Classroom and Lab Computing

UDrive: VPN Information

Summary

Beginning July 25, 2003 (the date was originally July 28, but warnings of a serious exploit caused it to be moved up), you need to use VPN to connect to the UDrive from an IP address outside of Penn State.  If you have DSL, a cable modem, or some other non-PSU network service, read this.

Why

As a teaching and research institution, Penn State has provided unrestricted access to the University’s internal network from the Internet.  Many remote users such as students who live off campus, traveling faculty, or employees who telecommute from a home office, may be connecting to the University’s network using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as DSL or a cable modem.

The accessibility of the University’s open network has resulted in an ever increasing number of "attacks" that present serious risks for our large numbers of computers; a compromised system can jeopardize other PSU computers.  Even if no systems were vulnerable to password guessing and other exploits, these attacks often make our computers run slowly and take staff time investigating possible problems.

To help protect University resources, ITS will selectively filter (block) selected protocol "ports" (135, 137, 138, 139, 445, and 1434) at the University's connection to the Internet beginning July 28. Traffic using these ports, typically for Windows file and printer sharing, will no longer be permitted to pass through the border router in either direction.

This action will not affect on-campus use of the impacted protocols, including dialup to PSU modems.  However, users accessing Windows shared folders or printers from computers that are not part of the Penn State network (that is, a computer using a network that is outside the psu.edu domain), can continue to use their ISP, but in combination with the Penn State Anywhere Virtual Private Network (VPN) service. This service is free of charge and enables your remote computer to appear to be a part of the PSU network.

What To Do

Obtain and Install Client

If you have an older version installed, we suggest you uninstall it first before doing the following; the current installer will uninstall the old version, but doesn't continue installing the new one after rebooting your system.

1. Enroll for Penn State Anywhere Service by going to this page.
2. Download the Windows Cisco VPN client from here.
3. Assuming you are using IE, you can select OPEN or SAVE; if you do SAVE, find the saved file and launch it.
4. Click on SETUP
   • the default install options are recommended (click Yes, Yes, Yes, etc.)
   • let it reboot.

Using It

1. Launch the "VPN Dialer" found under "Cisco Systems VPN Client" in the start menu.
2. Under "Connection Entry", pick "ISPtoPSU".
3. Click the Connect button.
4. Enter your Access Account userid and password when asked. 
   • You may check the option to save the password if your machine is private and usually secured.
   • If you enter your password incorrectly, pick "Erase User Password" from the Options menu before trying again.
5. Proceed to connect to the UDrive (or  UBackup or IDrive) as you did before (map drive letter(s) or use directly with "UNC" \\udrive.win.psu.edu\users\x\y\xyz123).

See the Penn State Anywhere pages for support information if you have problems.

Notes

• The Microsoft VPN client doesn't work with Penn State Anywhere; you must use the Cisco client.
• When your computer reconnects to a network, you'll have to launch the VPN client manually; a new version that launches automatically will hopefully be available later.  You might want to make a desktop shortcut for it.
• Data through your VPN connection is encrypted
• Only traffic to Penn State will go through the VPN connection.   Don't think your connection to your bank is secured with it.See the VPN Pages for more information.