Ubuntu: Cisco VPN Client installation on Intrepid

Cisco VPN client for Linux installation doesn't happen out-of-the-box. There is plugin of VPNC which gets integrated with NetworkManager of Ubuntu but I didn't focus on that. Maybe somebody would like to guide the steps for it. I investigated a little and found bunch of articles / blog post about VPN issue. Some of the articles needs an update. Following steps will get VPN client working on Ubuntu Intrepid and use certificate based authentication to connect. First get the distribution of VPNClient for Linux. This distribution is valid for 32-bit as well 64-bit installations.

wget http://tuxx-home.at/vpn/Linux/vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz
tar -xvzf  vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz
cd vpnclient
sudo ./vpn_install

This command should result in similar output below:

Cisco Systems VPN Client Version 4.8.01 (0640) Linux Installer
Copyright (C) 1998-2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By installing this product you agree that you have read the
license.txt file (The VPN Client license) and will comply with
its terms.

Directory where binaries will be installed [/usr/local/bin]

Automatically start the VPN service at boot time [yes]

In order to build the VPN kernel module, you must have the
kernel headers for the version of the kernel you are running.

Directory containing linux kernel source code [/lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/build]

* Binaries will be installed in "/usr/local/bin".
* Modules will be installed in "/lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/CiscoVPN".
* The VPN service will be started AUTOMATICALLY at boot time.
* Kernel source from "/lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/build" will be used to build
the module.

Is the above correct [y]

Making module
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/sachin/vpnsandbox/vpnclient
modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic'
CC [M]  /home/sachin/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.o
In file included from /home/sachin/vpnclient/Cniapi.h:15,
from /home/sachin/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.c:31:
/home/sachin/vpnclient/GenDefs.h:113: error: conflicting types for ‘uintptr_t’
include/linux/types.h:40: error: previous declaration of ‘uintptr_t’ was here
make[2]: *** [/home/sachin/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/sachin/vpnclient] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic'
make: *** [default] Error 2
Failed to make module "cisco_ipsec.ko".

To get around this error you need to patch couple of files in the existing source. Download the patch and apply it.

wget http://projects.tuxx-home.at/ciscovpn/patches/vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
patch < ./vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

After successful patch of the files you can go ahead to the install procedure again -

sudo ./vpn_install

You can see all files getting compiled successfully. If it is successful you will see a message like below -

* You must run "/etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start" before using the client.
* This script will be run AUTOMATICALLY every time you reboot your computer.

Now you can copy your vpn configuration files (*.pcf) in /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles folder and you can start connecting the vpn network using command -

vpnclient connect

If you want to use certificate based authentication for the connection then following do following operation.

sudo cisco_cert_mgr -U -op import

This will ask you for the certificate file location and password for the file if required. Enter the passwords for importing certificates if required and try with connection.

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