[Techtalk] stuck setting up vpn

[mgmonza at iceland.freeshell.org]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2022, SH via Techtalk wrote:
Hi,

Thank you for replying.

It's just timidity on my part at this point: the host system is an antique 
unix setup that evolved out of a bboard in the 1980s, run by a cranky nerd 
initially and a mysterious group of almost as reticent more recent nerds. 
It has almost no official tech support.  Sporadic help is provided by 
other users, but most were or are currently employed in fairly advanced 
tech jobs and can be as adverse to simple how-to questions.  The system's 
unofficial motto (and my terminal session's title) is "We're not some f**g 
hipster curiosity" - a quote from the cranky nerd.

For most things, support wasn't a problem but I've been out of current 
technology long enough that I've become shy about taking on anything I 
haven't done before.  OpenVPN is one of them.  I had no problem setting up 
PPTP vpn at my last tech job twelve years ago, but with this system there 
are too many unknowns and no way to resolve them.

Your reply is another nudge in the 'just go ahead and jump into OpenVPN' 
direction. After all, one upside of retirement is being able to dedicate 
as much time as I want to solving anything. (The downside is being out of 
an environment where this stuff was just part of the background).

MG

> Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 21:50:40 +0200
> From: SH via Techtalk <techtalk at linuxchix.org>
> Reply-To: SH <s23ad at yahoo.com.au>
> To: techtalk at linuxchix.org
> Subject: Re: [Techtalk] stuck setting up vpn
> 
> Hello,
>
> I'm not an expert on PPTP so can't really help. But out of curiosity, is 
> there any reason why OpenVPN client can’t be used for this connection? 
> Especially since a .ovpn file is being provided?
>
> Kind regards,
> SH
>
> mgmonza at sverige.sdf.org wrote on 24/3/22 15:22:
>> Hello, all,
>> 
>> Even though this list hasn't been active in a while, I thought I'd give 
>> this a shot just in case anyone might be able to help.
>> 
>> I just registered for a vpn but can't get it to connect.  It may be that 
>> this just doens't work server-side:  it's a volunteer, very old linux 
>> organization with somewhat spotty support.  If not, I was hoping someone 
>> on this list could see something I'm missing.
>> 
>> I followed their directions to do these steps:
>> 
>> - created theirpptp file in /etc/ppp/peers
>> 
>> - edited the /etc/ppp/chap-secrets file to add their vpn address and my 
>> password that had been generated by the setup process on the server side
>> 
>> - added a route to the vpn using 'route add'
>> 
>> in sheer desperation, added this from a redhat specific page:
>> - modprobe nf_conntrack_pptp
>> 
>> but when I tried the next step:
>> 
>> sudo pppd call theirpptp
>> 
>> the connection closed immediately
>> 
>> pinging and traceroute to their vpn work fine.
>> 
>> I'm on a redhat/CentOS platform with selinux and tried this with setenforce 
>> on and off.  No difference.
>> 
>> varions system error messages are:
>> 
>> The synchronous pptp option is NOT activated
>> warn[open_inetsock:pppt_callmgr.c:329]: connect:  Connection refused
>> 
>> fatal[callmgr_main:pptp_callmg.c:127]: Could not open control conection to 
>> xxx.xxx.xx.x
>> 
>> One other question:  where should the .ovpn file be saved so that it can 
>> be found by the programs that need it?
>> 
>> Any help would be very much appreciated.
>> 
>> MG
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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