Accessing Your Email and FTP via VPN from Off Campus

The changes to how you access your FTP and email apply only if you try to connect to our FTP or email from off-campus. The only change is to start a VPN connection before you try to access your email or FTP site.

• If you are accessing a web page on our server or anywhere else, nothing has changed. You can view them as you have before.

• If you are accessing an online service like COIN, OmniUpdate or web-based email from on or off campus, nothing has changed.

• If you are accessing your UMass Dartmouth FTP account or your email using Outlook or another program, on campus through a wired connection, nothing has changed.

• If you are accessing your UMass Dartmouth FTP account or your email using Outlook or another program, on campus through a wireless connection, nothing has changed. You still need to log on with your wireless username and password before you can use the Internet.

• If you are accessing your UMass Dartmouth FTP account or your email using Outlook or another program from off campus, whether wired or wireless, you need to add a step. Read on below.

How to log in from off campus

To log in from off campus, you now need a VPN account. This is the same VPN account you use for accessing the campus wireless network. You need it whether you use wireless or not, even if your computer is a desktop that never comes to campus. The technology is explained below; read on for how to set up your VPN username and password.

Setting up your VPN account

Go to http://www.umassd.edu/cits/wireless/. Follow the instructions there for setting up a VPN account and for how to set up your computer to use the VPN account. You can access the VPN setup site and the instructions regardless of whether you have VPN set up or not.

Connecting to FTP or email from off campus

You can use your FTP or Email program as usual. Before you try to log in or check your email, though, you need to start your VPN account. Refer to the CITS Wireless pages for how to connect using your computer. If you try to connect without starting your VPN, your FTP program will not connect and your email program will not find the mail server.

Once the VPN is running, you can log on or off email and FTP, even quit and start the programs. There's no order to what has to stop or start--you can start your VPN and then start your email program, or the reverse, for example. You won't be able to access the UMass Dartmouth email or FTP servers until you do, though, so if you find your FTP program can't find the UMass Dartmouth FTP server, try checking if your VPN is connected.

Note that your computer may disconnect your VPN connection if it goes to sleep or if there's no activity over the connection for a length of time. You may be able to have your computer automatically reconnect after loosing the connection. Consult your computer's help documentation on how to do that.

What is VPN?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It is a method of securing data and access to sensitive programs. The email and FTP servers are sensitive areas that CITS controls access to. We can secure connections and access on campus, which is why you don't need to do anything extra when you connect on campus. Off campus, though, there are few options available. VPN allows us to secure access to our servers for users who are off campus.

VPN works by creating a virtual "you" on campus when you log in. When you do, all communication with the FTP and email servers go to that virtual "you" the VPN creates. We can then secure the connection to the virtual "you", and from the virtual "you" to your computer off campus. It all works transparently; aside from logging on, you shouldn't notice any change in how you work.

Problems with VPN

VPN relies on networking connections that some locations turn off. For example, if you try to log in from a cafe that offers wireless internet, you may find you're unable to. The cafe may have turned off access to the network connections that VPN relies on. This is up to the location, not us. You can still access websites, including web-based email, but you'll have to find another location to use VPN.

If you find this happens at home, you'll need to check your home network. Consult the help files and documentation that came with your home network software and hardware.