Cisco AnyConnect

Institutes and facilities of the TU Dresden can use the  Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client software in order to have protected access from the according institute networks to the TU Dresden network.
Cisco AnyConnect uses VPN Tunnel  via the default SSL port (TCP 443) and DTLS port (UDP 443). Both ports must be opened in your firewall otherweise the performance could get low.
When building the VPN connection your PC will get an IP address from within the according network.

Cisco AnyConnect has some features to afford:

• obviously less connection problems from within external networks, because https is not as restricted as IPSec VPN
• automatical reconnection during a network change, e.g. via WLAN
• siginificantly easier installation of the software
• automatic software update via the VPN-Gateway
• Linux version independent from the kernel version

Installation

AnyConnect is supported by the following operating systems:

Cisco AnyConnect Software

The Client Software Cisco AnyConnect is necessary for the use of SSL VPN. Due to trademark and licensing laws a software download is only allowed with a valid ZIH Login. Admin rights are necessary for the first installation.

Windows - ATTENTION: when upgrading Windows  the Cisco AnyConnect Client SHOULD be deinstalled before the upgrade. Otherwise, the software may not work any longer.

The installation files for Windows have to be stored as *.msi files and the Transform-File as *.mst . If this should not work automatically, you have to right-click on the link and choose the option "save target as...". Afterwards you have to select "All files" and complete the file's name with ".msi" and ".mst" respectively. The file is stored properly then.

Because of a vulnerability in Cisco AnyConnect Client a so-called out-of-band update to version 4.9.05042 is recommended. To do so please download and install the packages below.
If you can't run such an update now, become an administrator or root on your local machine and find the file  AnyConnectLocalPolicy.xml in the corresponding location of your system:

• Windows: C:\ProgramData\Cisco\Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client\
• macOS: /opt/cisco/anyconnect/
• Linux: /opt/cisco/anyconnect/

find these lines in that file:

<RestrictScriptWebDeploy>false</RestrictScriptWebDeploy>
<RestrictHelpWebDeploy>false</RestrictHelpWebDeploy>
<RestrictResourceWebDeploy>false</RestrictResourceWebDeploy>
<RestrictLocalizationWebDeploy>false</RestrictLocalizationWebDeploy>

and change the values from false to true, if they are false:

<RestrictScriptWebDeploy>true</RestrictScriptWebDeploy>
<RestrictHelpWebDeploy>true</RestrictHelpWebDeploy>
<RestrictResourceWebDeploy>true</RestrictResourceWebDeploy>
<RestrictLocalizationWebDeploy>true</RestrictLocalizationWebDeploy>
 

Version AnyConnect 4.9.05042

• AnyConnect for Linux 64bit (Version 4.9.05042)
• AnyConnect for Mac OS X on Intel Platform (Version 4.9.05042)
• AnyConnect for Windows (Version 4.9.05042)
  Transform-File (.mst) for Windows - Turn Customer Experience Feedback (CEF) off: To enable the transform file run the following command in cmd window (CEF thus is being turned OFF):
  msiexec -i anyconnect-win-4_9_05042-core-vpn-predeploy-k9_mod.msi TRANSFORMS=anyconnect-win-disable-customer-experience-feedback-4_9_05042.mst
• NAM (Version 4.9.05042) - Network Access Management Tool for Windows
• PE (Version 4.9.05042) - Profile Editor Tool for Windows
• DART (Version 4.9.05042) - AnyConnect Problem Analyzer for Windows 

Version AnyConnect 4.9.04043

• AnyConnect for Linux 64bit (Version 4.9.04043)
• AnyConnect for Mac OS X on Intel Platform (Version 4.9.04043)
• AnyConnect for Windows (Version 4.9.04043)
  Transform-File (.mst) for Windows - Turn Customer Experience Feedback (CEF) off: To enable the transform file run the following command in cmd window (CEF thus is being turned OFF):
  msiexec -i anyconnect-win-4_9_04043-core-vpn-predeploy-k9.msi TRANSFORMS=anyconnect-win-disable-customer-experience-feedback-4_9_04043.mst
• NAM (Version 4.9.04043) - Network Access Management Tool for Windows
• PE (Version 4.9.04043) - Profile Editor Tool for Windows
• DART (Version 4.9.04043) - AnyConnect Problem Analyzer for Windows 

!! older versions are not recommended anymore due to vulnerabilities   !!

The AnyConnect versions for mobiles:

• AnyConnect on Windows Mobile (ActiveSync)
• AnyConnect on Windows Mobile (CAB-Format)