Unimelb AnyConnect VPN

Information Technolgy Services provide a simple to use Virtual Private Network (VPN) service for all students and staff at The University of Melbourne (UoM). This service allows a remote user to access network services hosted on campus that are unavailable to hosts not on a local university network, these might typically include multi-user servers, file shares and intranet sites. ITS provide detailed instructions for users of Windows, Mac OS X and various mobile operating systems. Some users have expressed concern that installing and using an AnyConnect service on Linux is problematic. Engineering IT have produced this document to assist users with Linux-based operating systems correctly installing and using an AnyConnect client.

For detailed instructions on using the UoM Cisco AnyConnect service from Windows, Mac OS X or your mobile device, please visit ITS Accessing network off-campus : Staff Hub pages (requires login).

OpenConnect

The Cisco AnyConnect client can and does work on Linux-based operating systems and you a free to download and install it using its insall shell script, however, the open source community has produced an AnyConnect SSL VPN compatible client called OpenConnect which will be available for in your modern Linux-based OS. For this document, we've used the latest Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop distribution as an example. The following should show you step-by-step how to install and configure OpenConnect for the UoM AnyConnect VPN service.

Installing OpenConnect

Follow these steps and refer to the screenshots to install OpenConnect, some basic knowledge of your Linux-based operating system is assumed.

  1. Open Terminal
  2. Install OpenConnect from the Ubuntu Universe software repository
  3. $ sudo apt-get install openconnect network-manager-openconnect network-manager-openconnect-gnome
    ubuntu openconnect install
  4. Open System Settings => Network, click the plus button in the bottom left corner of the window to add a new connection
  5. ubuntu network manager 1
  6. Choose Interface: VPN, click on Create...

  7. ubuntu network manager 1
  8. Choose Cisco AnyConnect Compatible VPN (openconnect), click on Create...
    ubuntu network manager 1
  9. On the VPN tab, complete as follows: Connection name: Unimelb AnyConnect and Gateway: remote.unimelb.edu.au/staff or remote.unimelb.edu.au/student, click on Save...

  10. ubuntu network manager 1
  11. Confirm that you now have a new VPN connection available, click the off/on switch to enable it

  12. ubuntu network manager 1
  13. Click the connection icon to logon to the VPN, enter your username and password and click Login

  14. ubuntu network manager 1
  15. Make a SecureSHell connection to a remote host to confirm that it is available via the VPN interface

  16. ubuntu network manager 1