I've had some success in Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.8. For my setup, I have a Mac Mini behind a Verizon FiOS Actiontec router. I was using Android phone to connect.
At first, it worked fine internally (Phone on the same Wifi), but would fail when connecting externally (Phone on data connection). In the end, it is working exactly the opposite.
I don't have a user account for the "VPN User" because this method just created a single user/password for the connection. I am not "logged in" to Mac, but could remote desktop with a "real user" after connected.
I used version 2.4b of iVPN to configure the settings, and here are some end results:
Forwarded ports
UDP Any->1701, UDP Any->500
Android Settings
Name: YourConnectionName (e.g. Mac Server)
Type: L2TP/IPSec PSK
Server address: hostname.no-ip.org
L2TP secret: (not used)
IPSec identifier: (not used)
IPSec pre-shared key: **YourSharedSecret**
When connecting
Username: auser
Password: challenge
/etc/ppp/user.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Password</key>
<string>challenge</string>
<key>User</key>
<string>auser</string>
</dict>
</plist>
/etc/ppp/chap-secrets
auser * challenge *
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.RemoteAccessServers.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<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>
<string>208.67.222.222</string>
<string>208.67.220.220</string>
</array>
</dict>
<key>IPv4</key>
<dict>
<key>ConfigMethod</key>
<string>Manual</string>
<key>DestAddressRanges</key>
<array>
<string>192.168.10.101</string>
<string>192.168.10.200</string>
</array>
<key>OfferedRouteAddresses</key>
<array>
<string>192.168.10.100</string>
</array>
<key>OfferedRouteMasks</key>
<array>
<string>255.255.255.0</string>
</array>
<key>OfferedRouteTypes</key>
<array>
<string>Private</string>
</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>**YourSharedSecret**</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>
</plist>
/etc/racoon/remote/anonymous.conf
remote anonymous {
doi ipsec_doi;
situation identity_only;
exchange_mode main;
verify_identifier off;
shared_secret use "**YourSharedSecret**";
nonce_size 16;
nat_traversal_multi_user on;
initial_contact on;
support_mip6 on;
proposal_check claim;
proposal {
authentication_method pre_shared_key;
hash_algorithm sha1;
encryption_algorithm 3des;
lifetime time 3600 sec;
dh_group 2;
}
}
sainfo anonymous {
encryption_algorithm aes, 3des;
authentication_algorithm hmac_sha1, hmac_md5;
compression_algorithm deflate;
lifetime time 3600 sec;
}
You might have to touch /var/log/ppp/vpnd.log and if you're not using iVPN, it looks like (from a ps -ax) the server is started with vpnd -i com.apple.ppp.l2tp. After changing settings and PSKs, I also racoonctl flush-sa ipsec.
Best Answer
In the bad old days of using Cisco's client, it was easy to edit the .pcf file to work around the remote server policy. Using the alternative client Shimo has worked for me as of a couple of years ago (it's now closed-source, but you can get the old version from Google Code). Here's another workaround I haven't tried that uses the Keychain.