Unable to connect PPTP (VPN) over ppp0 - 3G modem (MMX 310G).

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1

I have installed and setup 3G which works perfectly fine. I use sakis3g scripts for connecting to 3G network.

My VPN profile created with network manager (client/NetworkManager GUI) works well.

#cnetworkmanager --activate-connection=user,‘XXXXX_vpn_singapore’,wlan0,&

Now when I do the same with using using ppp0 (which is after connecting to VPN) I get the following error messages.
#cnetworkmanager --activate-connection=user,‘XXXXX_vpn_singapore’,ppp0,&

Device ‘ppp0’ not found
ERROR:dbus.connection:Unable to set arguments (‘org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerUserSettings’, dbus.ObjectPath(’/org/freedesktop/NetworkManagerSettings/1’), None, ‘/’) according to signature u’sooo’: <type ‘exceptions.TypeError’>: Expected a string or unicode object
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/cnetworkmanager”, line 326, in <module>
nm.ActivateConnection(svc, conn, dev, appath)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 139, in adapted_callable
return self.ret(args_adapted_callable(*args, **kwargs))
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 96, in adapted_callable
return callable(*args, **kwargs)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py”, line 140, in call
**keywords)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/connection.py”, line 612, in call_blocking
message.append(signature=signature, *args)
TypeError: Expected a string or unicode object

I tried looking up the device name from network name and get the below entries:

cnetworkmanager --device-info=ttyUSB1
Property | Value
-------------±--------------------------------------
Udi | /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0
Interface | ttyUSB1
Driver | option1
Capabilities | NM_SUPPORTED
State | DISCONNECTED
Managed | True
DeviceType | GSM

Similarly, I tried the following and still see the same error messages:
#cnetworkmanager --activate-connection=user,‘XXXXX_vpn_singapore’,ttyUSB1,&
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/cnetworkmanager”, line 326, in <module>
nm.ActivateConnection(svc, conn, dev, appath)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 139, in adapted_callable
return self.ret(args_adapted_callable(*args, **kwargs))
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 96, in adapted_callable
return callable(*args, **kwargs)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py”, line 140, in call
**keywords)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/connection.py”, line 622, in call_blocking
message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.UnknownDevice: Could not find source connection, or the source connection had no active device.

Is is possible to use {c}NetworkManager with ppp0 as of now ?

Experts please shed some light on this matter, if i am missing anything or is this a known issue. I am more than willing to provide more details if required.

Thanks in advace,
askb

2

Is the ppp0 device created in your system after you connect to 3G?

Could You run

ifconfig

as root to check ?

3

Hi, I remember the ppp0 device gets created every time I connect through the 3G modem. But the problem is (c)networkManager does not recognize the device as ppp0 / ttyUSB1.

Right now I am not in front of my system, so will post the output once I get home.

Thanks in advance.

4

Output of ifconfig:

#/sbin/ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1F:16:97:DF:8D
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:16

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:60526 (59.1 Kb) TX bytes:60526 (59.1 Kb)

ppp0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
inet addr:xxxxxx P-t-P:xxxxxxxxxxx Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3764 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3805 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
RX bytes:3100725 (2.9 Mb) TX bytes:654118 (638.7 Kb)

cnetworkmanager -d
Interface | Type | State
----------±---------±------------
eth0 | ETHERNET | UNAVAILABLE
wlan0 | WIRELESS | DISCONNECTED
ttyUSB3 | GSM | DISCONNECTED

This show the GSM device as disconnected though I am actually connected as ping actually works.

5

Looks preety much healthy. Did you try checking NetworManager logs ?
Enter the following command as root :

tail -f /var/log/NetworkManager

And after that try to connect using ppp0.

Best regards,
Greg

6

I was curious about this topic, did a little checking…
You can correct me if I’m wrong…

cnetmanager looks like a CLI to a not that usual “network manager” which is different than the other Network Managers normally running on OpenSuSE

In particular, I found the interesting comment on NetworkManager - Users
as follows

In NetworkManager land, there are two types of network configuration: “system” and “user”.

The problem you describe could be typical of a “system” configuration, whereas since your VPN connection over a dialup connection is a secondary connection it would have to be a “user” configuration.

