[solved] NordLayer: netlink receive: invalid argument

samidarko · n00b Joined: 10 Aug 2014 Posts: 37

Hi,

I'm trying to run NordLayer on Gentoo.

I downloaded the deb file, extracted, etc.

I'm able to start the process in a terminal with command: sudo -u nordlayer /usr/sbin/nordlayerd

The console shows:

rab0171610 · Guru Joined: 24 Dec 2022 Posts: 306

I'm a long time Nord customer. It should be noted that NordLayer is a proprietary subscription based application. Nord only officially supports Debian and RHEL. If you were using one of those OS, they would provide support as it is included in your service plan. Since you are using Gentoo, you are on your own.
Simply extracting the program from the .deb or .rpm package may not be enough. The control files in the .deb packages, for example, often have instructions that set environment variables or set up symlinks. Also, the program may rely on the stock distribution kernels in the respective OS, RHEL or Debian, with config options that may not be present on your system. As well, it may expect library versions that are not present on your system or may expect those items to be found in locations that differ from your system. Usually ebuilds found in overlays address those issues when installing the program in a Gentoo system.

My suggestion is that you try setting up NordLayer on one of the officially supported OS. At that point, any issues that you have you could seek technical support from Nord since as a customer you are paying for it.

In my experience, there have been issues with Nord (in my case VPN) software on Debian that only resolves itself when a new version of the application is released. This prevented me from using their service or logging in for extended periods of time. Even an ebuild from an overlay for NordVpn would quit working on Gentoo when trying to login. This only gets resolved when the .deb and then eventually the ebuild get updated. I eventually started to rely on OpenVPN configuration and bypassing the official Nord apps all together.

I am assuming that your kernel is able to handle both classic and generic Netlink protocols.
I wish you luck. Maybe someone who has figured out how to get NordLayer working on Gentoo will be able to assist but I wanted to point out some of the experiences I have had with using Nord apps in Gentoo.

samidarko · n00b Joined: 10 Aug 2014 Posts: 37

Thanks for the pointers. I think I'll just give a shot to OpenVPN