Cisco compatible VPN

General system Applications
1

Hi there, I am quite new to ArchLinux distros. Have worked with them now for almost a year. Now the necessity occurred that I need to setup a VPN network. However I can’t find the option for Cisco compatible networks here in EndeavourOS and can’t find the right package to install the Cisco AnyConnect AUR package from the ArchAUR packages. Anyone familiar with those problems?

On another machine where I have this package installed from the past, I can start to configure the VPN connection but I can’t save it when I use Cisco compatible networks. Also can’t find any topic about this on the internet regarding this problem. So maybe it’s just me who does something wrong. Any suggestions?

2 
$ yay -Ss anyconnect
aur/cisco-anyconnect-runit 4.9.05042-1 (+0 0.00) 
    runit service script for cisco-anyconnect
aur/openconnect-git 8.10.r753.gb0e53bfa-1 (+10 0.03) 
    Open client for Cisco AnyConnect VPN
aur/cisco-anyconnect 4.9.05042-1 (+10 0.95) (Orphaned) (Out-of-date: 2021-04-21) 
    Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
extra/openconnect 1:8.20-2 (816.5 KiB 3.6 MiB) (Installed)
    Open client for Cisco AnyConnect VPN

$ pacman -Ss openconnect
extra/networkmanager-openconnect 1.2.8-1 [installed]
    NetworkManager VPN plugin for OpenConnect
extra/openconnect 1:8.20-2 [installed]
    Open client for Cisco AnyConnect VPN
...

That would seem to be the packages you’re looking for?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?search=anyconnect&title=Special%3ASearch&wprov=acrw1 also leads to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/OpenConnect

3

Hi ChriZ,
welcome to the EOS community.
you have try the OpenConnect package? it’s a client for Cisco’s AnyConnect SSL VPN.

4

Thanks @jonathon and @pycrk for the fast response.

Seems the packages are there, but when I try to create a new VPN connection, in the drop down menu appears only the “Open VPN” option and not any other protocols.

5

Also, when I try to create the connection with the open VPN option, after I filled out the credentials, I can’t save the connection, the save button option just stays not clickable.

6

which packages you have installed?

7

extra/networkmanager-openconnect 1.2.8-1 [installed]
NetworkManager VPN plugin for OpenConnect
extra/openconnect 1:8.20-1 [installed]
Open client for Cisco AnyConnect VPN
community/globalprotect-openconnect 1.4.1-1
A GlobalProtect VPN GUI client based on Openconnect and built with Qt5, supports SAML auth mode

8

image

This is the situation when I use the GUI, by choosing openVPN from the drop down. If I put in credentials (valid ones not like this) I can’t hit the save button. And in the new installation of EOS the only option to pick a VPN connection is the openVPN, whereas in the older version I still have the other options available but there I can’t save the credentials either.

I found out just today when I had to renew my password for the VPN of my company and could not enter it manually. A colleague of mine who also uses an ArchLinux distro, said that this problem occurred to him last week, so it is kind of new.

9

This is a different issue, and possibly due to a recent update of Network Manager (which has broken older plugins). You have the correct packages installed already so don’t start making other changes to try and fix this.

To confirm this is the issue you can downgrade networkmanager and see what happens when you have an older version installed.

10

@jonathon thanks a lot. I will see if it makes sense for me to downgrade. I made a script and use the vpnc command to connect to the VPN. I just couldn’t find any solution for the situation with the network manager and reached out for help to this amazing community.

Just a shout out to anyone who is involved in any way with the EOS distro, it is incredibly amazing!!! Best Linux distro I have ever seen! You guys rock!

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