Advice on setting up a VPN client (Xubuntu)

[Ric_]

I'm running Xubuntu on a HP nc8000 laptop and I want to set up a VPN into work (although the reason that I needed to do this escapes me cos I've been arsing about with it for so long!).

 

I have followed the instructions on setting up a PPTP VPN client from the Ubuntu forums and have also seen the exact same instructions elsewhere on the web. They all say that it should just work! (see http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/howto-ubuntu.phtml for example).

 

I cannot see anything untoward in the output (even in debugging mode). The standard output follows:

Using interface ppp0pptpconfig: monitoring interface ppp0

 

Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1

CHAP authentication succeeded

MPPE 128-bit stateless compression enabled

Cannot determine ethernet address for proxy ARP

local IP address 10.187.4.30

remote IP address 212.219.207.52

pptpconfig: pppd process exit status 0 (started)

ip route replace 212.219.207.52 via 80.192.176.1 dev eth0 src 80.192.180.189

ip route add '10.74.4.0/22' dev 'ppp0'

Cannot find device "ppp0"

 

pptpconfig: command failed, exit code 255

pptpconfig: connected

 

Please help!

 

BTW - I'm trying to get into CLEO if that makes any difference

[CyberNerd]

Looks like it can't add a route to ppp0 because ppp0 doesn't exist.

do you have /dev/ppp0 ?

'ls /dev/ppp0'

is pppd installed? running?

[Ric_]

if you monitor the output from ifconfig whilst the connection is initiated, ppp0 is created but then disappears when the connection fails (for obvious reasons).

[CyberNerd]

can you manuallyu add the route when ppp0 is connected

ip route add 10.74.4.0/22 dev ppp0

[Ric_]

i did try that to no avail... will continue having a go.

[Ric_]

OK... a little more success... the options.pptp had some options that were overriding pptpconfig.

 

I have removed that file and now I get the following output with the debug info turned on...

pptpconfig: debug information dump begins

WARNING: security sensitive information follows

pptpconfig 1.12 2006/08/21 06:19:12

# pptp --version

pptp: unrecognized option `--version'

pptp version 1.7.0

Usage:

pptp [] [[--] ]

 

Or using pppd's pty option:

pppd pty "pptp --nolaunchpppd "

 

Available pptp options:

--phone Pass to remote host as phone number

--nolaunchpppd Do not launch pppd, for use as a pppd pty

--quirks Work around a buggy PPTP implementation

Currently recognised values are BEZEQ_ISRAEL only

--debug Run in foreground (for debugging with gdb)

--sync Enable Synchronous HDLC (pppd must use it too)

--timeout Time to wait for reordered packets (0.01 to 10 secs)

--nobuffer Disable packet buffering and reordering completely

--idle-wait Time to wait before sending echo request

--max-echo-wait Time to wait before giving up on lack of reply

--logstring Use instead of 'anon' in syslog messages

--localbind Bind to specified IP address instead of wildcard

--loglevel Sets the debugging level (0=low, 1=default, 2=high)

# pppd --version

pppd version 2.4.4

# uname -a

Linux laptop-hp03 2.6.17-10-generic #2 SMP Tue Dec 5 22:28:26 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

# modinfo ppp_mppe || modinfo ppp_mppe_mppc

filename: /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ppp_mppe.ko

author: Frank Cusack

description: Point-to-Point Protocol Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption support

license: Dual BSD/GPL

alias: ppp-compress-18

version: 1.0.2

vermagic: 2.6.17-10-generic SMP mod_unload 586 REGPARM gcc-4.1

depends: ppp_generic

srcversion: 6B88E623CA7C4D7FE2F11FA

# grep mppe /proc/modules

ppp_mppe 8452 0 - Live 0xe0cda000

ppp_generic 30612 4 ppp_deflate,bsd_comp,ppp_mppe,ppp_async, Live 0xe0d11000

Array

(

[name] => CLEOVPN

[server] => REMOVED FOR SECURITY

[domain] =>

[username] => REMOVED FOR SECURITY

[password] => (hidden by pptpconfig)

[pppd-options] =>

[pptp-options] =>

[resolv] =>

[dns-options] =>

[routing] => routing_all_to_tunnel

[usepeerdns] =>

[require-mppe] => 1

[nomppe-40] =>

[nomppe-128] =>

[refuse-eap] =>

[mppe-stateful] =>

[autostart] =>

[iconify] =>

[persist] =>

[debug] => 1

[client-to-lan] => a:1:{s:12:"10.74.4.0/22";s:6:"Baines";}

)

# route -n (before pppd)

Kernel IP routeing table

Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface

80.192.176.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.248.0 U 0 0 0 eth0

0.0.0.0 80.192.176.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

pptpconfig: debug information dump ends, starting pppd

pppd options in effect:

debug # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

updetach # (from command line)

logfd 1 # (from command line)

linkname CLEOVPN # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

dump # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

noauth # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

name [email protected] # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

remotename CLEOVPN # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

# (from /etc/ppp/options)

pty pptp vpn.cleo.net.uk --nolaunchpppd # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

crtscts # (from /etc/ppp/options)

