Arun's Blog

Hi,

I've had Ubuntu 7.10 with Cisco VPN Client up and running. It was somewhat difficult to set up but I managed with this tutorial (http://www.longren.org/2007/05/17/how-to-cisco-vpn-client-on-ubuntu-704-feisty-fawn/). Yesterday I've upgraded my distro from 7.10 to 8.0.4 and VPN Client stopped working. I knew this might happen because this is not my first upgrade... Tried several ways to make it work again but with no success.
Today I stumbled with your tutorial but, like others, you use this option:

Directory containing linux kernel source code [/lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build]

I don't have a build folder!!! Tried to simlink it to /usr/src/ but with no success either...

Any ideias?!?!? A clean Ubuntu 8.0.4 install is not an option for me, to much work...

Thanks,
Pedro

I should have posted my message earlier!!! I'VE GOT IT.... So stupid!!! I was missing linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic... Only when I posted the previous message that I checked with dpkg If that package was installed... You can guess the answer!!!
Works like a charm...

Thanks,
Pedro

Thanks for the information, saved me some frustration!

thanks a lot!!!!

Thanks! this was just what I needed. I was in the right area (interceptor.c) but was not a skilled enough kernel hacker to fix it myself. thanks.

BTW - I did get the Cisco VPN to work with firestarter by opening up the input and output chains to the company class b subnet, e.g.:

iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -s xxx.xxx.0.0/16 -p all
iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -s xxx.xxx.0.0/16 -p all

where xxx.xxx is the company internal subnet.

not pretty, and probably not the most secure arrangement, but with the cisco VPN client running the machine presents no open ports or ping response to the local net, so it probably is ok, i would guess.

r.

I tried the same thing you did but to no avail. I'm running the 64-bit version of 8.04. Could that be the reason? Which version are you running?

Hey, this was a life saver. Thanks a million.

This did not work for me.

vpnclient$ patch < ./vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
patching file GenDefs.h
patching file interceptor.c
Hunk #1 succeeded at 24 (offset -4 lines).
Hunk #2 succeeded at 48 (offset -4 lines).
Hunk #3 FAILED at 107.
Hunk #4 succeeded at 123 (offset -23 lines).
Hunk #5 FAILED at 350.
Hunk #6 succeeded at 849 (offset -86 lines).
Hunk #7 succeeded at 891 (offset -86 lines).
2 out of 7 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file interceptor.c.rej

Any ideas?

That was it. I was using an older version from my company's internal download site. I'm up and running again. thx.

Hi,
I have also installed Ubuntu 8.0 (LTS Desktop on by IBM T43 laptop). I alaso faced he exact same errors as what you have stated & went through the steps that you have posted,. But even after that I am facing the below errors:

prabhat@pubs:~/cisco applications/vpnclient$ su
Password:
root@pubs:/home/prabhat/cisco applications/vpnclient# ./vpn_install
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/2.6.24-16-generic/build]

* Binaries will be installed in «/usr/local/bin».
* Modules will be installed in «/lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/CiscoVPN».
* The VPN service will be started AUTOMATICALLY at boot time.
* Kernel source from «/lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build» will be used to build the module.

Is the above correct [y]

Making module
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/prabhat/cisco applications/vpnclient modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `applications/vpnclient'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic'
make: *** [default] Error 2
Failed to make module «cisco_ipsec.ko».

Face it....it's busted.

Yes Arun. I am getting the same errors even after the patch. Here let me paste the steps once more:

prabhat@pubs:~/cisco applications/abc/vpnclient$ patch < vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
patching file GenDefs.h
patching file interceptor.c
prabhat@pubs:~/cisco applications/abc/vpnclient$
prabhat@pubs:~/cisco applications/abc/vpnclient$ sudo ./vpn_install
[sudo] password for prabhat:
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/2.6.24-16-generic/build]

* Binaries will be installed in «/usr/local/bin».
* Modules will be installed in «/lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/CiscoVPN».
* The VPN service will be started AUTOMATICALLY at boot time.
* Kernel source from «/lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build» will be used to build the module.

Is the above correct [y]

Making module
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/prabhat/cisco applications/abc/vpnclient modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `applications/abc/vpnclient'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic'
make: *** [default] Error 2
Failed to make module «cisco_ipsec.ko».

I'm also facing the same issue. If you guys figured out how to get vpn installed please mail me at sandeep048@gmail.com

HI, i followed directions for 8.04 and installed successfully, now im having an issue with computer crashing after about 10-15 min of use of vpn connect + rdesktop.

anyone else experiencing this issue?

There are a couple extra steps that have to be done prior to the steps in this article:

1) Change CFLAGS to EXTRA_CFLAGS in Makefile

2) wget -q http://projects.tuxx-home.at/ciscovpn/patches/cisco_skbuff_offset
patch < ../cisco_skbuff_offset

Then

patch <../vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
./vpn_install

ill try that out also, and see if it still causes the crashing. skramstad is that command in number 2) what chances CFLAGS to EXTRA_CFLAGS ?? or that is still an aditional step

i didn't get what this command will do.

«wget -q http://projects.tuxx-home.at/ciscovpn/patches/cisco_skbuff_offset.patch < ../cisco_skbuff_offset»

I have got vpnc working and will figure out this issue in free time.

VPNC doesnt seem to authenticate for me =/

Hi Omar,
How do you generate passwords for vpnc. Did you run pcf2vpnc script to generate the required conf files.

Thanks
Sandeep

I just typed them in as plain text in the conf file, well for the group Password, and the user password i typed manually at the prompt, and after that it failed to authenticate,
no i havent tried pcf2vpnc either, is that a seperate package needed to be installed?? i didnt see it anywhere

Hi Arun, Just wanted to say 'thank you' for the information your provided here. You put in effort to document your work and it has really helped me and I am sure others. Thanks very much for the selflessness of your work. Rgds, Vijay

Hey Arun,
Just wanted to say thanks a bunch for the instruction. Upgraged to 8.04 over the weekend and just checked that it would boot and open a browser. Got up this morning and couldn't connect VPN. Uninstalled and re-installed a couple of times this afternoon to no avail and right before I thought about blowing the whole thing away, I came across your instructions. Saved me a couple of hours (and some additional gray hairs). Works like a charn.

I'm also seeing kernel crashes while using the cisco_ipsec module under 2.6.24-18-generic i686. It seems to happen most reliably when I'm doing simultaneous traffic both over the VPN connection and externally.

I'll give skramstad's suggestions a try and see if that fixes it.

yeah, 2.6.24-18-generic i686 is giving me the same result, tried it under 16, and 17 also

Just had another crash - skramstad's patch didn't fix the issue.

I have found the need to recompile the modules for VMware after kernel updates as well. At this point, I'm seeing something like this as quite normal given the interaction required with the kernel.

ok, anyone tried 19 kernel ?/ i'll do it again at some point. *crosses fingers*

I can connect with it using the 19 kernel. I am having a problem with Evolution, but I don't know if it has to do with the VPN.

I'm getting complete lockups as well when using my patched vpnclient. It'll work for a while, but I'll always end up with a kernel panic or whatever at some point. (When not using vpnclient things are always stable.) I'm on an hp compaq 6910p kernel: 2.6.24-18-generic

Is there something else I can try to get this to work? I can't have the computer locking up like this when trying to vpn.