15 Feb 09 Linux PPTP (Poptop) VPN Setup with MPPE and MPPC

Here’s a quick guide that I write as I’m setting up PPTP/MPPE/MPPC on a Linux server. My preferred VPN technology is OpenVPN mainly because it’s so quick and easy to set up and use, however in some cases PPTP is required chiefly when the Client wants to use the inbuilt Windows VPN capabilities rather than having to deploy 3rd party software.

My server is a Debian (of course) etch machine, with 2.6.24 (from source) kernel. My client is Windows XP Pro SP3.

Firstly, patch the kernel for MPPC and rebuild. My source directory is /usr/src/linux:

For the MPPC and PPP patches, visit http://gaute.vetsj.com/?p=69

cd /usr/src/linux
wget http://gaute.vetsj.com/arkiv/2008-03-19%20-%20arch-mppc/kernel26/linux-2.6.24-mppe-mppc-1.3.patch
patch -p1 < linux-2.6.24-mppe-mppc-1.3.patch #Ignore warnings in the case of 2.6.18 at least anyway
make #When prompted RE MPPE/MPPC select ‘m’ for Module
make modules_install

Now download and patch ppp:

cd /usr/src/
wget ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.4.tar.gz
tar -xzf ppp-2.4.4.tar.gz
cd ppp-2.4.4
wget http://gaute.vetsj.com/arkiv/2008-03-19%20-%20arch-mppc/ppp/ppp-2.4.4-mppe-mppc.1.1.patch
patch -p1 < ppp-2.4.4-mppe-mppc.1.1.patch
./configure
make
make install

Now install poptop:

cd /usr/src/
wget ‘http://downloads.sourceforge.net/poptop/pptpd-1.3.4.tar.gz?modtime=1176722091&big_mirror=1′
tar -xzf pptpd-1.3.4.tar.gz
cd pptpd-1.3.4
./configure
make
make install

Create /etc/pptpd.conf:

option /etc/ppp/options-pptpd
localip 10.0.0.1
remoteip 10.0.0.2-10

Create /etc/ppp/options-pptpd:

name *
debug debug
logfd 2
lock
mtu 1450
mru 1450
proxyarp
auth
ipcp-accept-local
ipcp-accept-remote
lcp-echo-failure 3
lcp-echo-interval 5
deflate 0
+chap
+mschap-v2
mppe required

Assign a username and password. Edit /etc/ppp/chap-secrets Add:

#Where Username and Password are your username and password respectively. You may add as many entries as you wish
Username * Password *

Set permissions:

chmod 600 /etc/ppp/chap-secrets

Allow masquerading if you wish. Where eth0 is your external interface:

modprobe ipt_MASQUERADE
iptables -F; iptables -t nat -F; iptables -t mangle -F
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

Launch the pptp daemon:

pptpd -d -e /usr/local/sbin/pppd

Make sure you have relevant kernel modules loaded, specifically ppp_mppe_mppc

You should be able to configure your Windows client by following the default setup wizard, no changes should be required.

Full logging is turned on in /var/log/daemon.log

Tags: 2.6.24, debian, iptables, kernel, Linux, masquerade, mppc, mppe, patch, ppp, pppd, pptp, pptpd, VPN

Filed in Linux, Technology

Reader's Comments

Alex Ferguson | 15 Feb 2009 12:34 pm
I always thought that a firewall and a virus protection program like Norton would provide full privacy protection. VPN has added to privacy by securing the connection between my computer and destination !
Michi | 03 Mar 2009 3:46 pm
I still have
“MPPE required, but keys are not available. Possible plugin problem?”

Any ideas what went wrong?
Irfan | 15 Mar 2009 6:23 am
Hi…i was just wondering,

performance wise which is better ?? PPTP or OPENVPN

by performance i mean… which would be good in a low bandwidth situation…

pls email if necessary
Björn | 16 Jul 2009 6:54 pm
Trying to get this to work with kernel 2.6.26-2 but I cant get the module ppp_mppe_mppc to load. I used the patch found here: http://yablochkin.net.ru/mppc/

Any help?
Johnny | 22 Jan 2010 5:29 pm
Thanks for that info it has really proven to be helpful. I really enjoy reading easy articles leading straight to the point.

Thanks allot.