cisco vpn client

I go to a university that allows students to connect to its local intranet via VPN using the Cisco VPN client. Unfortunately, the linux Cisco client doesn't always compile properly. It compiled all right on Suse 9.3 but failed to connect properly for reasons I have not yet looked into. On Suse 10.0 it wouldn't even compile.

However, while searching on some forums, I discovered that there is an alternative cisco vpn client called vpnc. Google for vpnc linux and you will find it. It is an open-source cisco ipsec client, and this compiled fine! You'll need gcc and libgcrypt-devel to compile it properly.

As for the configuration, it'll ask for the ipsec ID, which means the group password (oxford, in my case), and the IPsec secret string, which means the group password.