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Re: Using OpenVPN client with wicd



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On Tue, Jul 07, 2015 at 07:55:26AM -0400, James P. Wallen wrote:

[...]

> Hi, Tomas! Thanks for your reply.

I wish I cold've been more helpful, but hey, you're welcome.

> No, my issue has nothing to do with corporate firewalls [...]

> Network-manager, as you're aware, has plugins for various types of
> VPN software. It's easy to use, but it just seems to be awfully
> large and, occasionally, a little trouble-prone compared to wicd.

This was my impression too. Since I tend for "simple", I try to
avoid NM altogether.

> I could generally just use /etc/network/interfaces and associated
> stuff, but was looking for a fiddle-free way to make my connections
> when I'm moving around while still enabling me to use OpenVPN.

Understood.

> [...]                  I want to see if I can figure out how to use
> OpenVPN from the CLI or via script using a certificate and password
> to connect to my favorite VPN out on the Internet.

I see.

Again, that's what I'm doing with socat: on the server there's a
socat process running as server (duh ;) -- which unwraps the SSL
layer and feeds its thing to the ssh server; on the client, a
socat opens a local port and I connect my ssh client (courtesy
of .ssh/config magic) to that: the socat wraps it in SSL and
connects to the server: voilà -- a VPN. To the outside world
it looks like any HTTPS connection. Since I have my own certificates,
I (hope!) would notice any attempt at MITM.

What turned me away from OpenVPN was that it wanted to be a
service started at boot time, with all that; besides it wants
to do magic to the routing tables and so on.

A tad too heavyweight for my taste.

But of course, it does many things automagically you'd otherwise
have to script.

Regards
- -- tomás
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