Tutorial: Solution for configuring OpenVPN on Ubuntu 9.0.4 with a pkcs12 key. .p12 #PKCS12

Configuring OpenVPN on Ubuntu if you've been given a .pkcs12 file is not a joyride (at least, as of Ubuntu 9.04). Currently, Ubuntu's network manager does not recognize #PKCS12.

This blog entry assumes your IT department has provided:

• Your #PKCS12 file, possibly suffixed with .p12. E.g. "username.p12"
  
• Your password for the VPN
• An .ovpn file, which is a text file that contains your VPN configuration
  

So, here is what you need to do:

• First, make sure you have the OpenVPN stuff installed:
  • Launch the package manager: System->Admin->Synaptic Pkg Mgr
  • Make sure you install (or have already) "openvpn" and "network-manager-openvpn"
  • Probably need to reboot at this point
• Second, you will need to break the pkcs12 key you were given into three seperate files: .pem, .crt, .key
  • See this blog entry as the source of this next part
  • Open a terminal window and navigate to the folder where you download the .p12 file IT gave you
  • Execute the following commands, using the key password IT gave you whenever one is asked for
  • openssl pkcs12 -in username.p12 -out username.pem
  • openssl pkcs12 -in username.p12 -out username.crt -clcerts -nokeys
  • openssl pkcs12 -in username.p12 -out username.key -nocerts
• Third, launch the VPN connection configurator in the network manager
  • Click on the 4-bars network icon in the upper right of your screen
• Fourth, specify the following in the dialog
  • VPN Connections -> Import....
  • Find your .ovpn file
    
  • User Cert: (your .crt file)
  • CA Cert: (your .pem file)
  • Private Key: (your .key file)
  • Password: (that password IT gave you)
• Finally, you should be ready to go
  • Click on old 4-bars, and choose your VPN.
  • Hope that it connects, cause otherwise I don't know what to tell you.