Getting the vpn to work

CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

This note is based on CentOS/RHEL. It should work on Fedora but this hasn't been tested

  1. First you'll need to install Java from Sun's site. I got Java SE runtime 6 update 14, but that last number may have gone up by the time you read this. To install this and add it as a plugin to Firefox:
    $ sudo sh jre-6u14-linux-i586-rpm.bin                          
$ mkdir -p ~/.mozilla/plugins
$ cd ~/.mozilla/plugins
$ ln -s /usr/java/latest/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so .
    For Fedora, there are clear instructions on how to install Java on FC10 and 11 at MJMWired.net
  2. Now install the NCUI rpm below
    $ sudo rpm -i ncui-6.4-0.i386.rpm
  3. You'll also need xterm installed
    $ sudo yum install xterm
  4. Sadly we have to manually create some symlinks
    $ cd
$ mkdir -p ~/.juniper-networks/network_connect
$ cd ~/.juniper-networks/network_connect
$ ln -s /usr/local/nc/ncsvc .
    (This step shouldn't really be necessary but it was for me)

Connecting via the web interface

  1. Connect to the VPN and choose "Network Connect". Enter your root password when promoted

You should now have a working split tunnel. One further kluge necessary for me was to reset the permissions on /etc/resolv.conf as they'd be set to root only:

$ sudo chmod 644 /etc/resolv.conf

After this, you should be able to connect to any York host as if on campus

Using the command line client

/usr/local/nc/ncsvc -h webvpn.york.ac.uk -u <your username> -f webvpn.der -r york_users_realm

(you will be prompted for your password, and the webvpn.der file is below)

Then netstat -rn should show a split tunnel and /etc/resolv.conf should be different as well.

Ubuntu/Debian

Thanks to Paul Elliot for the this section

The current .deb is for x86 only and will not work on AMB64

  1. Install Sun Java plugin:
    From the command line:
    $ sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin
    From the GUI:
    1. Choose System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager
    2. Put 'sun-java6-plugin' without quotes into the search box
    3. Right click on the sun-java6-plugin package and choose 'Mark for Installation' - users may find that it has previously installed in which case step 1 can be skipped.
    4. Click the 'Apply' button.
  2. Install the client software package:
    From the command line:
    $ wget http://clune.org/files/ncui_6.4-1_i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i ncui_6.4-1_i386.deb
    From the GUI:
    1. In Firefox browse to http://clune.org/files/ncui_6.4-1_i386.deb
    2. Choose 'Open with GDebi Package Installer' and click OK
    3. Click the Install Package button
  3. Access the webvpn by browsing to http://webvpn.york.ac.uk or use the command-line client:
    $ cd ~
$ wget http://clune.org/files/webvpn.der
$ /usr/local/nc/ncsvc -h webvpn.york.ac.uk -u  -f webvpn.der -r york_users_realm

Relevant files