OpenVPN Access Server Deployment on IBM Cloud Using Terraform

This Terraform project automates the deployment of an OpenVPN Access Server on IBM Cloud VPC. OpenVPN Access Server is installed on a Ubuntu instance via a cloud-init script that runs during first boot.

Prerequisites

• IBM Cloud account with permissions to manage VPC, Subnet, Security Groups, and instances.
• An IBM Cloud API Key, exported as the IC_API_KEY (or IBMCLOUD_API_KEY) environment variable - the IBM Terraform provider reads it directly from the environment; it is not a Terraform variable in this module.
• An SSH key already created/uploaded to IBM Cloud (referenced by name via ssh_public_key).

Input Variables

Name	Description	Default
prefix	Prefix for all resource names.	openvpn-as
region	IBM Cloud region name.	us-east
region_zone	Availability zone within the specified region.	us-east-1
instance_profile	VM size and family profile.	cx2-2x4
image_name	Image name for the Linux server.	ibm-ubuntu-24-04-4-minimal-amd64-7
ssh_public_key	Pre-created SSH public key name for instance access.	""
vpc_existing_name	Name of an existing VPC to use instead of creating one.	""
enable_letsencrypt	Automatically request a Let's Encrypt TLS certificate for the instance's public IP. Self-skips if no public IP is detected.	true
dns_domain_name	DNS domain name (e.g., example.com).	""
dns_entry_name	DNS entry name (e.g., www).	""
dns_responsible_person	Email address of the responsible person for the DNS entry.	admin@example.com

Outputs

Name	Description
openvpn_public_ip	Public (floating) IP address of the server.
openvpn_instance_id	The instance ID of the OpenVPN server.
dns_record	The configured DNS record, or empty if none was configured.
admin_user	OpenVPN Access Server admin username (openvpn).
admin_password	Randomly generated admin password (sensitive).
admin_url	URL for the Access Server admin web UI.
site_url	URL for the Access Server client web UI.

Project Structure

.
├── provider.tf              # IBM Cloud + random provider configuration
├── vars.tf                  # Input variables
├── vpc.tf                   # VPC, Subnet, Public Gateway, and Security Group setup
├── instance.tf              # Instance, floating IP, DNS, and admin password
├── output.tf                # Outputs: IP, instance ID, admin credentials, URLs
├── scripts/cloud-config.yaml # cloud-init script that installs and configures Access Server
└── README.md                 # Project documentation