How-to: VPN into USF's Network with Linux
From SOFTICE
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Synopsis
Students wishing to connect to the SOFTICE cluster remotely must first authenticate to USF's VPN. USF currently provides downloadable clients for Windows and Mac OS X based computers. This page explains how to setup a Linux based client.
Dependencies
- An x86 based processor
- A 2.2.12 or later Linux kernel
- The ability to sudo, or root access
- An Internet connection
Installation
1. Check what kernel you’re running by issuing the uname -a command. You should get something like:
Linux matt-media 2.6.22-14-generic #1 SMP Tue Dec 18 05:28:27 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux
2. Download a copy of Cisco’s VPN client for Linux. If you’re using a 2.6.x kernel, it’s important to use a 4.8.x client. As of the time that this was written, USF did not offer a download from its website, but it's worth checking to see if this has changed at the address below. Otherwise, it may be necessary to contact Data Network Management to obtain a copy.
https://www.net.usf.edu/vpn/
3. Confirm that you have kernel sources installed for your kernel version. Check the /lib/modules/ directory.
4. Download a patch matching your kernel version from http://tuxx-home.at/. I’m running 2.6.22, so I ran:
wget http://tuxx-home.at/projects/cisco-vpnclient/vpnclient-linux-2.6.22.diff
5. Extract Cisco’s VPN client tarball:
tar -xzf vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.00.0490-k9.tar.gz
6. Apply the patch:
cd vpnclient patch -i ../vpnclient-linux-2.6.22.diff
7. Install the VPN client:
sudo ./vpn_install
Configuration
1. Take a backup of a working Cisco VPN client’s configuration. The location below is where these files were located on my Mac OS X system. They’re no doubt located somewhere other than the /private folder in other OSes.
tar -czf cisco-vpnclient.tgz /private/etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient
2. Copy the cisco-vpnclient.tgz tarball that you just created into the /etc/opt/ directory of your Linux system, and unpack it.
sudo tar -xzf cisco-vpnclient.tgz
3. Start the vpnclient service.
sudo /etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start
4. Check the name of your VPN’s profile by listing the contents of the Profiles directory. Your profile’s name will be the name of the the .pcf file, minus the .pcf extension.
ls /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/
Connect to the VPN, using the profile name found above as the last argument.
sudo vpnclient connect “University of South Florida”
That’s it! You should now be prompted to enter your password, and find yourself connected!
