Linux Networking Cookbook

10.1. Installing Poptop on Debian Linux

Problem

You have a gaggle of Windows clients on your LAN, and no available Windows servers or nice VPN gateways, so you want to set up a Debian Linux-based VPN server running Poptop to allow remote access to your LAN.

Solution

On Debian, it's as easy as falling over. First, verify that you have ppp-2.4.3 or newer, and a kernel newer than 2.6.15-rc1:

	$ apt-show-versions ppp
	ppp/etch uptodate 2.4.4

	$ uname -r
	2.6.17-10

Then, confirm that your kernel has the necessary Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption (MPPE) support:

	# modprobe ppp-compress-18 && echo success
	success

Now, go ahead and install pptpd in the usual manner:

	# aptitude install pptpd

The pptp daemon will automatically start at boot, and is controlled in the usual manner with /etc/init.d/pptpd [start|stop|restart]. One gotcha to look out for is restart will not close any existing sessions, so to completely restart it you must stop, then start it.

Now, you're ready to configure your server.

Discussion

If loading the ppp-compress-18 module fails, you'll see this message:

	FATAL: Module ppp-compress-18 not found

This is very unlikely, however, as long as you have the correct kernel version or have an older kernel that is patched.

See Also

• man 8 aptitude

• man 8 modprobe