Getting openvpn working ubuntu

Question

I am trying to set up a VPN over a few VMS that I have. I created an openvpn server on ubuntu 10.04 and am trying to configure the client using 12.04. I followed these instructions here https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/C/openvpn.html, except for some changes to the config files. When I run openvpn --config client.conf on the client, I get this.

Sat Apr 14 15:11:26 2012 OpenVPN 2.2.1 i686-linux-gnu [SSL] [LZO2] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [eurephia] [MH] [PF_INET6] [IPv6 payload 20110424-2 (2.2RC2)] built on Mar 30 2012
Sat Apr 14 15:11:26 2012 WARNING: No server certificate verification method has been enabled.  See http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm for more info.
Sat Apr 14 15:11:26 2012 NOTE: OpenVPN 2.1 requires '--script-security 2' or higher to call user-defined scripts or executables
Sat Apr 14 15:11:26 2012 Cannot load private key file /home/fpayer/keys/cerberus.crt: error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line: error:140B0009:SSL routines:SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file:PEM lib
Sat Apr 14 15:11:26 2012 Error: private key password verification failed
Sat Apr 14 15:11:26 2012 Exiting

I have verified that the file exists, and it looks fine to me although I do not know much about ssl. It seems to me like it is looking for a .pem, but the instructions never said to generate one. I also find it strange that I can connect thru network manager, but cannot ping the server, maybe it's a problem with network manager. What should I do to get the client working?

Here are my config files:

Server:

port 1194
proto udp
dev tun0

ca /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/ca.crt
cert /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/vpn-server.crt
key /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/keys/vpn-server.key
dh /etc/openvpn/dh1024.pem 

server 10.8.0.1 255.255.255.0
ifconfig-pool-persist openvpn.dhcp

keepalive 10 120
comp-lzo

user nobody
group nogroup

persist-key
persist-tun
status /var/log/openvpn/openvpn-status.log
log-append  /var/log/openvpn/openvpn.log
verb 4
mute 20

;push "route 192.168.0.0 255.255.255.0"
;push "route 192.168.173.0 255.255.255.0"
;push "redirect-gateway def1"

;client-config-dir ccd
;route 192.168.40.128 255.255.255.248
;client-to-client
; max-clients 10

Client:

client
dev tun0
proto udp
remote 192.168.1.6 1194
resolv-retry infinite
nobind

user nobody
group nogroup

persist-key
persist-tun

ca /home/fpayer/keys/ca.crt
cert /home/fpayer/keys/cerberus.crt
key /home/fpayer/keys/cerberus.crt
tls-auth /home/fpayer/keys/ta.key 1

verb 3

If you could find any problems in either config file or fixing the key verification, it would be greatly appreciated.

Server IP :192.168.1.6 Client IP: 192.168.1.7

Answer 1

It seems like your cerberus.crt is corrupted. How did you transfer the files to your client machine? Are you sure your keys are correct? Have you used some other operative system for the transfer or have you edited the file, something that could have changed the way it was originally generated? Did you use:

./pkitool cerberus

to generate the keys?
I have connected succesfully these configurations:

Client 11.10 (keys generated from a 10.04 server) -> server 12.04 (upgraded from 10.04, same key set as of 10.04 era).
Client 12.04 -> server 12.04 (both, client and server keys generated on a 10.04 server)

The only thing different between your conf files and mine, is that I don't have this line

tls-auth /home/fpayer/keys/ta.key 1

neither on server nor client