Unable to connect to VPN using PPTP

English Network/Internet
1

I have recently installed OpenSUSE on a Toshiba laptop. I have been unable to connect using VPN to an external server machine that uses MS and PPTP for communication. I am able to connect to the same server using my old laptop running Fedora 18, so I am looking for advice on what I need to do differently under OpenSUSE.

One problem I encountered on Fedora was the need to set MTU=1200 in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts ifcfg-… file I was using. I have tried settkng MTU in the equivalent file in OpenSUSE, but it has not helped. I am able to get the logs from the two machines and the problem seems to be that in OpenSUSE I get the message “The synchronous pptp option is NOT activated” which is absent under Fedora.

The settings that I am using on both machines are:
PPTP connection type
NT Domain: AD
PPTP options: Use Point-to-Point encryption (MPPE), MSCHAP and MSCHAP2

I have installed NetworkManager-pptp, NetworkManager-pptp-gnome, NetworkManager-pptp-lang, plasma-nm-pptp, plasma-nm-pptp, pptp, pptpd.

This is the tail of journalctl when connection has failed with OpenSUSE:

Feb 13 12:36:02 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> Starting VPN service ‘pptp’…
Feb 13 12:36:02 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> VPN service ‘pptp’ started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp), PID 20781
Feb 13 12:36:03 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> VPN service ‘pptp’ appeared; activating connections
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 polkitd[1001]: Operator of unix-session:2 successfully authenticated as unix-user:root to gain TEMPORARY authorization for action org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.se
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> VPN connection ‘ADFA VPN’ (ConnectInteractive) reply received.
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> VPN plugin state changed: starting (3)
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: pppd started with pid 20786
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> VPN connection ‘ADFA VPN’ (Connect) reply received.
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pppd[20786]: Plugin /usr/lib64/pppd/2.4.7/nm-pptp-pppd-plugin.so loaded.
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Plugin /usr/lib64/pppd/2.4.7/nm-pptp-pppd-plugin.so loaded.
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (plugin_init): initializing
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pppd[20786]: pppd 2.4.7 started by root, uid 0
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (nm_phasechange): status 3 / phase ‘serial connection’
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pppd[20786]: Using interface ppp0
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pppd[20786]: Connect: ppp0 <–> /dev/pts/4
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Using interface ppp0
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Connect: ppp0 <–> /dev/pts/4
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (nm_phasechange): status 5 / phase ‘establish’
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pptp[20788]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[main: pptp.c:314]: The synchronous pptp option is NOT activated
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> (ppp0): new Generic device (driver: ‘unknown’ ifindex: 7)
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> (ppp0): exported as /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/4
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_rep: pptp_ctrl.c:251]: Sent control packet type is 1 ‘Start-Control-Connection-Request’
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:739]: Received Start Control Connection Reply
Feb 13 12:36:08 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:773]: Client connection established.
Feb 13 12:36:09 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_rep: pptp_ctrl.c:251]: Sent control packet type is 7 ‘Outgoing-Call-Request’
Feb 13 12:36:09 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:858]: Received Outgoing Call Reply.
Feb 13 12:36:09 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:897]: Outgoing call established (call ID 0, peer’s call ID 7705).
Feb 13 12:36:46 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:912]: Received Call Clear Request.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <warn> VPN connection ‘ADFA VPN’ connect timeout exceeded.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Terminating on signal 15
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Modem hangup
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Connection terminated.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[callmgr_main: pptp_callmgr.c:234]: Closing connection (unhandled)
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_rep: pptp_ctrl.c:251]: Sent control packet type is 12 ‘Call-Clear-Request’
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[call_callback: pptp_callmgr.c:79]: Closing connection (call state)
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 avahi-daemon[925]: Withdrawing workstation service for ppp0.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 dbus[943]: [system] Rejected send message, 9 matched rules; type=“error”, sender=“:1.261” (uid=0 pid=20781 comm=“/usr/lib/nm-pptp-service “) interface=”(unset)” me
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 dbus[943]: [system] Rejected send message, 9 matched rules; type=“error”, sender=“:1.261” (uid=0 pid=20781 comm=“/usr/lib/nm-pptp-service “) interface=”(unset)” me
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: Terminated ppp daemon with PID 20786.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Terminating on signal 15
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (nm_phasechange): status 10 / phase ‘terminate’
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Modem hangup
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (nm_phasechange): status 11 / phase ‘disconnect’
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Connection terminated.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (nm_phasechange): status 1 / phase ‘dead’
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Script /usr/sbin/pptp 131.236.200.23 --nolaunchpppd --loglevel 0 --logstring nm-pptp-service-20781 finished (pid 20788), status = 0x0
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Exit.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: Script /usr/sbin/pptp 131.236.200.23 --nolaunchpppd --loglevel 0 --logstring nm-pptp-service-20781 finished (pid 20788), status = 0x0
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** Message: nm-pptp-ppp-plugin: (nm_exit_notify): cleaning up
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: ** (nm-pptp-service:20781): WARNING **: pppd exited with error code 16
Feb 13 12:37:08 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <info> VPN service ‘pptp’ disappeared

and here is the equivalent output from Fedora after successful connection:

