FortiClient VPN on Linux – IPSec Remote Access VPN Not Available (FortiOS 7.6.6)

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
March 15, 2026
4 replies
1062 views

Hello Community,

We are currently facing an issue regarding IPSec Remote Access VPN connectivity from Linux (Ubuntu) using FortiClient VPN as the user agent.

Our FortiGate is running FortiOS 7.6.6, and we want to allow remote users to connect through IPSec Remote Access VPN. However, after installing FortiClient VPN on Ubuntu, we noticed that the GUI only provides options for SSL VPN and XML configuration, and there is no option available for IPSec VPN.

Since SSL VPN is not supported in our current deployment scenario on FortiOS 7.6.6, we intended to use IPSec-based Remote Access.

As a workaround, we installed strongSwan on Ubuntu and configured the IPSec connection manually. The VPN tunnel was established successfully using the user created on the FortiGate, and connectivity is working properly.

However, we would like to clarify the following points:

Is IPSec Remote Access officially not supported in FortiClient VPN Only for Linux?
If FortiClient VPN does not support IPSec on Linux, does Fortinet recommend using strongSwan or any other client for Linux users to connect via IPSec?
We also have macOS users in our environment. What would be the recommended solution for them to connect through IPSec-based Remote Access VPN?

Any guidance or best practices from the community or the Fortinet team would be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Ijaj Ahmed

funkylicious

SuperUser

as per https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiClient/Technical-Tip-Install-FortiClient-on-Linux/ta-p/369003 ipsec for linux is not supported at this time.

for macOS should not be a problem unless you use IKEv2 which is not configurable from the GUI. you would need to export the config file, edit then version from 1 to 2 and import it back.

"jack of all trades, master of none"

joan1

New Member

We're on the same board, even worse on our case we are using SAML, that I don't know if it can be configured with openswan, the message from fortigate seems to be clear so far, you either go the per user license ztna/ems or you start looking for workarounds alternatives because there are no plans to support this in any published roadmap.

I found another guide from an affected individual here if it's useful for someone

https://calisamaa.medium.com/fortigate-removed-ssl-vpn-heres-how-i-got-linux-clients-working-with-ipsec-on-fedora-42-493ab39c1a0d

S

Sara11

New Member

Please can you send the configuration file for fortigate and ubuntu ?