Connecting to GlobalProtect VPN in Linux Mint

I encountered GlobalProtect (GP) vpn while working on a project, and somehow the vpn portal does not have any linux client for me to connect to the server. They have windows and mac though, so I tried searching around for solution.

After a while, I stumbled upon this post and this other post, stating that openconnect client can connect to GP vpn.

To install openconnect is fairly easy. Just fire up your terminal, and use below command to install openconnect client

$ sudo apt install openconnect -y

Once installed, you just have to use below command to connect to your GP vpn

$ sudo openconnect --protocol gp -u foo vpn.server.com

You will get some warning about "Certificate failed verification", just answer yes

Certificate from VPN server "vpn.server.com" failed verification.

Reason: signer not found

To trust this server in future, perhaps add this to your command line:

    --servercert pin-sha256:1YWmjjGL3wppl245dRc3/p+mytteBnvaVz456DQY+wutt=

Enter 'yes' to accept, 'no' to abort; anything else to view: yes 

It will later ask for you password, just put in your password

Connected to HTTPS on vpn.server.com

Enter login credentials

Password: 

You will know that you are connected if you find something resembles below line

Connected as 192.168.100.72, using SSL, with ESP in progress

Try to access your internal server, and you should be able to.

Rejoice!

Displaying Text on Remote Desktop over SSH

I used this trick to warn my kids that their computer playing time is almost over. The application name is zenity, and we need to set our DISPLAY environment to :0 beforehand so that the message will appear on their screen.

1. ssh into the machine

$ ssh foo@machine

2. Set the DISPLAY environment

$ export DISPLAY=:0

3. Use zenity to prompt messages to their screen. In this case, I use warning style message, and will be displayed for 2 seconds

$ zenity --warning --timeout=2 --text="Computer will be shut down in 15 minutes"