Mac OS X Snow Leopard & Cisco AnyConnect VPN
Posted by raetsel on August 29, 2009
I’ve just upgraded to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard. The results are impressive with increases in speed and reduction in memory usage.
However to connect to work I use Cisco AnyConnect VPN and that wouldn’t run, it just instantly quit.
I uninstalled it using the uninstaller in the Application folder and then connected to our web portal at work via Safari and downloaded the AnyConnect installer. This installed fine and I can now run the local application like I used to.
The version of AnyConnect we run on is 2.3.0185
20 Responses to “Mac OS X Snow Leopard & Cisco AnyConnect VPN”
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Aaron said
Thanks, that worked just great. I was just about to go to the beta version of AnyConnect.
Rodney said
AWESOME…. Worked perfectly
Michael Brandeis said
I am using cisco anyconnect vpn so that I can use my apple mail program to send mail from a remote serve. However while connected to VPN the mail program does not get (downloads) any new messages. Any idea why and how to solve this.
Thanks
Michael
raetsel said
Hi Michael,
Had the VPN connection used to work before you upgraded to Snow Leopard or is it new?
You need to check the configuration at the remote end has the correct policy in place for your account to allow you access to the server you want on the ports you need e.g. 25,110 or 993 for stmp, pop or IMAP ( 443 for exchange )
Try opening a terminal and see if you can ping the server without any fully qualified domain name, just the hostname. If not try using traceroute to see how far the connection is going.
If you can ping the hostname try using telnet hostname 25 ( or 110 or whatever ) see if that gets a connection. If it does then it shows the remote end is ok and it is a problem with mail somehow, if not it suggests a remote VPN AnyConnect policy/access or firewall problem.
HTH
Simon
S Baker said
raetsel,
Thank you! I actually had to uninstall as well, but my company’s VPN website wasn’t letting me log in (for whatever reason). Luckily, I had kept a Disk Image (dmg) of the software and I installed it and everything worked!
Thanks for the tip!
Ad said
Hi
I just recently installed Snow Leopard and upgraded VPN Client to 2.1.0148 – Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client.
It appears that after exactly 2hrs of VPN Connectivity, my web connection on the Mac disappears. I am unable to get on the internet at this point. The only way to fix it is to shut down the VPN Client and every thing starts working (communicating with the internet) at that instant.
Is this is a security related issue on Mac allowing access to VPN Clients for 2 hrs only at a time?
Please help.
Ad
raetsel said
Hi Ad,
It’s not an issue on the Mac as far as I know, more likely a timeout value on the settings at your VPN server end. From my work we have a limit of 12 hours set, any VPN connection open longer than that and I have to reconnect regardless of how much activity I have going on.
That said the firewall at work will also chop individual connections to servers after about 1 hour of inactivity but that is only for that one connection to that one server, any other active connections are fine.
I’d check with whoever manages your login and profile on the VPN server at your work. You can also try looking at the connection log by clicking on the link in the VPN client see if that shows anything.
If you find a solution please consider posting here about it. Thanks.
Regards
Simon
Jonathan said
Anyone try doing this in 64-bit mode? When I force snow leopard to boot in 64-bit I get an error in anyconnect (after it tries to connect) that says “The VPN client agent has encountered an error.” and thats it.
Mike said
I’m running AnyConnect 2.4.0202 on Snow Leopard, and while it starts up fine, I get the error: “AnyConnect package unavailable or corrupted. Contact your system administrator.”
What I don’t know is, what AnyConnect package is it talking about? Does it mean the one I have installed on my system already, or is it trying to download an update from the VPN device or something? It’s interesting that this error only occurs once the VPN connection correctly authenticates me–if I put in a wrong password I get an “Authentication failed” message instead.
Katie Tam said
Hi Michael,
If you can ping the hostname try using telnet hostname 25 ( or 110 or whatever ) see if that gets a connection. If it does then it shows the remote end is ok and it is a problem with mail somehow, if not it suggests a remote VPN AnyConnect policy/access or firewall problem.
Scott said
I have a user getting the same error about the package being corrupt. I’m about to test this theory but it seems there has to be a version installed on the ASA you’re trying to connect to. Any version as long as something’s there.
MIchael said
Hi Scott, did your theory work??
IT said
If I already have a (Windows) PCF file, where do I copy it on the Mac so it’ll read the configurations?
Fonz said
i’m also getting an error that says
“The AnyConnect package on the secure gateway could not be located. You may be experiencing network connectivity issues. Please try connecting again.”
How can I fix this?
Yipeng said
Yes, I have the same problem. Need Help!
RA said
I’m having same problem and same “anyconnect package on secure gateway could not be located…” error. Any luck resolving?
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Melinda said
WORKS PERFECTLY! THANKS!
PeteLong said
Hi you need to in-load the pkg file to the firewall
The AnyConnect package on the secure gateway could not be located.
Pete
PeteNetLive
raetsel said
Comments are closed as this post seemed to attract a lot of spam for some reason.