Using an Ubuntu VM to connect to a VPN using juniper network connect.
Recently I've been using Ubuntu 12.04 running in a VirtualBox VM to connect securely to a VPN using Juniper Network connect. I've been doing this for years with a windows VM, but have recently worked out how to do it from Ubuntu. The benefits of using Ubuntu for this task are; No licensing requirements for OS. Smaller footprint for VM. - Windows 7 VM footprint was 120 MB Private Working Set. Ubuntu is as low as 70 MB Private Working Set. I haven't found any drawbacks yet. Step 1. Create an Ubuntu 12.04 LTS desktop 32bit virtualbox machine. It is important that you choose the 32 bit platform as the 64 bit version will install a 64 bit java, and juniper network connect won't work with this. If you have an existing 64 bit 12.04 install that you want to use see here for a work around. Step 2 Ensure openjdk-6-jdk and icedtea-6-plugin are installed by running this command from the Ubuntu VM's command line; sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk ic