# (from /etc/ppp/options)

asyncmap 0 # (from /etc/ppp/options)

lcp-echo-failure 4 # (from /etc/ppp/options)

lcp-echo-interval 30 # (from /etc/ppp/options)

hide-password # (from /etc/ppp/options)

ipparam CLEOVPN # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

proxyarp # (from /etc/ppp/options)

require-mppe # (from /etc/ppp/peers/CLEOVPN)

noipx # (from /etc/ppp/options)

using channel 23

Using interface ppp0pptpconfig: monitoring interface ppp0

 

Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1

sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

rcvd [LCP ConfReq id=0x0 ]

sent [LCP ConfAck id=0x0 ]

rcvd [LCP ConfAck id=0x1 ]

sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x0 magic=0x88ae9974]

rcvd [CHAP Challenge id=0x1 <164afe6a184068aeec24b32f3bd8c16c>, name = ""]

sent [CHAP Response id=0x1 <665ab6444594fdd58237ec371bed86c4000000000000000016d8bae705842c9fe1044002c4b0cc4147f099a4d937818900>, name = "[email protected]"]

rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x0 magic=0x0]

rcvd [CHAP Challenge id=0x2 , name = ""]

sent [CHAP Response id=0x2 <1ff169eb55498a9ccd12359e3c97e4a7000000000000000087c814427f482f797feee493d54a9890aee274213f4a478400>, name = "REMOVED FOR SECURITY"]

rcvd [CHAP Success id=0x2 "S=D2880CDA91BFE0A2F85F1D6B0A16EB221927FCAA"]

CHAP authentication succeeded

sent [CCP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

rcvd [iPCP ConfReq id=0x0 ]

sent [iPCP TermAck id=0x0]

rcvd [CCP ConfReq id=0x0 ]

sent [CCP ConfNak id=0x0 ]

rcvd [CCP ConfNak id=0x1 ]

sent [CCP ConfReq id=0x2 ]

rcvd [CCP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

sent [CCP ConfAck id=0x1 ]

rcvd [CCP ConfAck id=0x2 ]

MPPE 128-bit stateless compression enabled

sent [iPCP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

rcvd [iPCP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

sent [iPCP ConfAck id=0x1 ]

sent [iPCP ConfReq id=0x1 ]

rcvd [iPCP ConfRej id=0x1 ]

sent [iPCP ConfReq id=0x2 ]

rcvd [iPCP ConfNak id=0x2 ]

sent [iPCP ConfReq id=0x3 ]

rcvd [iPCP ConfAck id=0x3 ]

Cannot determine ethernet address for proxy ARP

local IP address 10.187.4.111

remote IP address 212.219.207.52

# route -n (after pppd exit)

Kernel IP routeing table

Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface

212.219.207.52 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 ppp0

80.192.176.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.248.0 U 0 0 0 eth0

0.0.0.0 80.192.176.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

pptpconfig: pppd process exit status 0 (started)

ip route replace 212.219.207.52 via 80.192.176.1 dev eth0 src 80.192.180.189

ip route add '10.74.4.0/22' dev 'ppp0'

Cannot find device "ppp0"

 

pptpconfig: command failed, exit code 255

ip route replace default dev 'ppp0'

Cannot find device "ppp0"

 

pptpconfig: command failed, exit code 255

pptpconfig: default route changed to use tunnel

pptpconfig: connected

# route -n (after completion)

Kernel IP routeing table

Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface

212.219.207.52 80.192.176.1 255.255.255.255 UGH 0 0 0 eth0

80.192.176.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.248.0 U 0 0 0 eth0

0.0.0.0 80.192.176.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

pptpconfig: restoring routing and DNS configuration

ip route del 212.219.207.52 via 80.192.176.1 dev eth0 src 80.192.180.189

ip route replace default via 80.192.176.1 dev eth0

pptpconfig: routing and DNS configuration restored

 

Any ideas?

[Geoff]

I have it working here ric. There's a couple of funnies you have to watch for. But anyway here's my config.

 

chap-secrets

@carrhill.lancs.sch.uk PPTP  *
PPTP @carrhill.lancs.sch.uk  *

 

pptp.options

#
# Lock the port
#
lock

#
# We don't need the tunnel server to authenticate itself
#
noauth

#
# Turn off transmission protocols we know won't be used
#
nobsdcomp
nodeflate

#
# PPPD  defaults to stateful mppe. This doesn't work at all with the cleo server
#
mppe stateless

#
# We want a sane mtu/mru
#
mtu 1500
#Setting a mru crashes the cleo vpn connection to the server
#mru 1000

#
# Time this thing out of it goes poof
#
lcp-echo-failure 10
lcp-echo-interval 10

 

Now the gotcha. The vpn server run by cleo is misconfigured. When you connect you'll end up with your default route to the vpn server pointing down the tunnel. This causes an ip loop and it breaks everything horribly. Fix is to setup a static route when your networking comes up.

 

route add -host /32 gw  dev eth0

 

Finally, you'll need to setup the routing you need to access your school(s) network.

 

route add -net /24 dev ppp0

 

remember to delete afterwards in /etc/ppp/ip-down too.

[Ric_]

Right... sorted my problem

 

Something was clearly borked in Xubuntu. I have blitzed the laptop to trial Debian v4 RC1 (Debian being my preferred distro anyway and v4 being a MAJOR release).

 

Anyway... installed the PPTP stuff in exactly the same way and hey presto! It works like a dream