Notices

First of all Iphone has native IPSec client preinstalled. (It is cisco compatible).
When N900 is called smartphone/mobile computer why is this functionality missing. It is a glaring omission.
I heard VPNC is a solution but after reading the PR1.1 release/wifi issues hesitant to download it. Any other solutions?
Has anybody using N900/VPNC connected to their company environment. Is Anybody from Cisco who has done this?
Would love to get this phone on coroprate network via VPN

Thanks.

n900 has all major VPN providers supported, even openvpn which was left aside by both iphone and symbian.

After update to PR1.1 battery life improved to about 50% so it makes sense to update. vpn stuff could be found in extras and extras-testing repos.

It should also work without PR update - just enable the repos in App manager and search for vpn there

Yes,

The vpnc and vpnc-gui makes a perfect combination.

Its already available under testing or devel (could not remember) since I added both in my repository.

I have been using the vpnc to connect to my company without any problem. (Since the first n900 firmware until PR 1.1).

You do no not have to upgrade to PR 1.1 in order to use the vpnc. But I strongly recommend PR 1.1 since it fix my bluetooth disconnection problem in my car.

It works fine with cisco ipsec. (Love it)

Update - These are the 2 Repository that you can use to find vpnc

Application manager –> Application catalogs –> New
Catalog name: Maemo Extras-devel
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Application manager –> Application catalogs –> New
Catalog name: Maemo Extras-testing
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free


PS: If you have concern for the extra-devel, once you added vpnc and vpnc-gui, remove the repository after you install the vpnc.

Tested and used vpnc in PR1 - 1.01 and 1.1 and all works perfectly. Those GUI's for vpnc has some major issues like non-numeric password could not be used and so on, but if you use vpnc from terminal it works fine.

vpnc_0.5.8-0m5_armel.deb from extras-devel worked for me perfectly (never used the gui), but you need to be aware of the fact that when you install it, it hacks the file /etc/udhcpc/libicd_network_ipv4.script. Even if you uninstall the package before the next firmware upgrade, it can cause problems if the next firmware needs changes in that file, because having touched that file it won't get upgraded. This is what happened to a number of users from PR1.0.1 to PR1.1.

juaalto described his solution to that issue here:

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...8&postcount=41

but that resolves the issue only if you have vpnc installed before the upgrade to PR1.1. A fresh installation hacks the mentioned file which could (potentially) introduce a problem for the next upgrade.
Also, it's hard to foresee whether the above solution remains correct forever in any future firmware.

Unfortunately, vpnc seems to be orphaned for the time being. It would really be great if somebody who is an expert brings it in line with how things work in the N900/PR1.1. I've filed a bug report on garage.maemo.org, but so far I've not seen any activity.

EDITS (02-01-10):

1) It seems that vpnc is not orphaned, but somebody is working on it: today vpnc_0.5.9-1m5_armel.deb appeared on extras-devel. I haven't installed it, but just looked at the package, and found that the above-mentioned fix by juaalto is incorporated, and that the package post installation script even cleans up the incomplete upgrade from PR1.0 to PR1.1 when the previous version was installed. However, I guess that all afflicted users will have done that already themselves.

2) In the meantime I have found a possibility for using vpnc without having to deal with the package from extras-devel, which still comes with big warnings "This package is not using one of the allowed user/* sections!" and even "missing dependencies". I have Easy Debian installed, and found that I can use Easy Debian to have the original Debian package vpnc installed without having to tamper with Maemo. See: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...275#post496275
So until the Maemo version of vpnc makes it into Extras, I'm using this alternative (from the commandline), which I judge to be much safer. It works perfectly for me, be it with WLAN or G3.

unfortunately VPN cannot change default GW on Phone Data Connection (as far as I understand) - making it kind of unusable unless you are on a WiFi..

It worked to me in both cases, at least up to PR1.0.1. I haven't tried that since the upgrade to PR1.1.

It works for me on latest firmware.

But if it change from wlan to 3g I have to disconnect and connect again on the vpnc-gui.

There are 2 different gui-versions. The one vpncgui only allowed numeric password, but the vpnc-gui worked well with password

Oh it does does it? Please point me to the PPTP VPN setup support please. I was unaware that a very filthy hack wasn't required to get pptp working on the N900. That would then take the n900 off the list of smartphones i've owned that dont support the most commonly used vpn protocol in existence. its the only device on that list.

I haven't been successful connecting with my company's Cisco VPN with both of the N900's VPNC GUI's.

On VPNC GUI I get the following message:

"Connecting...
Launching vpnc, please be patient...
route: SIOCDELRT: No such process
sending state in dbus: connected
vpnc:
peer selected (single) DES as "encryption" method.
This algorithm is considered to weak today
If your vpn concentrator admin still insists on using DES
use the "--enable1des" option.
Child exited ...
Disconnected!"

How can I enable the 1des option with the GUI clients? Or do I need to execute VPNC through the command line? (I am a complete linux newbie, though, so step by step instructions would be greatly appreciated!)