setting up a l2tp over ipsec client

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

On 2020-04-21 14:28, stan wrote:
> I have been working for the last couple of days trying to get (what I
> believe I need) which is an l2tp over ipsec client.


I hate to be "that guy," but is there a particular reason you want to 
run with IPSec?  It's earned a well-deserved reputation for being 
difficult to both understand and configure, vendor implementations can 
differ, etc., etc.
"Well, great, Ken, but if you're so smart, what do *you* use?"
Me?  I use both OpenVPN and the new VPN hotness, WireGuard.  Both have 
pluses and minuses, but either of them is an order of magnitude or so 
easier to install/configure than IPSec & friends.  OpenVPN has clients 
for just about everything, and WireGuard is catching up fast.  (It was 
*just* merged in the mainline Linux kernel, so probably isn't directly 
supported by your current system, but that's an easy fix with a PPA, 
etc.)

If you do still have a compelling reason for IPSec, don't let me stop 
you.  But, sadly, neither can I help you: I gave up on trying to deal 
with it well over a decade ago, and have never looked back.

$.02,

-Ken


  I believe what I have
> working at the moment is actually lt2p NOT using ipsec. As these
> connections are over the public network, I am no comfortable with this.
> 
> I seem to have found many different how to's, and I probably don't
> understand all I need to so let me ask a couple of questions her.
> 
> * Which protocol starts up first, and brings up the other? I was 
> thinking
> ipsec should come up first, and the l2tp tunnel should be sent through
> this. Is this correct?
> 
> * These clients will connect to Mikrotik routers on the other end. It
> appears that the configuration on Ubuntu/Linux for this setup has 
> changed
> over time. Can anyone point me to some documentation as to how to get 
> this
> setup on Ubuntu 18.04m that is up to date?
> 
> Thanks for any help.
> 
> --
> "They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve
> neither liberty nor safety."
> 						-- Benjamin Franklin