VPN setup on Linux

The following instructions are for Ubuntu. Other distros may require a slightly different procedure.

1. Open the System menu and go to Preferences -> Network Connections
2. Click on the VPN tab and on the Add button
3. Select Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol (PPTP) and click Create
4. Type RAL PPTP in the Connection name field
5. Type vpn.rl.stfc.ac.uk as the gateway
6. Put your federal ID in the User name entry
7. Type CLRC in the NT Domain field.
8. Click on the Advanced button and tick the "Use Point-to-Point encryption (MPPE)" option
9. Click on Save to close the Advanced window, and Apply to finalize the VPN creation
10. Go to System -> Settings -> Network
11. Select Automatic proxy configuration
12. Enter http://wwwcache.rl.ac.uk/proxy.pac and close the window.
13. Now the VPN connection is available by clicking on the Connection button on the top bar and choosing VPN Connections -> RAL PPTP
14. Type your federal password when prompted

iptables -A INPUT --protocol gre -s vpn.rl.stfc.ac.uk -j ACCEPT

should work.

-- federico melaccio - 2015-01-22