specify username and password for VPN connection

Question

I have open-connect VPN and would like to always have a connection, even before I login with my own account.

I have Ubuntu 16.04.2, network-manager-openconnect-gnome.

If I run the command line nmcli con up id <VPN connection name> it will work, however it asks for username in a pop-up window, even it remember my username in visible text; then it asks for password, even it remembers it too (with the bullets), so I cannot use the nmcli directly to accomplish what I want.

Of course I still don't know how to make it totally headless (I mean run this before I login to Ubuntu), but that's next question after I can create something to connect the openconnect VPN without asking me the username and password.

Answer 1

Alright, after try and error I don't find a direct solution, but there is a workaround to use expect to achieve this.

Basically I write an expect script to send the Username and Password to the nmcli. Specifically that is

1. sudo apt-get install expect, this will install the expect package

2. create a file, call it connectvpn.sh

   #!/usr/bin/expect -f
   
   spawn nmcli -a con up id <VPN ID>
   expect "Username:"
   send "<username>\r"
   expect "Password:"
   send "<password>\r"
   expect "$ "
   

3. chmod a+x connectvpn.sh

4. now run it and it will work

Of course disadvantage is the username ans password will be saved in plain text in the script, but this is the best solution I can find.