Configuring VPN

The Oxford IT services VPN server requires the usual details:

• Server = vpn.ox.ac.uk,
• Group name = oxford,
• Group secret = as specified by IT,
• User name = same as SSO,
• User secret = remote access password.

But it also (newly in 2021) requires the Domain to be specified as the empty string. Neither the config file for command-line vpnc nor the GUI for configuring it under Network Manager provides the means to specify the Domain as an empty string: the GUI in particular treats an empty Domain field (hidden under Advanced) as not specifying a domain at all.

The solution: use the command

$ dpkg-divert --local --divert /usr/sbin/vpnc.real --rename /usr/sbin/vpnc

to rename vpnc to vpnc.real, and then put the following script in /usr/sbin/vpnc:

#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/sbin/vpnc.real --domain "" $*

(Solution from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager-vpnc/+bug/1197313.)