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RoboCop001

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2005
1,573
454
Toronto, Canada
Hey everyone.

We've got a VPN at the office and have had no luck connecting any of the Macs to it.

After searching around, it seems as though the Linksys WRVS4400N just isn't Mac friendly, but I did read some people getting it to work.

There was a program they recommended (I forget the name but it had a blue icon that looked like a pipe with something going through it) but it didn't work either.

There must be something I'm missing here (besides, maybe, a Mac friendly router).

Has anyone successfully configured VPN on their Mac to connect to a WRVS4400N VPN?

Also, when I try to add the certificate to my keychain, it does not show up under the VPN system preferences network connection setup. A message comes up that says "You have no machine certificates available."

Any ideas? Or is it totally hopeless?
Maybe I'll just use Parallels.
 

corbywan

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2008
238
3
Forest Grove, OR
I ran into the same thing. I was very bummed.

The software you are looking for is IPSecuritas. http://www.lobotomo.com/products/IPSecuritas/

I did get it working once, and it took much fighting and much googling. I couldn't tell you now how I did it, though I think I did post somewhere how I did it a few years ago. I think I posted on one of the linksys forums, or maybe here as well.
 

RoboCop001

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2005
1,573
454
Toronto, Canada
I ran into the same thing. I was very bummed.

The software you are looking for is IPSecuritas. http://www.lobotomo.com/products/IPSecuritas/

I did get it working once, and it took much fighting and much googling. I couldn't tell you now how I did it, though I think I did post somewhere how I did it a few years ago. I think I posted on one of the linksys forums, or maybe here as well.

Ah yes, that's the software I was trying to remember.

I had no luck with that, and the IT guy didn't seem to know what to do either.

But if you had success with it, I should just keep going at it.

Do you remember if you used a "shared secret" (that's what Apple calls it, I forget what it's called in IPSecuritas) or a certificate?

I'm gonna keep Googling.

I also remember finding a Linksys forum post with someone detailing how they accomplished it, but didn't seem to work for me.

But there's hope! haha.
 

corbywan

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2008
238
3
Forest Grove, OR
It seems to me that the trouble was on the router end of things as far as configuration goes. I tried to follow the Windows directions in terms of setting up the accounts, as if there was a client to configure on the Mac that matched an account in the router. That never worked. (This is from memory, sorry.) There was some other sub-panel to configure, as though you were setting up a static link between two routers, but in this case on was the Mac using that software. It was in that other area that I found success.
 

corbywan

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2008
238
3
Forest Grove, OR
I found this entry on this website. http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&message.id=79087

Here's my post after successfully setting it up:

You cannot use QuickVPN settings.

I just finally got my WRVS4400N working with a MacBookPro by using ipsecuritas.

The short version is: on the VPN tab, select IPSEC, and then create a new tunnel entry with a unique name.

Local security group is your LAN ip series (ie., WRVS4400N defaults to 192.168.1.0 and 255.255.255.0).

Assuming your dialing in from various locations, set Remote Security group and gateway to "any."

Key maanagement is Auto, Encryption 3DES, Authentication SHA1, PFS enable, enter your preshared key, key lifetime 28800 secs.

Save the configuration, hit okay through the warning about using "any" not working with QuickVPN.

Click Advanced Settings tab.

Operation mode = main.
Local and Remote identity use the ip address circles on both.
Phase 1 encryption = 3DES and SHA1 with 1024-bit and 3600 sec.
Phase 2 = #DES and SHA1, PFS enable, 768-bit, key life 28800.
Save settings.

In IPSECURITAS version 3 setup as follows:
General Tab - enter ip address of the WRVS4400N's internet presence.
Local side is Host, leav ip addres blank
Remot side is Network and input the 192.168.10, CIDR=24
Phase1 tab should match what's on the advanced settings of the router listed above, you can leave proposal check on claim and nonce size as 16.
Phase2 tab match to the router as well.
ID tab = Address in both the identifiers; Authenitcation is your Presharked Key and password.
Options tab you shouldn't need to touch, but you can enable NAT-T and add a keep alive ping if you want.

That's good enough to get me a green light on the connection on the mac, and an "up" status in the VPN's web interface.

Also, head over to http://www.lobotomo.com/Forum Archive/IPSecuritas Forum.pdf and search the text for "corby" and you will see some of what I discovered to be helpful.
 

RoboCop001

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2005
1,573
454
Toronto, Canada
Awesome!

Thanks! I'm going to try this out as soon as I get the chance.

I'll let you know if it ends up working or not.

Thanks again for your help!
 

ParallelsHQ

macrumors newbie
Sep 21, 2009
1
0
Hello! I am from Parallels and you should definitely try it out. Here is a cool article: http://www.macessence.com/?p=745. If you have any other questions, feel free to respond back!

Hey everyone.

We've got a VPN at the office and have had no luck connecting any of the Macs to it.

After searching around, it seems as though the Linksys WRVS4400N just isn't Mac friendly, but I did read some people getting it to work.

There was a program they recommended (I forget the name but it had a blue icon that looked like a pipe with something going through it) but it didn't work either.

There must be something I'm missing here (besides, maybe, a Mac friendly router).

Has anyone successfully configured VPN on their Mac to connect to a WRVS4400N VPN?

Also, when I try to add the certificate to my keychain, it does not show up under the VPN system preferences network connection setup. A message comes up that says "You have no machine certificates available."

Any ideas? Or is it totally hopeless?
Maybe I'll just use Parallels.
 

RoboCop001

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 4, 2005
1,573
454
Toronto, Canada
Hi there!

Oh yes I already have Parallels, and I can definitely use it for VPN stuff.

But I'd rather have native Mac VPN if i can :)

However using a virtual machine is definitely the next option if I can't get this IP Securitas to work.

Damn you Linksys! [shakes fist]
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
So what is the VPN client you normally use? Cisco, Nortel, Check Point?
 
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