A new VPN

Source

The institute I'm with has offered a VPN solution for its employees for about 15 years. Well, at least for the Windows users of our staff. The Cisco we've used in the first years came with the abysmal 'vpnclient', which I've said one time to be a clear winner of the worst-software-on-this-planet contest. It would run only on CentOS and Debian OldStable (meaning Sarge at that time!), and there was no way to get it running in any reliable way on a halfway modern Linux. I've thus ended up by connecting to the VPN via a virtual Windows XP, until I discovered openconnect, which worked perfectly on modern Linux distributions. Still, I was delighted when we finally kicked out the Cisco and got a Checkpoint instead, only to learn that the promised Linux client was still in development. It actually never materialized, but I was content with the browser-based solution they offered. Now the Checkpoint license has expired, and instead of renewing the contract, we've gotten ourselves a Palo Alto firewall – much to my surprise, as Palo Alto is not known for being a bargain. But in any case, we now – after 15 years – have a VPN client that can be installed on a fully updated Arch system and actually works.

Jonas, a fellow Archer and colleague of mine, figured out the best way how to install the client. I'm' adding his instructions here so I find them when the next version is released. 😄

  1. Install the AUR package 'globalprotect-bin' (which will fail, but gets the necessary 'PKGBUILD' file and 'globalprotect.install' script).

  2. From /software/VPN/VPN_Client_GlobalProtect get the latest version of the archive with the client binaries for Linux: 'PanGPLinux-u.v.w-...tgz'. From this archive, you only need the files 'GlobalProtect_tar-u.v.w.x-yz.tgz' and 'GlobalProtect_UI_tar-u.v.w.x-yz.tgz'.

  3. Place the two files in the AUR build-folder, e.g. '.cache/yay/globalprotect-bin/'

  4. Check that in PKGBUILD the correct 'pkgver' (u.v.w.x) and 'pkgrel' (yz) are set. If you need to change these, you also need to adapt the 'sha256sums'.

  5. Run makepkg -si.

  6. Start gpd.service using systemctl enable --now gpd.service (check status with systemctl status gpd) and restart the system.

  7. Import the certificate (I had to use an absolute path): globalprotect import-certificate --location /home/user/...

To update the client to a new version, you need to repeat steps 2–5 and restart the system.

Now you are ready and you can

  • Start the connection using globalprotect connect --portal vpn.foo.bar.de

  • Disconnect using globalprotect disconnect

  • Alternatively, run the gui (which then appears in the system tray) using: globalprotect launch-ui and use the connect/disconnect button

I have little to add to these instructions. I don't recommend the GUI: it is outdated and does not work in a high-dpi environment such as my notebook. But that's fine with me; I like the CLI better anyway. Following my habits, I've just defined aliases for the two commands most frequently used:

alias vpnon='globalprotect connect --portal vpn.foo.bar.de'
alias vpnoff='globalprotect disconnect'

Perhaps I will install a minimal virtual Linux guest to run the client and to connect, while still being able to use my other connections in the host system. I'll post an update if I do that. 🤠