Trying to start VPNC from PHP exec()

Question

I am trying to start my VPN connection (using VPNC) from PHP. I have to do it this way because it is closed remotely if there isn't activity so I can't just leave it running on the server. I am able to do it from the command line by typing:

/usr/local/sbin/vpnc --natt-mode force-natt

This works. It doesn't require any input from me because I'm storing the password in it's conf file. This does not work from PHP:

exec('/usr/local/sbin/vpnc --natt-mode force-natt', $output, $result);
echo $result.',';
print_r($output);

The output is:

1,Array
(
)

Safe mode is off, the "/usr/local/sbin" directory is allowed via open_basedir, and vpnc is executable by all users. Any ideas why I can't get the VPN connection going this way?

Answer 1

Turned out the problem was needing to call it using "sudo." VPNC has to be called from root. I've posted more info here: http://bkwld.com/blog/2009/10/vpn-through-php-on-mt/