How to Setup L2TP/IPsec VPN on Ubuntu 16.04

Sep 2, 2018 2 min read

How to Setup L2TP/IPsec VPN on Ubuntu 16.04 with NetworkManager

In this article, we will learn how to setup L2TP/IPsec VPN with NetworkManager on Ubuntu 16.04. Ubuntu has stopped its support on L2TP since almost forever but there are a few workarounds and alternatives to overcome this problem.

1) Install network-manager-l2tp Package


```bash
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp  
sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install network-manager-l2tp

You should also install network-manager-l2tp-gnome, if you are using gnome desktop environment.

sudo apt-get install network-manager-l2tp-gnome

2) Stop xl2tpd Service

sudo service xl2tpd stop
sudo update-rc.d xl2tpd disable

3) Create Your L2TP/IPsec VPN

In order to create L2TP/IPsec VPN, use the fallowing instructions;

Navigate to Settings > Network > Click the + button > Select “Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)”
Name the new VPN connection something
Put the host name or address in the Gateway field.
Put username in the Username field.
Click the icon in the Password field and select your preference for how to supply the password.
Click IPSec Settings…
Click the box for “Enable IPsec tunnel to L2TP host”
Enter the shared secret into the Pre-shared key field.
Leave the Gateway ID field empty.
Expand the Advanced options area
Enter “3des-sha1-modp1024” into the Phase 1 Algorithms box.
Enter “3des-sha1” into the Phase 2 Algorithms box.
Leave the box checked for “Enforce UDP encapsulation”.
Click OK.
Click Save.

And, thats it!

4) Use libreswan instead of strongswan (Optional)

If you still have problems to connect your L2TP/IPsec VPN, you can try to use libreswan instead of strongswan. For doing this, remove the phase 1 & 2 algorithms in the IPsec config dialog box and install libreswan by issuing:

sudo apt-get install libreswan

And that’s how you can use L2TP/IPsec VPN on your Ubunut 16.04! You can use tail -f /var/log/syslog to identify problems about your connection.