I have come into a problem where i connect to my office via a Cisco VPN Client (on fedora9) using my wireless connection.

Once connected i launch rdesktop and connect to a Windows server. uppon doing so my CAPS lock and Scroll lock lights flash wildly and i have to cold boot my laptop.

This only happens when i am connected to the VPN not when i use rdesktop to local servers.

Also oddly enough if i used VNC to connect to the same windows Server i do not have the same problem


Does anyone have any ideas?

Are you using the Cisco VPN client? I know in the Windows world, there's a per-profile setting to enable transparent tunneling of IPSec over TCP. If you were using Windows, I'd say try toggling that setting. Sorry, I'm not familiar whether the Linux Cisco client has that option. I use vpnc, an open source alternative. It's in the apt repos in Debian and Ubuntu, and I'd guess it's available via yum for those who prefer RPM. *shrug*

If you've never used vpnc, it takes a little work to get set up -- but I like it better than the Cisco client. On Ubuntu, I install the vpnc and resolvconf packages. With resolvconf managing your resolv.conf, you can set a target network in vpnc's config, and your default route is not replaced. This means that, where the Cisco client would normally deny your ability to connect to any network device other than within your target VPN while connected, vpnc will instead allow you to access your LAN, browse the web, and so forth. More on setting the target network in a minute.

You've probably got a PCF file containing connection information that you normally use with the Cisco client to connect to your VPN concentrator. Open that PCF file and look for !enc_GroupPwd. You'll need to decrypt that password.

In /etc/vpnc/default.conf, enter information as follows:
IPSec gateway vpnaddress.domain.com
IPSec ID groupName (copied from !GroupName= in your .PCF file)
IPSec secret decryptedGroupPassword
Target networks 123.456.0.0/16 (or whatever netmask is appropriate for your target VPN)

Anyway, see whether your computer is more stable using vpnc rather than the Cisco client.

You might also run a memtest86+. I had something similar happen on my laptop (similar symptom under different circumstances, though). Turned out to be flaky RAM.

I will try both of your suggestions today. I will post later on what the results were. Thank you both for the feedback!

Both of me says you're welcome.

multiple personality's is not an ailment it is a gift...

is resolvconf a package or is it part of the vpnc install?
i took the lazy way out and did the install via yum...

In the Debian-ish world, resolvconf is its own package. It's used by vpnc, but it's not a part of it. I wouldn't know what it's called in the RPM world. Perhaps once you install vpnc, /etc/vpnc/default.conf will have some Fedora-ish comments regarding what makes the "Target networks" directive work?

For what it's worth, you don't need the "Target networks" directive or whatever manages resolv.conf in order to get vpnc to connect. You can leave them unconfigured, and vpnc should work pretty much identically to the Cisco VPN client. I recommend only configuring IPSec gateway, IPSec ID, and IPSec secret for now, and worry about configuring Target networks and whatever it requires later. All this might be a moot point, anyway, if your laptop still chokes and pukes as soon as you try to establish an RDP session.

I ran memcheck86 after a long time waiting i got the results that my memory was ok.

I got the VPNC to run. I was having a problem at first i was getting

binding to 0.0.0.0:500: Permission denied

But i figured out that the Cisco VPN runs as a service. So after killing that i was able to get it to work.
RDP works just fine now. Thank you.

Did you get the Target network thingamajig working? One other nice thing about using vpnc rather than the Cisco client is that vpnc establishes its connections using a tun/tap interface, and doesn't require recompiling a kernel module every time you upgrade your kernel.

I'm glad RDP doesn't freeze your machine anymore.

One other thing you might be interested in is an app called tsclient. It's a GUI frontend for rdesktop and vncviewer. It's pretty pimp. Look for it in yum.

I havent played with the network thing. it seemed to work out of the box allowing me to used the VPN tunnel as well as the local LAN at the same time.

tsclient is the one that i am using. i was blown away when i first saw it as a default app on CentOS 5.1
its just habbit to call it rdesktop...

Thanks again for all of your help
~N

hello!
I am trying to connect remotely from home to my computer in my work network but there is no way to make the Terminal Server Client to connect to my work’s computer. To connect to my work network we use a VPN and a RSA Securid token. I can log in. But after that, when I try to reach the Desktop of my computer using Terminal Server Client, or Rdesktop It says connection refused. I use Ubuntu Hardy at home and Windows XP Pro at work. Any help on that?

hello!
I am trying to connect remotely from home to my computer in my work network but there is no way to make the Terminal Server Client to connect to my work’s computer. To connect to my work network we use a VPN and a RSA Securid token. I can log in. But after that, when I try to reach the Desktop of my computer using Terminal Server Client, or Rdesktop It says connection refused. I use Ubuntu Hardy at home and Windows XP Pro at work. Any help on that?