Dell Netextender VPN client - OpenSUSE 13.2 cannot connect

English Network/Internet
1

Hi

I’m having an issue connecting to NetExtender with OpenSUSE.

I am using a recent version - NetExtender.Linux.7.5.771.

It works in Debian Stable and Kubuntu 14.04/14.10 ‘out the box’ and due to the fact I cannot connect with openSUSE I am having to keep a copy of kubuntu just to connect to work…

It errors during install ->

./install 
--- Dell SonicWALL NetExtender 7.5.771 Installer ---
Checking library dependencies...
Checking pppd...
  Do you want non-root users to be able to run NetExtender?
  If so, I can set pppd to run as root, but this could be 
  considered a security risk.

  Set pppd to run as root [y/N]? y
mode of ‘/usr/sbin/pppd’ changed from 0755 (rwxr-xr-x) to 4755 (rwsr-xr-x)
mode of ‘/usr/sbin/pppd’ retained as 4755 (rwsr-xr-x)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp’ changed from 0750 (rwxr-x---) to 0755 (rwxr-xr-x)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers’ retained as 0755 (rwxr-xr-x)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers/pptp’ retained as 0644 (rw-r--r--)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers/pppoatm’ retained as 0644 (rw-r--r--)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers/pppoe’ retained as 0644 (rw-r--r--)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers/pppoe-rp’ retained as 0644 (rw-r--r--)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers/ppp’ retained as 0644 (rw-r--r--)
mode of ‘/etc/ppp/peers’ retained as 0755 (rwxr-xr-x)
Copying files...
chmod: cannot access ‘/etc/ppp/ip-up’: No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access ‘/etc/ppp/ip-down’: No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access ‘/etc/ppp/ipv6-up’: No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access ‘/etc/ppp/ipv6-down’: No such file or directory

------------------------ INSTALLATION SUCCESSFUL -----------------------

To launch NetExtender, do one of the following:

  1. Click the NetExtender icon under the Applications menu
     (look under the 'Internet' or 'Network' category)
     or
  2. Type 'netExtenderGui'

When I connect it NEVER completes the tunnel… (I have replaced the IP BTW)

netExtenderGui
2014-11-30 22:41:17 GMT INFO com.sonicwall.NetExtender Logging initialized.
2014-11-30 22:41:18 GMT INFO com.sonicwall.NetExtender NetExtender version 7.5.771
Making a global reference ot the NetExtenderControl object registered with JNI
NetExtender for Linux - Version 7.5.771
Dell SonicWALL
Copyright (c) 2014 Dell

2014-11-30 22:41:18 GMT INFO com.sonicwall.gui.PreferencesDialog createLogPanel()
JNI: setDestination:Setting Destination: x.x.x.x (port 443)
JNI: LaunchNX: mypid = 2337
JNI: LaunchNX: Launching NetExtender2
JNI: LaunchNX: Using destination IP x.x.x.x
JNI: LaunchNX: launching NX

Connecting to x.x.x.x:443...
User choose to 'Always Trust' certificate
Saving profiles/preferences...
Done saving profiles/preferences
Connected.
Logging in...
Authentication failure: Authentication failed.
SSL VPN logging out...
Logout command failed
SSL VPN connection is terminated.
Exiting NetExtender client
JNI: LaunchNX: Exiting LaunchNX, returning (1)
2014-11-30 22:42:19 GMT INFO com.sonicwall.gui.NetExtenderRootPanel Authentication failed.
JNI: setDestination:Setting Destination: x.x.x.x (port 443)
JNI: LaunchNX: mypid = 2337
JNI: LaunchNX: Launching NetExtender2
JNI: LaunchNX: Using destination IP x.x.x.x
JNI: LaunchNX: launching NX

Connecting to x.x.x.x:443...
Connected.
Logging in...
Login successful.
failed to retrieve epc agent version
SSL Connection is ready
Using SSL Encryption Cipher 'RC4-SHA'                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Using new PPP frame encoding mechanism                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Using PPP async mode (chosen by server)                                                                                                                                                                                                      
Connecting tunnel...

I have also tried creating the /etc/ppp/ip-up , etc (blank) files that the installer complains about and reinstalling -> still get the same issue

Anyone able to run this on 13.2 - my user is in dialout group if that helps?

2

Anyone else using this VPN software?

Looks like VPN applications are a weak point for openSUSE

We also have another VPN to anotherDC, this one uses Kerio control client

http://www.kerio.com/support/kerio-control

  • this one officially only supports Ubuntu (in terms of Linux support)

So out of 2 different VPN types i’m unable to use 100% of them with OpenSUSE, 100% work with Ubuntu. Debian 50%…

I can see that Netextender has previously worked (with tweaks)

http://usrlocalbin.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/seems-stable-version-of-sonicwalls.html

3

I use OpenVPN with 100% success rate.

It seems the reason is the VPN application you are using relies on old style ifup files like /etc/ppp/ip-up which are no longer used on 13.2 (due to change from traditional if-up to wicked), they are however still used on 13.1. If I were to make an educated guess, the kerio does as well.

4

Yeah openVPN is great - however my company is not using that…

Tested on Fedora 21 (workstation) - also works ‘out the box’

Any ideas how what I can do (i.e copy files off FC21/kubuntu ?) to get this to work in opensuse ?

found this - http://usrlocalbin.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/seems-stable-version-of-sonicwalls.html

→ also didn’t help…

regards

5

Well, if this is the case, anybody have any type of a resolution to this? If I could make the regular NetExtender Client work with OpenSuSE it would make things way easier for me. Currently I’m running the client on my Windows VM and connecting that way.

6

My resolution to this was to no longer run OpenSUSE as my main desktop ( which is a shame)

Fedora21, Debian Stable, Neptune OS, Kubuntu/Ubuntu 14.04/14.10 / Mint 17 all work out the box.

In fact its only openSuse and Arch I cannot get it to work with.

I would love to be able to connect with opensuse.

7

In theory you could copy the files from 13.1, or you could just - you know - run 13.1 which still has the old if-up interface.

8

Hi,
I have a simple solution: I take the scripts ip-down, ip-up, ipv6-down and ipv6-up from the 13.1er version and put in /etc/ppp before you install netExtender. It’s works fine!

Christoph

9

This worked like a charm. Thank you for the solution!

I was encountering the issue under openSuse 42.1, copying the scripts from the mentioned package has resolved the problem.

You can find the desired package here: https://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/opensuse/13.1/x86_64/sysconfig-network-0.81.5-3.1.x86_64.html