Finding Wireless Access Locations
The UA Public Wireless Network is available in many locations on
campus. A list of buildings with wireless access can be found by clicking
here.
The wireless network is publicly available and has restricted services
for security purposes. For unrestricted access, you must
have a VPN account engaged.
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A virtual private network (VPN) is a secured network that uses a
publicly accessible infrastructure. You can establish a VPN account that
will allow you to securely connect to the UA Wireless Network on campus.
Additionally, a VPN account will allow the user to connect securely to the
Internet via the University of Alabama’s network from anywhere in the
world. A valid Bama email account is required to access the VPN.
Instructions for registering your account for VPN access and for creating
your VPN connection can be found at the
HelpDesk.
Connecting to the UA VPN is very easy once you have registered your
account and created the VPN connection. In fact, this step should have
been completed at the end of the steps for creating a VPN connection,
but it will need to be repeated each time you log on to the UA VPN,
so it is included here also. If you created an icon for the UA VPN on
your desktop when you created your VPN account, then double-click the
icon. Otherwise, select Start, Connect To, (possibly Show all connections),
then double-click the UA VPN icon. Log on with your Bama email account
user name and password.
You may use your UA VPN connection to connect securely to your office
computer from any on-campus wireless access point, provided your
office computer is running Windows XP Professional with Service
Pack 2 and your other computer is running Windows XP Home or
Professional and has wireless capabilities.
You will need to prepare your office computer to allow
remote access. Select
Start and right-click on My Computer. Select Properties. Select the
Remote tab. Below the Remote Desktop heading, check the box next to
“Allow users to connect remotely to this computer”
and then write down the full computer name. Finally, select OK.
The following steps will need to be repeated each time that you wish
to connect securely to your office computer from any other
computer using the UA Wireless Network. From your wireless capable
computer
- Connect to the UA Wireless Network.
- Connect to the UA VPN (instructions given above).
- Select Start. Select Run. Type the command
“mstsc”, without parentheses, and select OK to access the
Remote Desktop Connection. Alternatively, you may select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, (possibly Communications), then Remote Desktop
Connection. At the prompt, type the full computer name of your work
computer and select Connect.
- You will then be asked to Log On to Windows. Enter your user name
and password for your office computer and select OK. You should
now be connected to your work computer from your wireless
computer through the UA Wireless Network using the secure UA VPN.
When you connect to your computer at work from another computer,
Remote Desktop automatically locks your office computer so no one
else can access your applications and files while you are gone.
You may terminate the Remote Desktop Connection from your wireless
computer by moving your mouse pointer to the top of the screen and
selecting the small “X” from the right-hand side of the
trapezoidal tab. To terminate the UA VPN connection,
simply select Start, then Connect To,
right-click on the UA VPN connection, and finally Disconnect.
You may terminate the Remote
Desktop Connection from your computer at work by typing CTRL+ALT+DEL
and then typing in your user name and password.
