Connecting Linux to a Cisco VPN server using a PCF file is easy (even from within a VirtualBox virtual machine). First, I wouldn’t bother with Cisco’s Linux client… especially if you are running 64bit. You have to patch a source file and mod the Makefile. Using VPNC is so much easier.
NOTE: I only had the PCF file provided by work, and the group password was encrypted. If you know your group password, then you can just run VPNC directly or write a conf file yourself.
My setup:
- Fedora 12 x86_64
- Running in VirtualBox 4.1.6 with bridged networking (I didn’t try it with NAT)
- Connecting to a Cisco VPN server at work
Connecting:
- Install VPNC (`
sudo yum install vpnc` in Fedora) - Download the pcf2vpnc Perl script (cached)
- Convert your Cisco PCF file to VPNC conf format: `
perl pcf2vpnc company.pcf vpnc.conf` - Connect to the VPN server: `
sudo vpnc ./vpnc.conf` (you will be prompted for you username and password) - (optional) Run
`ifconfig` to see the tunnel interface that was created
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 08:00:DE:AD:BE:EF inet addr:192.168.1.10 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 ... lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 ... tun0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 inet addr:10.200.100.1 P-t-P:10.220.116.219 Mask:255.255.255.255 ...
Disconnecting:
- Run `
sudo vpnc-disconnect` (don’t forget the `sudo`)
That’s it. Cheers!
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kvpnc (the KDE frontend for vpnc) will import/convert pcf files for you (as well as several other formats).
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