How to Establish a VPN Connection Using Barracuda VPN Client for Linux

After installing and configuring the Barracuda VPN Client for Linux or the macOS command line, you can initiate a VPN connection with the settings from a configured VPN profile.

Before You Begin

Create a VPN profile as described in How to Configure the Barracuda VPN Client for Linux.

Launch the VPN Connection

When you start the Barracuda VPN Client, choose options from the Main Menu to start and manage your VPN connections.

Start the Barracuda VPN Client from the command line. Enter: barracudavpn
From the Main Menu, select Open Connection.
Click Exit to exit the VPN client. Established connections are kept open.

The Barracuda VPN Client forks a background process that keeps running even if you exit the main client. This is needed to control the connection. The background process is not terminated until you close the connection.

Viewing the Connection Status

Connection Status – Displays information about your VPN connection, such as its throughput, IP address, routes, gateway, DNS, and license.

Start the Barracuda VPN Client from the command line. Enter: barracudavpn
From the Main Menu, select Connection Status.

Terminate a VPN Connection

Start the Barracuda VPN Client from the command line. Enter: barracudavpn
From the Main Menu, select Close Connection.

Using the Barracuda VPN Client via Command Line

At the command line, enter: barracudavpn [options]

You can specify any of the following command-line options:

-s --start – Start the VPN tunnel.
-p --stop – Stop the VPN tunnel.
-t --status – Show the tunnel status.
-k --keypwd – Password for the local key.
-l --login – Server login (user, password authentication)
-c --config – Path to the alternate barracudavpn.conf configuration file. It is not possible to rename this file.
-r --serverpwd – Server password.
-V --version – Show the VPN client version.
-v --verbose – Show debug output.
-h --help – Show this help output.

Examples:

Personal license authentication: barracudavpn --start --keypwd <license-password>
X509 authentication: barracudavpn --start --keypwd <cert/key-password>
X509 + user/password authentication: barracudavpn --start --keypwd <cert/key-password> --login <login-name> --serverpwd <password for login name>
User/password authentication: barracudavpn --start --login <login-name> --serverpwd <password for login name>

Note that the VPN client for Linux cannot use hostnames in the network route’s configuration of the Client-to-Site settings. This setting is applicable to Windows clients only.