OpenVPN - Ubuntu 10.04 - Client Can't Connect to Server - Linux Route Add Command Failed

Question

I have keys for access to an OpenVPN server already in place. I have used these keys to connect already, but using a Windows XP machine. On a Ubuntu machine, I installed OpenVPN and then configured client.conf file so that I could run:

sudo openvpn --config client.conf

And it seems correct but I still can't connect and get these errors and lines of output:

Mon May 31 14:34:57 2010 ERROR: Linux route add command failed: external program exited with error status: 7
Mon May 31 14:34:57 2010 /sbin/route add -net 10.8.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 10.8.0.17
SIOCADDRT: File exists
Mon May 31 14:34:57 2010 ERROR: Linux route add command failed: external program exited with error status: 7
Mon May 31 14:34:57 2010 Initialization Sequence Completed

I searched the net for forums and ideas and tried some file moving and renaming but still ended up in the same place.

Answer 1

After several attempts to reconfigure and connect to this network using the openvpn command in the terminal, I ended up giving the built in network management tool in Ubuntu 10.04 a try. After some tweaking (basically mirroring what is in my client.conf file), I was able to connect to the VPN. Not sure why I couldn't get it connected through the command

sudo openvpn --config client.conf

But the built-in tool seemed to fix what I was missing.

Answer 2

Mon May 31 14:34:57 2010 /sbin/route add -net 10.8.0.1 \
netmask 255.255.255.255 gw 10.8.0.17 SIOCADDRT: File exists

you are adding a host (255.255.255.255) but you put -net.
Paste your 'config' here (inside blockquotes)