Question: **This question is Not about how to set up VPN on an Ubuntu server.** 

Edited: I think what I'm looking for is the way to set up a PPTP VPN client on my Ubuntu server by command line.

I have an Ubuntu server running and connected to the internet. I also have a VPN service (PPTP) running on another Linux machine. Now all I want to do is configure this Ubuntu server so that all the internet traffic it generates goes through the VPN.

How can I achieve this?

Answer: 
`GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT` and `GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET` options are deprecated. So comment those out.

To skip the menu and show it only when holding `ESC`, add:

```
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE='countdown'
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1

```

**Sample `/etc/default/grub`**

```
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=countdown
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

```

**`GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE`**:
If this option is set to `countdown` or `hidden`, then, **before**
displaying the menu, GRUB will wait for the the timeout set by
`GRUB_TIMEOUT` to expire. If `ESC` is pressed during that time, it will display the GRUB menu and wait for input.
I had the problem that the grub menu appeared always after I used the AUFS (unionfs) to put the root filesystem readonly. I had phisically to hit the enter key at the server after every boot. I followed the instructions here : [disable grub 2 menu](http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-server-73/how-to-disable-grub-2-menu-even-after-server-crash-796562/). Since, I had no problems at all.

Edit the /boot/grub/grub.cfg and change:

```
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi

```

To 

```
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=1
else
  set timeout=10
fi

```