OpenVPN connection doesnt reconnect on connection loss

[Paul]

If the host connection looses connection, NM fires a connection restart for said connection but fails to restart the OpenVPN connection with it, resulting in the user having to repeatedly tell OpenVPN to connect again if the host connection is unreliable (eg when using wifi).

[Paul (paul17041993)]

Personal encrypted passwords for the certificates are in use, no manual authorisation required, NM is free to activate the OpenVPN connection whenever possible yet does not.

[Paul (paul17041993)]

Possibly depends on;
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/1686254

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

I'm not aware that NetworkManager currently does any kind of automatic reconnection in case of failure of a VPN. The only thing it could possibly do is bringing up a VPN automatically when some wifi network gets connected.

Is that what is not working?

If it's the case, could you add a screenshot to show a bit about how the connections are linked (the General tab for the physical connection's settings); and what kind of failure you are seeing?

[Paul (paul17041993)]

Network manager has the option to automatically connect a VPN while a wifi connection is active, it is expected for NM to maintain this auto-connection however it appears unable to do so.
Adding to that, the OpenVPN service has ping timers for restarting and terminating VPN connections, however these are not visible in kubuntu due to another bug;
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/1693371

[Gildas PRIME (prime-gildas)]

I encounter the same problem with a 18.04.02 LTS version with a OpenVPN 2.4.4.

After speaking with OpenVPN support, sending them logs, etc... They informs me that OpenVPN version 2.4.x prior to the 2.4.7 have a bug that prevents OpenVPN to detect disconnection and so does not reconnect to VPN server on connection loss...

Solutions explained by OpenVPN are :
* run a script by a cron to check connection, and restart OpenVPN if connection is loss
* compile the 2.4.7 version and upgrade to it
* go back to a 2.3.x version that does not have the problem

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.