I have a non-NATed Openswan+xl2tpd server (Ubuntu 12.04), to which I connect with a Windows 8 behind NAT. The client loses its connection after a while of doing nothing (between 30 and 60 minutes, but I didn't time it).

The client doesn't have enabled that it should kill inactive connections. Nor does it ever go into sleep mode. I also tried setting the kill-after-time to 24 hours, but that didn't help.

The NAT router behind which the client located is Debian Linux, and its router is a Cisco which connects us directly to the data center where the server is. None of our other connections, like SSH, get dropped with inactivity (because of cheap routers). I did however try turning on the keepalives in /etc/ipsec.conf:

config setup
    (...snip...)
    nat_traversal=yes
    force_keepalive=yes
    keep_alive=10

but that didn't help.

As you can see in the config later, dead peer detection's action is clear. That would be a first suggestion to fix, but I need clear, because people will be connecting from everwhere but the kitchen sink. Besides, as I said, in the test setup I have now, I can't see any device killing its connection. (edit: 'restart' also has the same effect)

These are of one time it happened:

Jul 18 16:18:06 host xl2tpd[1918]: Maximum retries exceeded for tunnel 49070.  Closing.
Jul 18 16:18:06 host xl2tpd[1918]: Terminating pppd: sending TERM signal to pid 18359
Jul 18 16:18:06 host xl2tpd[1918]: Connection 4 closed to 89.188.x.y, port 1701 (Timeout)
Jul 18 16:18:11 host xl2tpd[1918]: Unable to deliver closing message for tunnel 49070. Destroying anyway.

and these on another:

Jul 18 17:44:39 host xl2tpd[1918]: udp_xmit failed to 89.188.x.y:1701 with err=-1:Operation not permitted
Jul 18 17:44:43  xl2tpd[1918]: last message repeated 4 times
Jul 18 17:44:43 host xl2tpd[1918]: Maximum retries exceeded for tunnel 10918.  Closing. 
Jul 18 17:44:43 host xl2tpd[1918]: udp_xmit failed to 89.188.x.y:1701 with err=-1:Operation not permitted
Jul 18 17:44:43 host xl2tpd[1918]: Terminating pppd: sending TERM signal to pid 26338
Jul 18 17:44:43 host xl2tpd[1918]: Connection 6 closed to 89.188.x.y, port 1701 (Timeout)
Jul 18 17:44:44 host xl2tpd[1918]: udp_xmit failed to 89.188.x.y:1701 with err=-1:Operation not permitted
Jul 18 17:44:48  xl2tpd[1918]: last message repeated 3 times
Jul 18 17:44:48 host xl2tpd[1918]: Unable to deliver closing message for tunnel 10918. Destroying anyway.
Jul 18 17:44:59 host xl2tpd[1918]: Can not find tunnel 10918 (refhim=0)
Jul 18 17:44:59 host xl2tpd[1918]: network_thread: unable to find call or tunnel to handle packet.  call = 0, tunnel = 10918 Dumping. 
Jul 18 17:45:09 host xl2tpd[1918]: Can not find tunnel 10918 (refhim=0)
Jul 18 17:45:09 host xl2tpd[1918]: network_thread: unable to find call or tunnel to handle packet.  call = 0, tunnel = 10918 Dumping. 
Jul 18 17:45:19 host xl2tpd[1918]: Can not find tunnel 10918 (refhim=0)
Jul 18 17:45:19 host xl2tpd[1918]: network_thread: unable to find call or tunnel to handle packet.  call = 0, tunnel = 10918 Dumping. 
Jul 18 17:45:29 host xl2tpd[1918]: Can not find tunnel 10918 (refhim=0)
Jul 18 17:45:29 host xl2tpd[1918]: network_thread: unable to find call or tunnel to handle packet.  call = 0, tunnel = 10918 Dumping. 
Jul 18 17:45:39 host xl2tpd[1918]: Can not find tunnel 10918 (refhim=0)
Jul 18 17:45:39 host xl2tpd[1918]: network_thread: unable to find call or tunnel to handle packet.  call = 0, tunnel = 10918 Dumping. 
Jul 18 17:45:49 host xl2tpd[1918]: Can not find tunnel 10918 (refhim=0)
Jul 18 17:45:49 host xl2tpd[1918]: network_thread: unable to find call or tunnel to handle packet.  call = 0, tunnel = 10918 Dumping.

Versions:

• Ubuntu 12.04
• Openswan: 2.6.37-1
• xl2tpd: 3.1+dfsg-1
• kernel: 3.2.0-49-generic

configs:

/etc/ipsec.conf:

version    2.0    # conforms to second version of ipsec.conf specification

config setup
    nat_traversal=yes
    virtual_private=%v4:10.0.0.0/8,%v4:192.168.0.0/16,%v4:172.16.0.0/12,%v4:!10.152.2.0/24
    oe=off
    protostack=netkey
    force_keepalive=yes
    keep_alive=10

conn L2TP-PSK-NAT
    rightsubnet=vhost:%priv
    also=L2TP-PSK-noNAT

conn L2TP-PSK-noNAT
    authby=secret
    pfs=no
    auto=add
    keyingtries=2
    rekey=no
    dpddelay=30
    dpdtimeout=120
    dpdaction=clear
    ikelifetime=8h
    keylife=1h
    type=transport
    left=%defaultroute
    leftprotoport=17/1701
    right=%any
    rightprotoport=17/%any

/etc/xl2tpd/xl2tpd.conf

[global]
ipsec saref = no

[lns default]
ip range = 10.152.2.2-10.152.2.254
local ip = 10.152.2.1
refuse chap = yes
refuse pap = yes
require authentication = yes
ppp debug = no
pppoptfile = /etc/ppp/options.xl2tpd
length bit = yes

/etc/ppp/options.xl2tpd:

require-mschap-v2
refuse-mschap
ms-dns 10.152.2.1
asyncmap 0
auth
crtscts
idle 1800
mtu 1200
mru 1200
lock
hide-password
local
#debug
name l2tpd
proxyarp
lcp-echo-interval 30
lcp-echo-failure 4