Last updated: April 16th, 2008

General Description

This article contains instructions for connecting to Purdue's VPN using the Cisco VPN client for Linux.

Step by Step Instructions

What is the Cisco VPN Client?

Using the Cisco virtual private networking (VPN) client software is the preferred method for connecting to Purdue’s VPN service. The Cisco VPN Client is prepackaged with all configurations.

The Cisco VPN Client for Linux is only available as a command line interface version. If you currently have a version of the Cisco VPN Client installed, you must stop the VPN service prior to installation with the following command: /etc/rc.d/init.d/vpnclient_init stop.

How to install the Cisco VPN Client

NOTE: In order to build the VPN Client executable, the installer requires the kernel source that was used to build your current running kernel. This version of the VPN client only supports kernel versions 2.4 and 2.6. If you are running a biarch (32/x86_64) kernel, the VPN Client also requires GLIBC_2.2 and libstdc .so.5.

  1. Download the Cisco VPN Client software by clicking the following link:
    2. vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz

  2. Extract the archive with tar -xzvf vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz.

  3. Run the installer script with vpnclient/vpn_install.

  4. Start the VPN Client service by either restarting your computer or running /etc/rc.d/init.d/vpnclient_init start.

  5. Connect using the preconfigured profile with vpnclient connect Purdue.

  6. Enter your career account username and password.

  7. Disconnect the connection with vpnclient disconnect or pressing CTRL C.

Additional information is available at the VPN Client User Guide for Linux on cisco.com.

Troubleshooting

Using the Cisco VPN Client, regardless of operating system, allows multiple users behind the same public IP address to connect simultaneously. Most connection problems with the Cisco VPN Client are caused by NAT environments where the device performing NAT isn't configured to or simply can't handle what's commonly referred to as "VPN passthru". Most newer home routers do handle this properly.