How to run pulse secure client via command line on linux

[supachailllpay]

I'm using Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) and ps-pulse-linux-9.1r10.

I have successfully installed the package via .deb file using:

dpkg -i ps-pulse-linux-9.1r10.0-b5655-64-bit-installer.deb

and I can see the service it running:

systemctl | grep running

pulsesecure.service          loaded active running   pulsesecure service Daemon

Then I try to run it by following this guide in section Launch the Command Line Client but I couldn't find PulseClient.sh file and there is no /usr/local/pulse directory.

I can only find the pulse secure package in /opt/pulsesecure which have 3 more subdirectories, bin, lib, and resource and here is list of files in bin:

cefBrowser

cefSubProcess

certificate_installer.sh

jamCommand

LogsAndDiagnostics.sh

pulselauncher

pulsesecure

pulseUI

setup_cef.sh

startup.sh

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. So my question is How do I run pulse secure via command line?

Thank you in advance.

[[email protected] · Accepted solution]

@supachailllpay It's the pulselauncher program. --help will provide the possible options. You can pass the signin URL argument with -U switch (-U <VPN hostname/string>) and it'll prompt to type all the required details for CLI connection.

Reference - https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Secure_Article/KB23158/?kA1j0000000FjG0 (KB is about Windows)

[supachailllpay]

Thank you for your answer. I think your answer is correct. But it doesn't work in my case.

I have tried running the command and found that it asked about the Realm but all I have is Server URL, Username and Password. In addition the server also requires an OTP to connect.

These screenshots are from macOS:

https://i.imgur.com/IdNpPqI.png 

https://i.imgur.com/5fGSBsA.png 

I tried to find out more about Pulse Secure and OTP but couldn't find much. Now I'm not sure if this is the original Pulse Secure application or a modified version. And is it still possible to run it through the "pulselauncher" command?

Thank you in advance.

[zanyterp]

if you are needing an OTP, no, pulselauncher will not be viable

[[email protected]]

@supachailllpay Pulselauncher merely transfers the connection call to Pulse UI (it's not a standalone CLI client like we have in Linux OS). Think of it like a way to make you click on connect on the UI, however, it's done through CLI.

So, I'm guessing, using OTP as secondary auth should work as expected. You can get the realm details from the VPN team. Do you see any error message when trying the steps?