|
Virtual Private Network (VPN) software provides a secure network connection
from your computer to the central Machine Room in Baker/Berry where many of the
central servers are located. There are three reasons to use the VPN
software:
- Some Dartmouth resources require you to have a VPN connection in order to
access them, regardless of whether you are on or off campus.
- Dartmouth provides several different wireless networks, only one of
which is secure and encrypted:
Dartmouth Secure. When connecting to the wireless network, Dartmouth
faculty, staff, and students should choose Dartmouth Secure.
The other campus wireless
SSIDs are not secure, so people can see what you are sending across
the air waves. If you are using one of these other wireless networks, you
should always start a VPN connection prior to sending any information across
the network (e.g., e-mail, data on Web pages).
- If you need access to Dartmouth's resources and you are not using
Dartmouth's network (e.g., connecting from off campus), the VPN software is
required to utilize certain resources such as online journals from the Library.
Dartmouth licenses Cisco's VPN software for this use, but there are other
VPN software vendors whose product may work as well. Dartmouth's VPN
server uses the IPSec or PPTP protocol for these connections, so whichever
product you choose, it will need to be able to communicate via one of these
protocols. Instructions for configuring and downloading the Cisco VPN software
are available below. Note: For Linux computers, there is a
Cisco VPN Client; however, the open-source vpnc application works
better for some people.
For more information related to this topic, see:
|
