UVA VPN on Linux

Prerequisites

For Arch Linux you’ll need to have the following packages installed:

paru -S openconnect openssl

Obtain a Certificate

Go to this unpublicized Web location to obtain a certificate for non-specific OS. You will be required to sign in with Netbadge. Once authenticated, fill out the form. personal-cert

Your passphrase need not be related to your Netbadge password, and it must be 15 characters or fewer. The MAC address of your system is optional for UVA Anywhere.

Click the link to download the certificate. You will receive a file ending in .p12.

Extracting Certificate and Key from .p12 File

If you haven’t already extracted the certificate and key from your .p12 file, you can do so using OpenSSL:

# Extract the client certificate
openssl pkcs12 -in /home/yanboyang713/Downloads/UVA-VPN.p12 -clcerts -nokeys -out client-cert.pem
 
# Extract the private key
openssl pkcs12 -in /home/yanboyang713/Downloads/UVA-VPN.p12 -nocerts -nodes -out client-key.pem

Add a NOPASSWD Rule

Add a line specifying that your user can execute the openconnect command without a password:

your_username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/openconnect

Create the VPN Connection Script

  #!/bin/bash
 
# VPN server details
VPN_SERVER="uva-anywhere-1.itc.virginia.edu"
VPN_PROTOCOL="anyconnect"
 
# Paths to your certificate and key files
CERT_FILE="/home/yanboyang713/Downloads/uva/client-cert.pem"
KEY_FILE="/home/yanboyang713/Downloads/uva/client-key.pem"
 
# Create directories for logs and PID files in the user's home directory
LOG_DIR="$HOME/uva-vpn/logs"
PID_DIR="$HOME/uva-vpn/pid"
 
# Ensure the directories exist
mkdir -p "$LOG_DIR" "$PID_DIR"
 
# Log file and PID file paths
LOG_FILE="$LOG_DIR/uva-vpn.log"
PID_FILE="$PID_DIR/uva-vpn.pid"
 
# Function to connect to the VPN
connect_vpn() {
    echo "Connecting to UVA VPN..."
    sudo openconnect \
        --protocol="$VPN_PROTOCOL" \
        --certificate="$CERT_FILE" \
        --sslkey="$KEY_FILE" \
        "$VPN_SERVER" > "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1 &
    echo $! > "$PID_FILE"
    echo "VPN connection initiated. Check $LOG_FILE for details."
}
 
# Function to disconnect from the VPN
disconnect_vpn() {
    echo "Disconnecting from UVA VPN..."
    if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ]; then
        sudo kill "$(cat "$PID_FILE")"
        rm "$PID_FILE"
        echo "VPN disconnected."
    else
        echo "No VPN connection found."
    fi
}
 
# Check script arguments
case "$1" in
    connect)
        connect_vpn
        ;;
    disconnect)
        disconnect_vpn
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Usage: $0 {connect|disconnect}"
        exit 1
        ;;
esac

Make the Script Executable

chmod +x ~/uva-vpn.sh

Run the Script

To Connect to the VPN

~/uva-vpn.sh connect

To Disconnect from the VPN

~/uva-vpn.sh disconnect

Boyang Yan

Explorer