VPN-Connection failed

[Emma's Son]

Hello forum,

I am trying to set up a VPN connection to my German FritzBox (Cabel 6490 - FRITZ!OS: 06.87).
I have followed the instruction here: https://en.avm.de/service/vpn/tips-tric ... -in-linux/

I registered with myfritz.de and I received a "publick URL" for my fritzbox (owlxxxxxxxxxx6xh.myfritz.net). I can access my Fritzbox via this adress.
In my Fritzbox I have set up a user and enabled VPN

I have a user (with Passwort) and a "shared secret" provided by my fritzbox.

On my client (Version Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia 64-bit, MATE 1.18.0) I have installed network-manager-vpnc-gnome and all depending packages.

When I click on the network-manager in my task bar, I can add a "cisco compatible network client (vpnc)" as new network connection:

- new VPN-name -
(Tab VPN)
Gateway: owlxxxxxxxxxx6xh.myfritz.net
Username: myusername
User Passwort: ***userpasswort*****
Group Name: myusername
Group Passwort: ****shared secret****

Then I can start "new VPN-name" via the network manager, but I receive an error message: VPN-Connection failed.

When I check /var/log/syslog I receive these messages:

Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <info> [1533474237.0826] keyfile: update /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/VPN-Verbindung 1 (ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1")
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: ** Message: vpnc started with pid 8343
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <info> [1533474237.0912] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN plugin: state changed: starting (3)
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <info> [1533474237.0913] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN connection: (ConnectInteractive) reply received
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: /usr/sbin/vpnc: unknown host `owlxxxxxxxxxx6xh.myfritz.net'
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: ** (nm-vpnc-service:8323): WARNING **: vpnc exited with error code 1
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <warn> [1533474237.1320] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN plugin: failed: connect-failed (1)
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <warn> [1533474237.1324] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN plugin: failed: connect-failed (1)
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <info> [1533474237.1325] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN plugin: state changed: stopping (5)
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <info> [1533474237.1326] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN plugin: state changed: stopped (6)
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: <info> [1533474237.1337] vpn-connection[0x186c7e0,ea7e7523-c17d-4597-a1d2-d2871a491ecf,"VPN-Verbindung 1",0]: VPN plugin: state change reason: unknown (0)

What looks especially strange to me is the line:
Aug 5 15:03:57 dev03 NetworkManager[1044]: /usr/sbin/vpnc: unknown host `owlxxxxxxxxxx6xh.myfritz.net'

Is this the root cause for not connection to VPN?
Any idea, how I can solve this?

Many thanks in advance.

Son

[wiltur]

Well got the same problem using the GUI, try to launch you vpn connection in a terminal, using sudo

Code: Select all

sudo openvpn your-config.ovpn

works fine for me, but don't know how to make it works with the network connexion manager.

[Emma's Son]

Thank you for this hint.

sudo openvpn your-config.ovpn

But I am facing another obstacle: I can not find any ".ovpn" files on my system ($ sudo find / -name ".ovpn" -> no results)
As I have already set up a VPN-connection with the networkmanager GUI, would expect a file like this...
If I try to export the VPN connection with the networkmanager, it only offers me a .pcf file, which is a complete different format.

Do I need to set up a .ovpn file manually? If so, where can I find the relevant parameters?

Still thankful for supporting me and best regards

Son

[catweazel]

I can not find any ".ovpn" files on my system

Your VPN host will have them for download.

[Slow_Epiphany]

Well got the same problem using the GUI, try to launch you vpn connection in a terminal, using sudo

Code: Select all

sudo openvpn your-config.ovpn

works fine for me, but don't know how to make it works with the network connexion manager.

Thanks for this. At the very least we Linux nubs can use our VPNs... now if only we can get the connection manager to work properly.

It was working fine for me until I restarted after setting it up, to allow other installs to take... namely steam, discord and kodi installs.