This tutorial describes how to configure and setup a PPTP VPN connection in Ubuntu GNU/Linux (currently at version 9.04) using the network manager.
First you will need to install the Ubuntu PPTP VPN package.
One way to do that is to install the Ubuntu network-manager-pptp package with synaptic:
1. Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and open Synaptic.
2. Search for vpn.
3. Mark the package network-manager-pptp for installation.
4. Press the apply button.
Another way is to install the Ubuntu network-manager-pptp package is from the command line:
$ sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp
Now, in order for the installation to take affect, you need to restart the dbus service. You can do that by either restarting your Ubuntu, or a better way is by the following command line:
sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart
How to configure the PPTP VPN connection in Ubuntu Linux:
1. Click on the Network-Manager icon on your desktop bar "Notification Area" (also called system tray on windows). This icon can be in the shape of 2 computer screens in the case of wired connection or the signal strength of the wireless connection in case of wireless connection.
2. Choose VPN Connections > Configure VPN.
3. Press "Add" to add a new connection configuration.
4. On the new "Create VPN Connection" window, choose "Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)" as the VPN connection type and click on the "Create" button.
5. Fill in a name for the new connection. The name can be office, work or anything else. It is there to distinguish between this connection and others which you might want to create in the future, so you can enter whatever you like. The "Gateway" field should be entered the IP address of one our servers that you want to connect. The "User name" and "Password" field are self explanatory. After you have filled them in, click onto the "Advanced" button.
6. On the "Authentication" tab, make sure that all options are marked (this is the default). Afterwards check all of the options below "Security and compression", as well as "Send PPP echo packets". Click on "OK".
Connecting to the configured PPTP VPN server:
1. Click on the Network-Manager icon on your desktop bar's "Notification Area".
2. Choose "VPN Connections" and then choose the VPN connection that you just created.
While ubuntu tries to connect to the VPN server you will see yellow circles around the Network-Manager icon. If the connection is established successfully, you will see a lock sign on the Network-Manager icon. This sign indicates that you are connected to the VPN server.
Disconnecting from an established PPTP VPN connection:
1. Click on the Network-Manager icon on your desktop bar "Notification Area".
2. Choose "VPN Connections" and then choose "Disconnect VPN".
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