Feb 13 12:37:45 toshiba pppd[2604]: Exit.
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> VPN plugin state changed: starting (3)
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> VPN connection ‘ADFA VPN’ (Connect) reply received.
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pppd[3158]: Plugin /usr/lib64/pppd/2.4.5/nm-pptp-pppd-plugin.so loaded.
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: Plugin /usr/lib64/pppd/2.4.5/nm-pptp-pppd-plugin.so loaded.
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pppd[3158]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pptp[3159]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[main: pptp.c:333]: The synchronous pptp option is NOT activated
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <warn> /sys/devices/virtual/net/ppp0: couldn’t determine device driver; ignoring…
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pppd[3158]: Using interface ppp0
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: Using interface ppp0
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pppd[3158]: Connect: ppp0 <–> /dev/pts/1
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: Connect: ppp0 <–> /dev/pts/1
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_rep: pptp_ctrl.c:254]: Sent control packet type is 1 ‘Start-Control-Connection-Request’
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:754]: Received Start Control Connection Reply
Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:788]: Client connection established.
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_rep: pptp_ctrl.c:254]: Sent control packet type is 7 ‘Outgoing-Call-Request’
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:873]: Received Outgoing Call Reply.
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:912]: Outgoing call established (call ID 0, peer’s call ID 37151).
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:976]: PPTP_SET_LINK_INFO received from peer_callid 53942
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:979]: send_accm is 00000000, recv_accm is FFFFFFFF
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pptp[3166]: nm-pptp-service-2602 warn[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:982]: Non-zero Async Control Character Maps are not supported!
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pppd[3158]: CHAP authentication succeeded
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: CHAP authentication succeeded
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba pppd[3158]: MPPE 128-bit stateless compression enabled
Feb 13 12:37:51 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: MPPE 128-bit stateless compression enabledFeb 13 12:37:53 toshiba pppd[3158]: local IP address 131.236.5.217
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba pppd[3158]: remote IP address 131.236.5.200
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba pppd[3158]: primary DNS address 131.236.2.2
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba pppd[3158]: secondary DNS address 131.236.2.1
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> VPN connection ‘ADFA VPN’ (IP4 Config Get) reply received from old-style plugin.
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> VPN Gateway: 131.236.200.23
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Tunnel Device: ppp0
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> IPv4 configuration:
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Internal Address: 131.236.5.217
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Internal Prefix: 32
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Internal Point-to-Point Address: 131.236.5.200
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Maximum Segment Size (MSS): 0
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Forbid Default Route: no
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Internal DNS: 131.236.2.2
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Internal DNS: 131.236.2.1
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> DNS Domain: ‘(none)’
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> No IPv6 configuration
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: local IP address 131.236.5.217
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: remote IP address 131.236.5.200
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: primary DNS address 131.236.2.2
Feb 13 12:37:53 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: secondary DNS address 131.236.2.1
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> VPN connection ‘ADFA VPN’ (IP Config Get) complete.
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> Policy set ‘ADFA VPN’ (ppp0) as default for IPv4 routing and DNS.
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <info> VPN plugin state changed: started (4)
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba dbus[605]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name=‘org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher’ unit=‘dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service’
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba dbus[605]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit ‘dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service’: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service f
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba NetworkManager[753]: <warn> Dispatcher failed: (32) Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service failed to load: No such file or directory. See system
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba dbus-daemon[605]: dbus[605]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name=‘org.freedesktop.nm_dispatcher’ unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.servic
Feb 13 12:37:54 toshiba dbus-daemon[605]: dbus[605]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit ‘dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service’: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-di

Does anyone have ideas on what else I need to do to get the VPN working?

2

If it’s a w2k3 or w2k8 VPN server, you might want to test these settings in NM VPN connection Advanced;

3

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried enabling the stateful encryption, compression methods and PPP echo as you suggested, but it made no difference. I still get the message “The synchronous pptp option is NOT activated” in the log file and no connection is made. The advice I received from the people supporting the server was to only set MSCHAP, MSCHAPv2, and MPPE encryption, which works fine under Fedora.

4

I also could not connect to VPN, which worked before. I am using OpenSuSE 13.2
The problem started with upgrade of kernel to version 3.16.7-21.1.
When I downgraded the kernel to version 3.16.7-7.1, VPN started working again.

5

Hi zlomek

The following thread may be applicable to you too

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/507157-NetworkManager-pptp-doesn-t-work-after-lastest-update?p=2708116#post2708116

If using a recent kernel, try loading the ‘nf_conntrack_pptp’ module first.

6

Actually, your second log for the Toshiba machine does show

Feb 13 12:37:50 toshiba pptp[3159]: nm-pptp-service-2602 log[main: pptp.c:333]: The synchronous pptp option is NOT activated

so that’s probably not indicative of the connection issue you’re experiencing.

Hard to say why you’re getting the timeout -this is where things seem to go wrong

Feb 13 12:36:46 t2 pptp[20795]: nm-pptp-service-20781 log[ctrlp_disp: pptp_ctrl.c:912]: Received Call Clear Request.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 NetworkManager[19706]: <warn>  VPN connection 'ADFA VPN' connect timeout exceeded.
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Terminating on signal 15
Feb 13 12:36:48 t2 pppd[20786]: Modem hangup