How to connect to L2TP over IPSec VPN?

Update: A PPA exists now for network-manager-l2tp:

You can use

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp  
sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install network-manager-l2tp

To install the network manager l2tp that supports L2TP for Ubuntu 16.04

Walkthrough for building from source: http://blog.z-proj.com/enabling-l2tp-over-ipsec-on-ubuntu-16-04/

Old Answer

Another solution is to use network-manager-l2tp. You can get it from https://github.com/nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp.

For installation walk-through: http://blog.z-proj.com/enabling-l2tp-over-ipsec-on-ubuntu-16-04/

It works for Ubuntu 16.04


Patch NM-L2TP package with script

#!/bin/bash
CUR_PATH=$(dirname $(readlink -f $0))
TMP_PATH=/tmp/nm-l2tp
mkdir ${TMP_PATH}
cd ${TMP_PATH}
wget https://launchpad.net/~seriy-pr/+archive/ubuntu/network-manager-l2tp/+build/6512073/+files/network-manager-l2tp_0.9.8.5-0utopic1_amd64.deb
ar vx network-manager-l2tp_0.9.8.5-0utopic1_amd64.deb
mkdir new
tar -xpvf data.tar.xz -C ./new
mv ./new/usr/lib/pppd/2.4.5 ./new/usr/lib/pppd/2.4.6
sed -i 's/2.4.5/2.4.6/g' ./new/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-l2tp-service
sed -i 's/2.4.5/2.4.6/g' ./new/usr/lib/pppd/2.4.6/nm-l2tp-pppd-plugin.so
mkdir new/DEBIAN
tar -xpvf control.tar.gz -C ./new/DEBIAN
sed -i 's/, ppp (<< 2.4.6)//g' ./new/DEBIAN/control
sed -i 's/0utopic1/0vivid1/g' ./new/DEBIAN/control
rm ./new/DEBIAN/md5sums
dpkg-deb -b ./new/ ${CUR_PATH}/network-manager-l2tp_0.9.8.5-0vivid1_amd64.deb
rm -rf ${TMP_PATH}

Then download and install an appropriate Openswan package from the http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/pm/openswan and run the following commands

sudo apt-get update
sudo dpkg -i network-manager-l2tp_0.9.8.5-0vivid1_amd64.deb
sudo service xl2tpd stop
sudo update-rc.d xl2tpd disable

Then just go to the Network manager, choose VPN connections and create l2tp. You need only set up a username, password and the IPSec PSK in the IPSec additional settings.

Part taken from this answer


The first comment is probably the answer for most of us, except, maybe, some real experts:

"Seems there is no easy way anymore to establish a L2tp VPN connection since OpenSwan has been deprecated and removed in Ubuntu 14.10. Need it myself, found no working solution after months of sporadic research. – derFunk May 21 at 18:11"

No solution seems to be planned, see https://wiki.strongswan.org/issues/254. Another needed functionality removed from Ubuntu.

Tags:

Vpn

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