Remote Desktop
I have always had an inclination towards using Linux. But there used to be lots of frustrations, when something doesn't seem to work the way it is supposed to. The major problem was running the remote desktop application. I had to remotely control my desktop which has Windows Xp using Linux. I somehow figured out after lots of trial and error and had it run using the RDPV5 protocol. The problem was it would work inside the campus and wont allow to connect from outside because of extra layer of security added by NUS VPN.
The webvpn application crashes whenever tried on UBUNTU Linux. The problem was, it tries to use the command SU and install the application. UBUNTU does not allow SU command to be used and the activex control would crash. I tried too many options like correcting the install configuration file but nothing worked. Finally i decided to try and use openvpn, which is supported by SOC. There was a problem with logon. It would not allow me to logon with NUSNET ID. I was totally frustrated. Finally i got some idea to use VPNC software as suggested in NUS computer center website. However there was no documentation. The documentation provided was misleading as it suggested to use thr ipsec gateway as IP address, however later i figured out that it has to be rewritten as "vpn.nus.edu.sg" so that the gateway can be found dynamically.
VPNC can be installed directly from the repositories of UBUNTu. This avoids the hassles of downloading and using external command to compile.
The configuration file creation is the most important part. The config file has to have the following sequence
#config for connecting to NUS VPN
Interface name tun0
IPSec gateway vpn.nus.edu.sg
IPSec ID inside-nus
IPSec secret inside-nus
Xauth username
#end
The above needs to be saved as /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf
Then from command prompt issuing the following command would start the VPN
sudo vpn-connect /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf
It would ask for the password.
The bug here is even if u connect from outside NUS, the code needs to be as inside-nus. This i figured out after some trials.
You can also have the front end by using KVPNC.
After starting the VPN sucessfully, i was able to connect to remote desktop by Terminal server client.
The webvpn application crashes whenever tried on UBUNTU Linux. The problem was, it tries to use the command SU and install the application. UBUNTU does not allow SU command to be used and the activex control would crash. I tried too many options like correcting the install configuration file but nothing worked. Finally i decided to try and use openvpn, which is supported by SOC. There was a problem with logon. It would not allow me to logon with NUSNET ID. I was totally frustrated. Finally i got some idea to use VPNC software as suggested in NUS computer center website. However there was no documentation. The documentation provided was misleading as it suggested to use thr ipsec gateway as IP address, however later i figured out that it has to be rewritten as "vpn.nus.edu.sg" so that the gateway can be found dynamically.
VPNC can be installed directly from the repositories of UBUNTu. This avoids the hassles of downloading and using external command to compile.
The configuration file creation is the most important part. The config file has to have the following sequence
#config for connecting to NUS VPN
Interface name tun0
IPSec gateway vpn.nus.edu.sg
IPSec ID inside-nus
IPSec secret inside-nus
Xauth username
#end
The above needs to be saved as /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf
Then from command prompt issuing the following command would start the VPN
sudo vpn-connect /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf
It would ask for the password.
The bug here is even if u connect from outside NUS, the code needs to be as inside-nus. This i figured out after some trials.
You can also have the front end by using KVPNC.
After starting the VPN sucessfully, i was able to connect to remote desktop by Terminal server client.
Comments
Regards,
Halbert
NUS IT Contractor