After so much procrastination, I finally spent some effort finishing up a script for easy installation and access to NUS SoC-VPN. 2 years of painful experience without much help (NOC documentation / helpdesk is Fedora-centric and the linuxNUS wiki / manual isn’t that Debian/Ubuntu-friendly either) and frustration from frequent disconnection from SoC server, the suffering has finally ended. Self-help seems to be the best companion.
My SoC-VPN script provides a seamless installation and easy connect / disconnect to NUS SoC network as well as simplify the process to be as less obstructive as possible. It is a refined version of what I have been using for the past year.
Features include: dependencies checking, ready-to-run anywhere, easy to use, unobtrusive (no NOC netlogon screen), no additional packages required (like curl or lynx), root-usage checking, helpful usage, ubuntu-friendly
1 – Download my script in tar.gz format here
md5sum: 02096667f7d3c85a6029a44414e49bea
crc32 : 4d73de35
2 – Untar it to Desktop by using Ubuntu Archive Manager or run the following command at the directory where you downloaded my script:
tar -xvzf socVPN_idyllic.tar.gz -C ~/Desktop/
3 – A folder name “socVPN_idyllic” will be created on your desktop. Run the following commands to proceed
cd ~/Desktop/socVPN_idyllic
chmod +x install_socvpn.sh
./install_socvpn.sh
4 – The script will prompt you for sudo password when it needed to copy configuration file to /etc/openvpn/ directory.
5 – Installation Completed 
You can now delete the folder “socvpn_idyllic”
6 – Quick start : Remember to run at sudoer level!
To connect
sudo socvpn --start
To disconnect
sudo socvpn --stop
For a complete list of command, run “socvpn” or “sudo socvpn –help”.
I am open to suggestion Feel free to contact me for constructive criticism. I am still a n00b. Cheers.
EDIT:
After download and extract files from the archive, edit socvpn.conf. Insert this line before the last line (route-up line) without the quote : ` mssfix 1460 `
Also change the last line to
route-up “sleep 5; wget https://noc.comp.nus.edu.sg/netlogon -O /tmp/netlogon 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &”
If there is still frequent disconnection, re-run the script the go to this page in your browser
https://noc.comp.nus.edu.sg/netlogon
Hey your file can’t be downloaded. Both links dont work..
Hi Dingyan,
I have just uploaded a new version. Sorry for the 403 Forbidden Error. Get it here:
http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~ndhoa/scripts/socVPN_idyllic.tar.gz
I will also email you a copy in case you don’t check this post back.
hello, I install the script, yes it work but disconnect within 5 mins.. any ideas to resolve this issue?
Hmph, I think I missed out the MTU part. Edit the socvpn.conf
“$ sudo nano /etc/openvpn/socvpn.conf”
Insert this line before the last line (route-up line)
mssfix 1460
Do tell me if it works. Thanks =)
Hi,
I checked all of the links i guess no more accessible. Can you please send me the file by email or give me an another link? B.t.w, i d like to thank you for your excellent help here.
Thanx,
Mehmet.
Hi Mehmet,
Thanks for dropping by. I will send you the script to your comp.nus.edu.sg email account. Keep in mind that the frequent disconnection might happen, though most of the time it should work. NUS Linux support is terrible =.=”.
Cheers,