A Hail Mary suggestion,
Tony

7

The device ppp0 is being listed as ttyUSB{3,1}, from “cnetworkmanager -d”. However, if i still try the command below is say device not found and nothing ever turns up on the log.

cnetworkmanager --activate-connection=user,‘xxxxx_vpn_singapore’,ppp0,&

[4] 20396
~> Device ‘ppp0’ not found
ERROR:dbus.connection:Unable to set arguments (‘org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerUserSettings’, dbus.ObjectPath(’/org/freedesktop/NetworkManagerSettings/1’), None, ‘/’) according to signature u’sooo’: <type ‘exceptions.TypeError’>: Expected a string or unicode object
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/cnetworkmanager”, line 326, in <module>
nm.ActivateConnection(svc, conn, dev, appath)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 139, in adapted_callable
return self.ret(args_adapted_callable(*args, **kwargs))
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 96, in adapted_callable
return callable(*args, **kwargs)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py”, line 140, in call
**keywords)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/connection.py”, line 612, in call_blocking
message.append(signature=signature, *args)
TypeError: Expected a string or unicode object

Additionally, I also tried using the ttyUSB1 (as this is shown a listed interface thru cnetworkmanager -d option) for which it gives a strange message again: “Traceback (most recent call last)”

#cnetworkmanager --activate-connection=user,‘xxxxxx_vpn_singapore’,ttyUSB1,&
[7] 20501
~> Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/cnetworkmanager”, line 326, in <module>
nm.ActivateConnection(svc, conn, dev, appath)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 139, in adapted_callable
return self.ret(args_adapted_callable(*args, **kwargs))
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbusclient/func.py”, line 96, in adapted_callable
return callable(*args, **kwargs)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/proxies.py”, line 140, in call
**keywords)
File “/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/dbus/connection.py”, line 622, in call_blocking
message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.UnknownDevice: Could not find source connection, or the source connection had no active device.

8

Hello Tony, I think cnetworkmanager is a CLI for NetworkManager GUI. I am trying to connect over VPN as “user” and not “system”. PS correct me if I am not doing it right?

#cnetworkmanager --activate-connection=user,‘xxxxxx_vpn_singapore’,{ttyUSB1,ppp0},&

From my understanding I think as I have already connected to internet using sakis3g script, not sure if {c}networkmanager is able to recognize the active 3G connection which is available. Also I am not sure if this is a bug in networkmanager or issue with my setup ?

Thanks in advance …

9

Well nothing helpful comes to my mind. I was just wandering why do You prefer the command line interface to GUI ? Did You try making it work using Knetworkmanager or some gnome front-end ?

10

Firstly, I was not able to configure the 3G modem using GUI. So I am using the sakis3G script which works seamlessly.

Secondly, when i have already connected to the net using the script, the VPN options seem disabled out … I dont understand why this happens ?

So I thought using the CLI would be much easier until now!

I really appreciate any further help on this! Awaiting your suggestions to fix this issue or work around for this.

Thanks.

11

You appear to be right. I’m looking at the package dependencies on my machine right now and it looks like at least on my machine

  • SuSE updates have apparently installed the latest (beta) versions of the Gnome Network Manager (currently 8.2 beta 1)
  • SuSE updates have apparently installed the latest KDE Network Manager directly from svn (currently 0.9.svn1057339-4.1)

So, two thoughts come to my mind…

  • The versions at least on my machine are the latest, and in some ways bleeding edge of what is available, probably because on balance any instability is outweighed by working functionality
  • You might compare your versions with what is installed on my machine and possibly (!) downgrade to an earlier version of Network Manager (the underlying Gnome Project, only maybe the KDE frontend) to see if a bug might have been introduced
  • Skim the bug reports for the Gnome Network Manager project for anything that might be related to what you’re seeing.

It does look to me that you may have done what you can… You do seem to have created the ppp0 device but are unable to layer a PPTP VPN on top of that. Do you have the ability to try another kind of VPN, eg OpenVPN(HTTPS) or Cisco(vpnc) which appears to be supported by Network Manager?

Tony