vpncwatch

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vpncwatch is a keepalive daemon for vpnc(8) on Linux systems. It is a rewrite of vpnc-watch.py by Greg Benson [email protected] vpncwatch is written by David Cantrell [email protected]

IDEA

The original vpnc-watch.py is included with this source distribution.  If
you want your keepalive daemon running in Python, here's your chance.  The
main motivation for rewriting it in C is so it can be compiled for mipsel
and put on a very limited storage space OpenWRT system.

The idea behind the program is simple.  Wrap execution of vpnc and handle
it receiving SIGHUP and SIGKILL.  SIGHUP will cause a restart, which is
handy for an external network checking script.  If you find you cannot hit
any VPN-connected hosts, you can send SIGHUP to vpncwatch and it'll
restart vpnc.  vpncwatch can do the network checking for you with the
right options.  See the -? screen for more information.

LICENSE

GPL 2.0 or later.  Enjoy.

BUILD

Check the Makefile and modify for your needs.  Then run 'make'.

INSTALL

All you need is the vpncwatch binary, and you can copy that to any
location.  There is no 'make install'.

USAGE

Run 'vpncwatch -?' for examples.  It's really very simple.

EXAMPLE

For the impatient, let's say you run this vpnc command typically:

    /usr/sbin/vpnc /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf

With vpncwatch, your new command is:

    vpncwatch /usr/sbin/vpnc /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf

If you want to enable VPN network testing, you need to pass a hostname
(or IP address) of a host on the VPN as well as a valid TCP port that
would be open on that host.  For example:

    vpncwatch \
        -c vpn-only-host.example.net -p 80 \
        /usr/sbin/vpnc /etc/vpnc/vpnc.conf

You can modify the interval that the host checking occurs with the -i
option.  All the host checking does is make sure a running vpnc process
is still actually offering an open link.  If vpncwatch can open a socket
to that host and it not fail, vpncwatch assumes the link is still open.

Easy.  If you pass options to vpnc usually, vpncwatch can do that
too.  See the -? screen for more information.

-- David Cantrell [email protected]