AFP548 Changing the world one server at a time.

vpnd needs restarting every 6-12 hours on OS X 10.5.6

Home › Forums › OS X Server and Client Discussion › Questions and Answers › vpnd needs restarting every 6-12 hours on OS X 10.5.6

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #375936
    nickforge
    Participant

    I have setup an L2TP/IPSec vpnd using Leopard’s built-in vpnd by configuring the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.RemoteAccessServers.plist file. It currently looks like this:

    <dict>
    	<key>ActiveServers</key>
    	<array>
    		<string>com.apple.ppp.l2tp</string>
    	</array>
    	<key>Servers</key>
    	<dict>
    		<key>com.apple.ppp.l2tp</key>
    		<dict>
    			<key>DNS</key>
    			<dict>
    				<key>OfferedSearchDomains</key>
    				<array/>
    				<key>OfferedServerAddresses</key>
    				<array/>
    			</dict>
    			<key>IPv4</key>
    			<dict>
    				<key>ConfigMethod</key>
    				<string>Manual</string>
    				<key>DestAddressRanges</key>
    				<array>
    					<string>192.168.1.210</string>
    					<string>192.168.1.215</string>
    				</array>
    				<key>OfferedRouteAddresses</key>
    				<array/>
    				<key>OfferedRouteMasks</key>
    				<array/>
    				<key>OfferedRouteTypes</key>
    				<array/>
    			</dict>
    			<key>Interface</key>
    			<dict>
    				<key>SubType</key>
    				<string>L2TP</string>
    				<key>Type</key>
    				<string>PPP</string>
    			</dict>
    			<key>L2TP</key>
    			<dict>
    				<key>IPSecSharedSecret</key>
    				<string>mySecret</string>
    				<key>Transport</key>
    				<string>IPSec</string>
    			</dict>
    			<key>PPP</key>
    			<dict>
    				<key>AuthenticatorProtocol</key>
    				<array>
    					<string>MSCHAP2</string>
    				</array>
    				<key>LCPEchoEnabled</key>
    				<integer>1</integer>
    				<key>LCPEchoFailure</key>
    				<integer>5</integer>
    				<key>LCPEchoInterval</key>
    				<integer>60</integer>
    				<key>Logfile</key>
    				<string>/var/log/ppp/vpnd.log</string>
    				<key>VerboseLogging</key>
    				<integer>1</integer>
    			</dict>
    			<key>Server</key>
    			<dict>
    				<key>Logfile</key>
    				<string>/var/log/ppp/vpnd.log</string>
    				<key>MaximumSessions</key>
    				<integer>128</integer>
    				<key>VerboseLogging</key>
    				<integer>1</integer>
    			</dict>
    		</dict>
    	</dict>
    </dict>

    When I start vpnd, everything works great. I can connect from my remote mac, and I can access file shares, screen sharing etc. Everything except for bonjour works (which is as expected). The only problem is that after vpnd has been running for around 6 hours, it stops allowing VPN clients to connect. When the bad connection occurs, the server vpnd.log looks like this:

    2009-04-06 12:28:32 EST	Incoming call... Address given to client = 192.168.1.213
    Mon Apr  6 12:28:33 2009 : SCDynamicStoreCreate failed: Configuration daemon not (no longer) available
    2009-04-06 12:28:33 EST	   --> Client with address = 192.168.1.213 has hungup
    2009-04-06 12:28:33 EST	Incoming call... Address given to client = 192.168.1.214
    Mon Apr  6 12:28:33 2009 : SCDynamicStoreCreate failed: Configuration daemon not (no longer) available
    2009-04-06 12:28:33 EST	   --> Client with address = 192.168.1.214 has hungup
    2009-04-06 12:28:35 EST	Incoming call... Address given to client = 192.168.1.215
    Mon Apr  6 12:28:35 2009 : SCDynamicStoreCreate failed: Configuration daemon not (no longer) available
    2009-04-06 12:28:35 EST	   --> Client with address = 192.168.1.215 has hungup

    This is repeated every ten seconds or so until the client gives up. The client’s ppp.log looks like this:

    Mon Apr  6 12:34:40 2009 : L2TP connecting to server '203.myip.1.1' (203.myip.1.1)...
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:43 2009 : L2TP sent SCCRQ
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:43 2009 : IPSec connection started
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:43 2009 : IPSec phase 1 client started
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:43 2009 : IPSec phase 1 server replied
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:43 2009 : IPSec phase 1 established
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:44 2009 : IPSec phase 2 started
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:44 2009 : IPSec phase 2 established
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:44 2009 : IPSec connection established
    Mon Apr  6 12:34:44 2009 : L2TP sent SCCRQ
    Mon Apr  6 12:35:04 2009 : L2TP cannot connect to the server

    Does anyone have any ideas what the “SCDynamicStoreCreate failed: ” message is an indication of? A bit of googling and digging around led me to an ADC page that states that the error message means that the SystemConfiguration daemon is not responding or available. Any ideas as to why or how that could be? Is there a setting missing in my plist that is causing vpnd to hang after a few hours?

    Thanks in advance,
    Nick

    #376005
    lix
    Participant

    Hello,

    I don’t have an answer, rather the same problem. In my case the server runs for only a couple of minutes, then I get the same messages as you get. Only a restart helps, but again for a limited period of time. Did you find a resolution for this problem?

    Lix

    #376006
    nickforge
    Participant

    In the end, I installed iVPN and used that instead. It’s not perfect and there were a few glitches, but once I got it setup and working, and removed my own startup scripts etc., it has been running reliably.

    I could try and work out what iVPN is doing that I wasn’t, and reverse engineer it, but I decided that it was better to just buy it.

    #376015
    lix
    Participant

    Problem is in my case, I have this issue +with+ iVPN (I bought it too)!

    Meanwhile I think I got a trace: it appears that if I am restarting the vpn server using the iVPN GUI, or manually in a terminal (vpnd), I have the issue. However, if I reboot the machine and basically vpnd is run at boot time by the startup script, then the problem does not occur. I had more than one day since the vpn server has been started with no problems at all. Today I reconfigured some parameters using iVPN and the problem re-appeared immediately. I rebooted the machine (a mini, latest generation with a fresh Leopard on it, up to date) and I can log-in without problem. I will check again in a couple of days to report if it still works. It is a kludgy work-around (that is, after each VPN server configuration change I have to reboot the machine!), but I see no other solution for now.

    So I suspect that the start-up must be done in a certain order (how various daemons must be started), otherwise vnpd does not work properly. At boot-time maybe the order is right, while by simply restarting vpnd it does not suffice.

    However, my theory does not explain your initial problems, and especially that your problems have been solved by using iVPN.

    #376056
    lix
    Participant

    As I suspected, there is now one week since the vpn server runs without a hitch. I did not have the time to look into the issue, however any hints would be appreciated.

    #376705
    guitar24t
    Participant

    I had a similar problem (I think?).

    10.5.7 fixed it for me.
    Don’t know if you’re still looking into this,
    Robert

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.