Alternative for forticlient vpn tool

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Problem Statement

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For several days, I have been facing issues with the ‘Forticlient’ VPN client on my linux machine. With limited knowledge in networking, I was unable to resolve the issues causing the following error

Setup tunnel failed

Can not connect to proxy

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Alternative solution

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Solution is to use openfortivpn. Following paragraphs explains how to use this tool to setup a VPN.

Step 1. Download and install tool

Use the following command to install the tool on Ubuntu/Kubuntu 18.04+

sudo apt install openfortivpn

Step 2. Initial configuration for VPN

Open /etc/openfortivpn/config file and edit the settings as follows

host = 
port = 
username = 
password = 

Step 3. Connect the VPN

Once the configuration is done, we can start using the tool by following command.

sudo openfortivpn

You can use the option ‘-c’ to specify the configuration file for a particular VPN. Once the connection is ready, you will see a message like below, indicting that the VPN tunnel is up and running

INFO:   Connected to gateway.
INFO:   Authenticated.
INFO:   Remote gateway has allocated a VPN.
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/4
INFO:   Got addresses: [<IP>], ns [<IP>, <IP>]
INFO:   negotiation complete
INFO:   Got addresses: [<IP>], ns [<IP>, <IP>]
INFO:   negotiation complete
INFO:   Got addresses: [<IP>], ns [<IP>, <IP>]
INFO:   negotiation complete
INFO:   negotiation complete
local  IP address 10.10.11.227
remote IP address 192.0.2.1
primary   DNS address <IP>
secondary DNS address <IP>
INFO:   Interface ppp0 is UP.
INFO:   Setting new routes...
INFO:   Adding VPN nameservers...
INFO:   Tunnel is up and running.