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Re: [OCLUG-Tech] CarletonU VPN?

Thanks Brenda!
Rob




>________________________________
>From: Brenda J. Butler <bjb [ at ] sourcerer [ dot ] ca>
>To: Michael Walma <michael [ at ] walma [ dot ] org>
>Cc: linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca
>Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 3:21:28 PM
>Subject: Re: [OCLUG-Tech] CarletonU VPN?
>
>
>
>
>http://devel.oclug.on.ca/wiki/OneGuysExperienceWithCarletonUniversityVNP2011
>
>I just pasted the text below onto the page.  Feel free to edit it.
>
>bjb
>
>
>On Wed, Oct 05, 2011 at 11:50:29AM -0400, Michael Walma wrote:
>> Quoting "Stephen Gregory" <oclug [ at ] kernelpanic [ dot ] ca>:
>> 
>> > On 04/10/11 04:42 PM, Michael Walma wrote:
>> >
>> >>> My wife needs access applications through the Carleton University VPN.
>> >>> The documentation I've seen suggests that one would use a Cisco VPN
>> >
>> >> Thanks Singer, I did exactly this and it worked just fine.
>> >
>> > This VPN question gets asked every other year. Could you do a quick
>> > write up of what you did and add it to oclug wiki? I am guessing that
>> > most important bit is how to get the PCF file and any Carleton specific
>> > stuff.
>> >
>> > --
>> > sg
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Linux mailing list
>> > Linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca
>> > http://oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/linux
>> >
>> 
>> I'd be happy to do so, if someone would create an empty page in the  
>> right place, I would populate it, with the following:
>> 
>> 1.  Use your distro's package manager to install 'vpnc'.
>> 
>> 2.  Download the WindowsXP CISCO client from the website provided by  
>> Carleton, using the username and password supplied by Carleton.  The  
>> file is a self-extracting ZIP file with an .exe extension.
>> 
>> 3.  Use 'unzip' to extract the files to a handy directory.  Look for  
>> the ".pcf" file, in my case, it was "CarletonIntranetVPN.pcf".  Using  
>> information from that file, you will need to populate the vpnc config  
>> file.  In Ubuntu Natty, that is "/etc/vpnc/default.conf". (Ubuntu  
>> created an 'example.conf' that you can copy and edit.  Other distros  
>> may do similar or different things.)  Copy  the values for the fields  
>> "Host" and "GroupName" in the .pcf file to the "IPSec gateway" and  
>> "IPSec ID" fields of the vpnc config file.   For the "Xauth username"  
>> and "Xauth password" fields, use the information supplied to you by  
>> Carleton, the same info as you used to download the Windows client  
>> from the Carleton web site.
>> 
>> 4.  The "IPSec secret" field is the only slightly tricky bit.  The  
>> .pcf will include a hash of the required value in the "enc_GroupPwd"  
>> field, but vpnc needs the unhashed value.  Luckily, this hash can be  
>> decoded easily, and there is a web page that will do it for you:
>> 
>> http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode
>> 
>> Decode the value of the "enc_GroupPwd" of the .pcf file and use that  
>> for the "IPSec secret" field in the vpnc config file.  I understand  
>> that you can install a utility (it may even be a part of the vpnc  
>> package) to do the decoding locally if you prefer.
>> 
>> 5.  You are good to go.  Use some variant of 'sudo vpnc-connect' to  
>> connect (root privileges are required) and 'sudo vpnc-disconnect' to  
>> disconnect.  These commands will build the connection, create the  
>> /dev/tun0 device, modify the routing tables properly and then tear it  
>> all down again afterward.  There are also KDE and Gnome helper apps,  
>> but I did not investigate or install them.
>> 
>> Caveats:
>> 
>> 1.  The tiny bit of investigation I did suggested that the routing  
>> table changes were clever enough to keep the local subnet traffic  
>> routed locally, but all other traffic would be routed through the vpn.  
>>   I understand that you can do more clever routing so that you could  
>> keep, say, your web surfing, through your own connection while still  
>> routing other traffic through the vpn, but I have not investigated this.
>> 
>> 2.  The Carleton set-up seems to use password-based authentication.  
>> Superficial googling suggests that vpnc may not work so well if  
>> certificate-based authentication is required.  I have not investigated.
>> 
>> 3.  The command-line approach described here may wreak havoc or  
>> otherwise not work with boxes running networkmanager's.  My box  
>> doesn't, so I don't know.  Installing and using the helper apps I  
>> alluded to might help in this respect.
>> 
>> 4.  Your mileage may vary.
>> 
>> Credits:  I used the following general guide from Linux Planet:
>> 
>> http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6773/1
>> 
>> Thanks also to Singer for the encouragement to 'just do it.'
>> 
>> Hoping this helps,
>> 
>> Michael
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Linux [ at ] lists [ dot ] oclug [ dot ] on [ dot ] ca
>> http://oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/linux
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