i tried to use network manager to connect to my university's vpn; it didn't work. then i used a command line vpnc:

> sudo vpnc
[sudo] password for kirill: 
Enter IPSec gateway address: vpn.net.**.edu
Enter IPSec ID for vpn.net.**.edu: **
Enter IPSec secret for **@vpn.net.**.edu: 
Enter username for vpn.net.**.edu: **
Enter password for **@vpn.net.**.edu: 
vpnc: Error binding to source port. Try '--local-port 0'
Failed to bind to 0.0.0.0:500: Address already in use

then i did this:

sudo vpnc --local-port 0

with the same config and it all worked.

i'd like to be able to use network manager gui to connect to vpn. I wanted to find out which program uses the port 500:

> sudo netstat -a |grep 500
tcp        0      0 *:17500                 *:*                     LISTEN     
udp        0      0 *:4500                  *:*                                
udp        0      0 *:17500                 *:*                                
unix  3      [ ]         STREAM     CONNECTED     63500    
unix  3      [ ]         STREAM     CONNECTED     12500    @/tmp/.X11-unix/X0

there is nothing that uses 500

i'm using ubuntu 10.10 on thinkpad x201t