PPTP VPN on Linux

(Wednesday, 16 June 2004) - Contributed by Chad Brandt

This article explains how to install and configure a windows compatable PPTP vpn server on Linux (with rpm support).
We will be using PoPToP with MPPE encryption

1. Download and install the following files. You can download from here or you can find the files at Sourceforge
ppp-mppe-2.4.1-.i386.rpm
pptpd-1.1.4-b4.i386.rpm
ppp-2.4.2-b3.i386.rpm

To install do the following

[root]# rpm -Uvh ppp*.rpm

2. Download the kernel patch and patch your kernel for the MPPE encryption. You can download from here or you can
find the files at Sourceforge
kernelmod-0.7.1.tar.gz

Execute the following commands to patch your kernel module

[root]# tar -zxvf kernelmod-0.7.1.tar.gz
[root]# cd kernelmod
[root]# ./kernelmod.sh -a i686 [-k if not default]

when this is completed, display your module list and you should see the following modules loaded
[root]# lsmod
ppp_mppe 13976 0 (unused)
ppp_generic 24572 0 [ppp_mppe]
slhc 6596 0 [ppp_generic]

3.Edit the configuration files

- My local network in this example is 172.16.0.0/16. You will need to change the IP Address to meet your needs

/etc/pptpd.conf
-------------------------------------------------
debug
option /etc/ppp/options.pptpd
localip 172.16.0.3
remoteip 172.16.0.100-235

/etc/ppp/options.pptpd
-------------------------------------------------
lock
debug
name pptpd
bsdcomp 0
proxyarp
refuse-pap
refuse-chap
refuse-mschap
require-mschap-v2
require-mppe
ms-wins 172.16.0.3
ms-dns 172.16.0.3

http://linux-bsd-central.com - Linux-BSD-Central Powered by Mambo Open Source Generated: 15 December, 2006, 11:50
/etc/ppp/chap-secrets
-------------------------------------------------
# client server secret IP addresses
user1 pptpd password *
user2 pptpd password *

4. Ensure IP Forwarding is enabled

[root]# cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
1

If the value is not 1 you can enable ip forwarding by

[root]# echo 1> /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

You can have it always default to 1 by editing

/etc/sysconfig/nework

5. Start pptpd
[root]# /etc/init.d/pptpd start

Verify that it start successfully

[root]# netstat -a -n
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:1723 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN

PPTP uses tcp port 1723 and protocol 47 (GRE)

If you have a firewall in front of the VPN server make sure
you open the appropriate ports

http://linux-bsd-central.com - Linux-BSD-Central Powered by Mambo Open Source Generated: 15 December, 2006, 11:50