Auto reconnecting Cisco VPN client

As good as Cisco Systems is at developing cutting edge products, sometimes the products will leave you quite frustrated when certain basic feature are left out. Case in point is their VPN client software.

There is no GUI feature for automatically reconnecting to your V{PN server if your client happens to disconnect (which could be frequently). If you cleint PC is wireless or at a remote or branch office with flaky internet, diconnections could be frequent and annoying.

Here’s how you can confiogure your VPN client to automaticall reconnect to the VPN if it looses it’s connection:

Edit C:Program FilesCisco SystemsVPN Clientvpnclient.ini in Notepad.

The additions to this configuration file that enable autoreconnect are highlighted in bold.

Start of INI file
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[main] ClientLanguage=
AutoInitiationEnable=1 (Turns on the feature)
AutoInitiationRetryIntervalType=1 (1=Seconds, 2=minutes)
AutoInitiationRetryInterval=10 (Sets it to 10 second intervals)
AutoInitiationList=NetworkAll (Specifies what network to watch for auto-reconnect. This list can all the different VPN networks you connect to)
[NetworkAll] (This corresponds to your previous entry. Each network has to be in it’s own bracket with it’s specifics)
Network=0.0.0.0 (indicates any network)
Mask=0.0.0.0
ConnectionEntry=Lavallette Office (points to a connection profile named Lavallette Office.pcf in C:Program FilesCisco SystemsVPN ClientProfiles)
Connect=1
[GUI] DefaultConnectionEntry=Lavallette Office

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End of INI file