openSUSE, Wicked, and VPN

Toonses82 · 08-28-2018, 11:30 AM

I'm running openSUSE Leap which uses Wicked for its default network configuration. I want to use my PrivateInternetAccess VPN easily from the GUI, but I don't see a way to do this. The only solution I've found is to switch to Network Manager. I'd really like to stay with Wicked, but it's not looking like it's even possible if I want VPN services.

Has anyone done this? Can I run a VPN client using Wicked, or is Network Manager my only option?

TB0ne · 08-28-2018, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toonses82

I'm running openSUSE Leap which uses Wicked for its default network configuration. I want to use my PrivateInternetAccess VPN easily from the GUI, but I don't see a way to do this. The only solution I've found is to switch to Network Manager. I'd really like to stay with Wicked, but it's not looking like it's even possible if I want VPN services.

Has anyone done this? Can I run a VPN client using Wicked, or is Network Manager my only option?

You *SHOULD* be able to use wicked for this, and there's a thread on the opensuse forums:
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthre...N-setup-issues

...that has some hints. I can't speak to doing it, though, since I use NetworkManager, which makes things FAR easier, at least for me. Have multiple VPN connections to pick from, and it brings up the TUN device(s) as needed. Hope that thread at least gives you some hints.

Toonses82 · 08-28-2018, 06:37 PM

Thank you for the reply. I think this may be significantly more complicated than I'm willing to take on. It's surprising that it's so difficult with wicked, considering the popularity of VPN services. I don't want to switch to Network Manager, but it may be my only option.

ondoho · 08-29-2018, 12:41 AM

are we talking about wicd here???

a quick search (tm) brought up two relevant-looking results:
https://superuser.com/questions/9197...s-the-internet
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...openvpn_client

Honest Abe · 08-29-2018, 10:13 PM

Like TB0ne said above, I also use NetworkManager to make my life easier for connecting to VPN.
I know PIA supports openvpn protocol. So, maybe worth a shot to try from command line ?

I wrote a tutorial here. It uses NetworkManager, but do give it a shot with wicked and report what happens..

ferrari · 08-30-2018, 03:06 AM

Quote:

are we talking about wicd here???

No, wicked is not wicd. It's similar to traditional 'ifup' type services (using /etc/sysconfig/ifcfg-* configuration like Red Hat/Fedora).

ferrari · 08-30-2018, 03:42 AM

Quote:

I'm running openSUSE Leap which uses Wicked for its default network configuration. I want to use my PrivateInternetAccess VPN easily from the GUI, but I don't see a way to do this.

If you want to configure VPN client access from a GUI, then NetworkManager is probably your best option. If you want to use wicked, then this guide will show you what is required to set up a VPN client...
https://doc.opensuse.org/documentati...lest.vpnclient

Once configured, you can start it manually with

Code:

sudo wicked ifup tun0

Quote:

You *SHOULD* be able to use wicked for this, and there's a thread on the opensuse forums:
https://forums.opensuse.org/showthre...N-setup-issues

The advice I provided in that openSUSE thread was to do with setting up a VPN server, so not relevant here.

Honest Abe · 08-30-2018, 03:55 AM

Just switched to wicked from NM and the CLI way to connect to my vpn service (Cyberghost/OpenVPN) works like a charm.

[Disclaimer : YMMV]

Code:

anirban@absusedesk:~> systemctl status NetworkManager
● NetworkManager.service - Network Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
  Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service.d
           └─NetworkManager-ovs.conf
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: man:NetworkManager(8)
     
anirban@absusedesk:~> systemctl status wicked
● wicked.service - wicked managed network interfaces                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/wicked.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)                                                                                                                                                                                   
   Active: active (exited) since Thu 2018-08-30 14:18:32 IST; 47s ago                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  Process: 2907 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/wicked --systemd ifup all (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)                                                                                                                                                                                  
 Main PID: 2907 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Interface status before switching -

Code:

anirban@absusedesk:~> ip a s
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 1c:1b:0d:c1:07:72 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.0.5/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global noprefixroute dynamic eth0
       valid_lft 86267sec preferred_lft 86267sec
3: wlan2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 18:d6:c7:c6:74:af brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: wlan1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:e6:2d:04:24:fa brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: virbr0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:8f:85:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.122.1/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global virbr0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
6: virbr0-nic: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast master virbr0 state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:8f:85:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

After switching and connecting to vpn -

Code:

anirban@absusedesk:~> ip a s
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 1c:1b:0d:c1:07:72 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.0.5/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global noprefixroute dynamic eth0
       valid_lft 86190sec preferred_lft 86190sec
3: wlan2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 18:d6:c7:c6:74:af brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: wlan1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:e6:2d:04:24:fa brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: virbr0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:8f:85:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.122.1/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global virbr0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
6: virbr0-nic: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast master virbr0 state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:8f:85:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
7: tun0: <POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN group default qlen 100
    link/none 
    inet 10.248.204.58 peer 10.248.204.57/32 scope global tun0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Toonses82 · 08-31-2018, 12:13 PM

Thanks guys. This worked. It's interesting that Wicked doesn't have a desktop applet like NetworkManager does. The applet makes everything so much easier. Especially when trying to switch between multiple VPN servers. I may just switch to NetworkManager anyway to get the easy GUI controls, but at least I have it running with Wicked now. Thanks again.

ferrari · 08-31-2018, 04:12 PM

Wicked is not designed for multiple network environments. It's best used for static situations such as a desktop/server on a LAN, where it is configured via an administrator. NetworkManager is designed for more fluid situations such as a laptop moving between different network environments and where the user may have control of the network configuration.

TB0ne · 08-31-2018, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ferrari

Wicked is not designed for multiple network environments. It's best used for static situations such as a desktop/server on a LAN, where it is configured via an administrator. NetworkManager is designed for more fluid situations such as a laptop moving between different network environments and where the user may have control of the network configuration.

Agreed. Though when I've had problems with X, and could only get a console...I did curse NetworkManager heartily. Wish there was a CLI for it to at least get it to connect to one of the named connections. But, going into YAST and changing back to wicked/traditional works...it's just annoying.

ferrari · 08-31-2018, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Agreed. Though when I've had problems with X, and could only get a console...I did curse NetworkManager heartily. Wish there was a CLI for it to at least get it to connect to one of the named connections

There is. It's 'nmcli' for CLI or 'nmtui' for the ncurses-based utility.

TB0ne · 08-31-2018, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ferrari

There is. It's 'nmcli' for CLI or 'nmtui' for the ncurses-based utility.

! Outstanding...thanks ferrari. Had no idea, but that'll save me some cussin' next time I have an X issue.

Honest Abe · 09-01-2018, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toonses82

Thanks, guys. This worked. It's interesting that Wicked doesn't have a desktop applet like NetworkManager does. The applet makes everything so much easier. Especially when trying to switch between multiple VPN servers. I may just switch to NetworkManager anyway to get the easy GUI controls, but at least I have it running with Wicked now. Thanks again.

Glad to know that you were able to use PIA from CLI. If lack of a GUI in wicked (to add multiple VPN connections) is a problem, you can work around by creating as many bash scripts as u want (and change the IPs in the openvpn conf and give the scripts meaningful name, such as PIA-UK-London1.sh, PIA-DE-Frank2.sh.. U get the idea

) and run them from CLI..

This is how I use in centos.