Details of the Mac VPN Installation

These are the details of downloading, installing, and using the Mac VPN Client at UIC. For more general information on using VPN at UIC, see ACCC Virtual Private Network (VPN) Gateway and the Cisco VPN Clients.

A Universal version of the VPN Client for Mac OS X is now available on the University of Illinois Webstore. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or greater.

Note: Cisco recommends that you uninstall any previous version of the VPN Client for Mac OS X before you install a new version.

1. Go to the Webstore, login, and search for VPN. Select VNP Client - Macintosh - UIC Only.
   
   
   
   
2. Download Cicso VPN client and double-click on it to unZIP it.
3. Open Finder. Click on the CiscoVPCClient disk in the upper left of the screen and you will see a window like this:
   
   
   
   
4. Double-click on the Cisco VPN Client.mpkg file. This launches the VPN client installer:
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Continue button to bring up the Cisco license agreement.
   
   
   
   
6. Once you've finished examining the client agreement, click on the Continue button. You must then agree to the terms and conditions of the license.
   
   
   
   
   If you agree, click the Agree button.
   
   
7. You'll then be asked to select a destination volume upon which to install the client. The client should nearly always be installed on the volume that boots your Mac; point your cursor to the disk and click to select it. Click Continue to continue.
   
   
   
   
8. You'll next be asked to choose the type of installation you want. The default is to do an Easy Install which installs everything (a Custom install lets you limit the installation). You'll see a button labeled Install or Upgrade depending upon whether you have a previous version of the Cisco VPN client installed on your Mac. Click either to continue.
   
   
   
   
9. Because the Cisco VPN client installs various network kernel extensions in the system, you will be required to authorize the installer to continue. To do that, you'll need to supply the name and password of an admin account for your Mac (in general, this will be the name and password of the account you created when you installed Mac OS X).
   
   
   
   The client is then installed.
   
   
10. When the installer finishes, click the Close button to continue.
    
    
    
    
11. Now look inside your Applications folder, you should see the VPN client.
    
    
    
    
12. Double-clicking the VPNClient icon launches the VPN client. The client next needs to be connected to the UIC's VPN server. To do that select the uicvpn connection entry, then click on the Connect icon (if you double-click the uicvpn connection entry, the client will also attempt to connect to the server).
    
    
    
    
13. If the VPN client can connect to the server, you'll be asked to provide a Username and Password -- your UIC netid and ACCC Common password.
    
    
    
    
14. If the connection is successful, you will see the client toggle to its connected state -- clicking the Disconnect icon then disconnects you from the server.
    
    

Here are two known problems with CiscoVPN for Macs.

1. When using Verizon Wireless, CiscoVPN for Macs ignores the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit size) value sent by Verizon’s network, preventing the VPN connection from being established. To fix this, you must set the MTU value to 1400 yourself, using Apple's instructions: Mac OS X 10.4 or later: How to change the MTU for troubleshooting purposes. If you are using a wired network, using the Ethernet instructions; you will only have to do it once. If you are using a wireless network, use the steps for AirPort; you will have to do it every time you connect.
   
   
2. These instructions use the default connection method IPSec over UDP. If you have a DSL connection to the Internet, UDP might not work. Using IPSec over TCP might be a little slower, but it also might work. To switch:
   Connection Entries from the main menu -> Modify ... -> Transport tab -> IPSec over TCP -> Save

For more information, you can go where we got this info, Carnegie Mellon University's Troubleshooting Cisco VPN.

Note: You must have administrator privileges to uninstall the VPN Client.

Note: Cisco recommends that you uninstall any previous version of the VPN Client for Mac OS X before you install a new version.

The VPN Client uninstall script uninstalls any previous command-line or GUI version of the VPN Client from your Mac.

1. Open a terminal window.
2. Run the following command: sudo /usr/local/bin/vpn_uninstall
3. Enter your password.
4. You are prompted to remove all profiles and certificates.
   • If you answer yes, all binaries, startup scripts, certificates, profiles, and any directories that were created during the installation process are removed.
   • If you answer no, all binaries and startup scripts are removed, but certificates, profiles, and the vpnclient.ini file remain.