CSLab SupportNetworking > VPN
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
The CSLab VPN is our recommended way to access CSLab resources when off-campus. It provides direct access to the CSLab network, including the whole range of CSLab resources, including Samba and the CSLab mail server. In other words, the same settings that you use at CSLab will work from home. It is also a recommended way to use the CSLab wireless network.
Please be aware that using the internet while connected to the VPN can route your internet traffic through the CSLab network, the university network backbone, and the university's internet gateway, unless you explicitly configure your machine to do otherwise. Such constitutes "use of campus network resources", is governed by the appropriate university policy, and will be subject to whatever the university might choose to do to traffic traversing its networks (e.g. throttling, shaping, monitoring, blocking). So please do not do anything contrary to university policy while connected to the VPN.
Windows, Mac OS X and Linux come with free native VPN clients that are interoperable with the CSLab PPTP VPN.
Linux distributions typically come with free VPN clients that will work with the OpenVPN server, Windows users will need to obtain a client. Reliable free clients for Windows are available.
Some hand-held devices may only support OpenVPN. Please consult your PoC for assistance.
In the event that you have two CSLab users behind a NAT gateway, i.e. a home DSL router or similar, most VPNs will disallow multiple connections from one IP. In this case, you may obtain two VPN connections by having one user connect to the PPTP VPN server, and one user connect to the OpenVPN server.
In order to use the CSLab VPN, you need a VPN account. If you have a CSLab account, you can create your VPN account with our self-serve VPN account registration (this can also be used to get your VPN password if you have forgotten it). Alternatively, you can email your Point of Contact (PoC) to get a set of credentials for the VPN. Once you have done that, you should follow the appropriate link.
PPTP VPN
Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and MAC OSX (Jaguar and later) have a native VPN client that can be configured for use with our VPN server. The directions for each OS are slightly different.