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Guide needs updating

Guide needs updating. Newer client and setup method available. 13/10/23 


The VPN Client has been tested as working on Ubuntu version 20.04.




Download the forticlient.tar.gz file that contains the VPN client.

Extract the contents of the gz file to a sensible location on your machine.

Depending on whether you are using a 32 or 64 bit version of Linux, run the relevant installer.

The 32 and 64 bit installers consist of the same files. 









You may at this point be prompted that you need administrator rights to run the program, as it is the first time you have run it. 

If you do, you must agree to the software licensing conditions, enter the root password for the machine and then click OK.










The FortiClient application requires you to create a profile in order to remember the settings.

Click on settings to access the profile settings.










Click the + button (near the bottom left of the screenshot) to create a new profile






For the connection enter “SLCU”, “Zoology” or “Addenbrookes”.

Server & port will consist of a different entry depending on your site:


Remote GatewayCustom Port
Clinical Schoolvpn.medschl.cam.ac.uk10443
Sainsbury Labvpn.slcu.cam.ac.uk11443
Zoology Departmentvpn.zoo.cam.ac.uk12443

For user/password enter your standard username and password you use to access network workstations.

Click create to finish. Click Done on the next screen.






Click the dropdown box and select the newly created profile.

Click connect to connect to the VPN.

In the event that you get a message about an invalid certificate, you should ignore it. This should only occur on certain firewalls while the VPN service is in its infancy. 





If successful, you should see a screen similar to this, showing you are connected and that bytes are being sent and received.

Press stop when you are finished to terminate the VPN connection.

 Common Problems

VPN Connection fails - in the App click on the "cog" icon and click on "Export Logs". The log shows "Backup routing table failed" in it (often at the end)

On Ubuntu, this is usually caused by a missing dependency in the Ubuntu package - you must manually install "libindicator7" using the command "sudo apt-get install libindicator7"


For additional information
If you have any problems, questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact the CSCS Service Desk:

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