTP. OpenVPN is clearly better than the regular solutions.

50/50 (straightforward/complex). It requires some experience of Linux server configuration. If you are an experienced Linux user, setup is pretty fast and simple.

Enjoy implementing it!

We provide support services to customers. For some customers we do remote support, we can log in to their VPN via the OpenVPN Access Server.

The most valuable features of the OpenVPN Access Server are the ease of use and integration with different platforms, such as Android and Windows. I can use the solution on my desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, the solution is secure.

I have been using OpenVPN Access Server for a couple of years.

I rate the stability of the OpenVPN Access Server a five out of five.

I have used Proton VPN in parallel to OpenVPN Access Server.

The deployment of the OpenVPN Access Server is very easy and it can be done in minutes. There could be an easier way to set up the solution. However, if you use the provided information that comes with the solution there should not be a problem.

I have been using OpenVPN Access Server a ten out of ten.

We are using Access Server to put some of our internal systems behind VPN so that they won't be accessible externally. We are customers of OpenVPN. 

The solution is user-friendly and easy to implement. It's a good product and it works as expected.

There is occasionally some instability but that is due to issues with our internet connection, and is not related to the product. 

I've been using this solution for a year. 

The solution is stable unless there are internet issues unrelated to the product.

The solution is scalable. 

The initial setup is very easy. We have 150 users in the company. We have a team of 15 DevOps and IT that maintain it and other solutions in the company. 

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

We've been using OpenVPN Access Server for node accessing.

For us, it's important that OpenVPN Access Server is cheap and that we get to use it ourselves. It is also a stable solution.

The scalability of the solution could be improved.

I've been using it for nine years.

It is a stable solution.

It is not scalable. We have 20 people who use this solution. Most of them are developers, one is a system admin person, and one is a DevOps person.

I'm the CEO of the company, and there is a technical team that takes care of the installation. As far as I know, it was straightforward and easy enough for them. I think it took a day to install it.

We have internal staff who implemented it.

It is an open-source solution, so we don't pay for anything.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate OpenVPN Access Server at seven.