gnome network manager doesn't check dial-up status --> no vpn possible

["Florian Pressler" <airflow 2007 gmail com>]

Hi there,

I'm trying the gnome network manager for the first time these days, and so far I can say that things work quite easily and without much
config-hassling.

There is just one issue at the moment I have with the gnome network manager.
I need wireless with WPA (this works), I need dial-up for my UMTS/GMS
PCMCIA-Datacard (this works, too), and I need VPN-client functionality (works
like a charm with vpnc in connection with the plugin for the network manager).

The problem is using dial-up and VPN *together*. It's just not possible
- the network manager is not offering me connecting via VPN if I'm in
the Internet via the Datacard. It works, if I'm wired or wirelessly
(802.11b/g) connected.

I think the real problem is that the tool is not aware of the actual
status of the dial-up connection and because of this the tool can't
show it to the user. This also has a big consequence/drawback - as the
tool doesn't know about the status of the connection, the icon above is
shown as "not connected" --> and then you also can't start a
VPN-connection!

This is really a broken design of the tool. A common use-case is the
following: I'm travelling with my laptop and have a UMTS/GSM
PCMCIA-Datacard with me. I connect to the Internet (with the dial Up
functionality of network-manager) and then want to start VPN to
establish a secure tunnel to my company. I can't do that, because
network-manager doesn't let me start VPN (it's greyed out), because it
doesn't know about the dial-up status and thinks it's not connected. If
I were at a wireless-hotspot, network-manager does check the status and
offers me to connect via VPN (works perfectly, by the way).

Perhaps I'll find a workaround by using some scripts to manually start
the VPN-connection, but I would rather like to see this fixed. If i can
help/test/do anything (except programming, which I can't), I'll gladly
do it.

Best Regards,
airflow