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Getting Ubuntu Linux to connect to a PPTP Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrator
Getting Ubuntu Linux to connect to a PPTP
Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrator
Setting up a connection to a PPTP VPN
under Ubuntu 7.10 or Ubuntu 8.04 is normally pretty easy. I'm creating this
quick notes page for folks that may encounter the same problems I did, especial
connecting to a Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrator. In most cases all you have to do to
get a PPTP VPN working in Ubuntu Linux is install the network-manager-pptp
package and its dependences. After installing network-manager-pptp, either
reboot or restart the Network Manager app with the following commands:
Once the Network Manager app is
restarted setting up a PPTP VPN connection is pretty straight forward and
obvious:
However, you may get weird errors when you try to connect to certain odd PPTP
VPNs like the Cisco 3000, and the connection will fail. The GUI error message
may read:
VPN Connect Failure
Could not start the VPN connection 'Work VPN' due to a connection error.
VPN Connection failed
Not real helpful huh? If you look in your syslog and messages files you may
get errors logged like the following:
adrian@hastor:~$
tail /var/log/syslog
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.ppp_starter'
signaled state change 3 -> 5.
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor pppd[5853]: Terminating on signal 15
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.ppp_starter'
signaled state change 5 -> 6.
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor pppd[5853]: Child process /usr/sbin/pptp
192.168.1.2 --nolaunchpppd (pid 5855) terminated with signal 15
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor NetworkManager: <WARN>
nm_vpn_service_stop_connection(): (VPN Service
org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.ppp_starter): could not stop connection
'Work VPN' because service was 6.
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor pppd[5853]: Modem hangup
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor pppd[5853]: Connection terminated.
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor pppd[5853]: Exit.
Apr 7 19:23:29 hastor NetworkManager: <debug> [1207610609.265758]
nm_dbus_signal_filter(): NetworkManagerInfo triggered update of VPN
connection 'Work VPN'
Apr 7 19:23:38 hastor kernel: [ 131.090874] ACPI: EC: non-query
interrupt received, switching to interrupt mode
adrian@hastor:~$
Luckily, my online buddy Papa Joe
figured out the piece we were missing, you have to set the MRU (Maximum Receive
Unit) to 1500 (it's under the PPP options tab when you create the connection).
Also, it's a good idea to require MPPE for security reasons.
After that was done, we had no
problems connecting to a Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrator. Hope these notes help
someone.
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