UNC Linux Users Group

[Tom Roche <Tom_Roche AT unc.edu>]

Joel J. Adamson Thu Apr 1 12:53:10 EDT 2010
> I connected to the VPN using vpnc on Fedora 12 with no problems and
> minimal setup.

Kelkar, Hemant Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 1:44 PM
> I used the vpnc client included in Ubuntu.

Thanks! Indeed, installing/configuring vpnc was easy, and much easier
than installing the ITS-provided Cisco client on my 64-bit ubuntu
karmic, which apparently involves patching/recompiling the kernel :-(
I'll post the procedure here for the benefit of the next person, and
in order to point ITS @ this page, in the hope that they'll redo their
doc to more resemble the very helpful

http://www.cs.umn.edu/help/offsite/vpn.php#ubuntu

1 Check for vpnc, install if necessary:

* check: click on the Network Manager panel icon and choose 

VPN Connections>Configure VPN

  If you don't see either menu options, you need to install vpnc.
  If you do see both menu options, and you get a dialog in response,
  but that dialog lacks a button=Add, you need to install vpnc.

* install: do

$ sudo aptitude update
$ sudo aptitude -y install network-manager-vpnc vpnc

2 Add connection for UNC:

* click on the Network Manager panel icon and choose

VPN Connections>Configure VPN

  then hit button=Add

* in resulting dialog, choose default VPN="Cisco Compatible VPN (vpnc)",
  hit button="Create..."

3 Enter connection details into resulting dialog. You may find the
  more detailed information in

https://help.unc.edu/3081

  useful, but entering the following subset worked for me. "<null>" means 
enter
  nothing, "<your ONYEN id>" is ... you guessed.

arbitrary: following is what I used, you can probably choose your own
Name="UNC VPN" (or other name of your choice)

verbatim: the following values probably must be used
Gateway="vpn.unc.edu"
Group name="UNCCampus"
User password=<null> type pulldown=Always Ask
Group password="tarheel" type pulldown=Saved
User name=<your ONYEN id>

for rest, take defaults

  and hit button=Apply

* back to tab=VPN in dialog=Network Connections, hit button=Close

4 Test VPN connection.

* click on panel icon for Network Manager>VPN Connections>UNC VPN
  (or name you used)

* get seahorse dialog:

> Allow application access to keyring?

> The application 'nm-vpnc-auth-dialog'
> (/usr/lib/network-manager-vpnc/nm-vpnc-auth-dialog) wants to access
> the password for 'VPN group-password secret for UNC VPN/
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc/vpn' in the default keyring

  hit button="Always Allow"

* get dialog to authenticate, enter ONYEN pw

  You should get a success message from Network Manager.

* test VPNing to your resource, e.g.

me@it:~$ ssh -Y me AT topsail.unc.edu

In subsequent usage, just do

Network Manager>VPN Connections>UNC VPN

and enter your ONYEN pw in response to the resulting challenge.

FWIW, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche AT pobox.com>