Script to automate creating new OpenVPN client certificates and make them easy to download

new-openvpn-client.sh

#! /bin/bash
# Script to automate creating new OpenVPN clients
# The client cert and key, along with the CA cert is
# zipped up and placed somewhere to download securely
#
# H Cooper - 05/02/11
#
# Usage: new-openvpn-client.sh <common-name>

# Set where we're working from
OPENVPN_RSA_DIR=/etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0
OPENVPN_KEYS=$OPENVPN_RSA_DIR/keys
KEY_DOWNLOAD_PATH=/var/www/secure

# Either read the CN from $1 or prompt for it
if [ -z "$1" ]
	then echo -n "Enter new client common name (CN): "
	read -e CN
else
	CN=$1
fi

# Ensure CN isn't blank
if [ -z "$CN" ]
	then echo "You must provide a CN."
	exit
fi

# Check the CN doesn't already exist
if [ -f $OPENVPN_KEYS/$CN.crt ]
	then echo "Error: certificate with the CN $CN alread exists!"
		echo "    $OPENVPN_KEYS/$CN.crt"
	exit
fi

# Enter the easy-rsa directory and establish the default variables
cd $OPENVPN_RSA_DIR
source ./vars > /dev/null

# Copied from build-key script (to ensure it works!)
export EASY_RSA="${EASY_RSA:-.}"
"$EASY_RSA/pkitool" --batch $CN

# Take the new cert and place it somewhere it can be downloaded securely
zip -q $KEY_DOWNLOAD_PATH/$CN-`date +%d%m%y`.zip keys/$CN.crt keys/$CN.key keys/ca.crt

# Celebrate!
echo ""
echo "#############################################################"
echo "COMPLETE! Download the new certificate here:"
echo "https://domain.com/secure/$CN-`date +%d%m%y`.zip"
echo "#############################################################"

I get this error message:
"Please edit the vars script to reflect your configuration,
then source it with "source ./vars".
Next, to start with a fresh PKI configuration and to delete any
previous certificates and keys, run "./clean-all".
Finally, you can run this tool (pkitool) to build certificates/keys."

Is there anyway I can run this in root?

I get this error message: "Please edit the vars script to reflect your configuration, then source it with "source ./vars". Next, to start with a fresh PKI configuration and to delete any previous certificates and keys, run "./clean-all". Finally, you can run this tool (pkitool) to build certificates/keys."

Is there anyway I can run this in root?

It sounds like you have to set up Easy-RSA. I would follow this tutorial by digital ocean, and it helped me get started with using Easy-RSA.

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-and-configure-a-certificate-authority-ca-on-ubuntu-20-04