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How can I use a GUI for configuring an L2TP VPN on a system running Awesome?

I'm trying to force myself to use a tiling window manager for a period long enough to decide if I really like it better than a floating window manager. I've installed Awesome onto debian 11, that doesn't have any desktop environments installed.

I've gotten through most of my obstacles, but one thing I can't seem to locate is a rich network-manager-applet. What I mean by rich, is one that has all the features required to set up a VPN with advanced configurations for L2TP IPsec and phase Algorithms.

I know that, if I installed KDE or GNOME, the network manager applet in those desktops provide a GUI for setting all these advanced configurations I need to set for the network-manager-l2tp package. But, so far, on Awesome, the network-manager applets I've gotten into the tray are missing the portion of the gui for configuring advanced setting like L2TP IPsec Options, phase algorithms, and UDP encapsulation.

Maybe I can install KDE onto another computer, set up the VPN, and then locate the file where this configuration is kept, and move that file to this computer as a means of setting up the VPN. Or, maybe I can figure out how to configure the VPN via the command line alone. It would probably be easier to use a GUI to generate the config files and then use that as a bases of learning how to configure VPNs without a GUI.

However, maybe I can indeed get a network-manager applet into Awesome's system tray that is just a feature-rich as what's provided by GNOME and KDE.

I'm open to advice and suggestions.

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  • I also use a window manager, dwm, and have met the challenges you face :) That's why I've given answers to your questions. The initial setup is time-consuming but the benefit is that you'll have a custom exactly-as-it-suits-you system. Even if you go back to DEs you'll keep some of the customizations. Happy tiling! Commented Dec 26, 2021 at 9:32

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You need to install the appropriate packages - additions to network manager.

apt install network-manager-gnome network-manager-l2tp network-manager-l2tp-gnome

If you haven't got any other way to auto start the tray app, add nm-applet & inside your ~/.xinitrc file - touch it if not there.

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  • I see the advanced options now, but when I try to connect I get this error Error: Connection activation failed: Could not find source connection Hmm, the source connection would be the one I'm typing this very message through, right? I noticed that my current internet connection is not listed in the nm-applet, it looks like this. Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 16:13
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    Is your current connection set outside of Network Manger? Apparently yes, if not listed on nm-applet. On such case it misses default gateway or route. This error seems to be common on Network Manager, askubuntu.com/questions/1023672/… and unix.stackexchange.com/questions/438224/… Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 17:05

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