UTD VPN How-To
UTD provides a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to allow secure access to the internal network through an encrypted tunnel. Internal network access is necessary for access to many services on the UTD network.
Linux Support
The current vpn setup uses a java-based client from Juniper Networks. This client is theoretically platform independent, but the installer has issues in some versions of linux. The install script provided by the webpage should work fine for you if you are running Red Hat or Fedora, but debian based distros will fail during the install. Thus guide is intended for debian based distros, but many of the settings should be the same for others.
To begin with, you will need to have the following packages installed.
sun-java6-bin
sun-java6-jre
sun-java6-jdk
sun-java6-plugin
zenity
These should be available in your distro's repositories.
You will also need a java-enabled browser. I used firefox.
Getting the Software
Go to http://utdvpn.utdallas.edu and log in with your netid and password.
Click the start button in the network connect box.
You may be asked if you wish to run the java applet that is loading. Allow the applet to run, and it should start a terminal session and ask you for your root password. If you are running Red Hat this may work for you, but for many this does not work. Whatever your distro, try to enter a password. If it fails, don't worry, just tell it no, you don't want to try again.
The install files for the software should now be present in your home directory.
If you want to check you can open ~/.juniper_networks/ in the terminal and you should see these files:
If this directory exists and has these files you are ready for the next step.
Installing the Software
To make the software install properly you will want to download this script
http://mad-scientist.us/junipernc
I did NOT write this script, it has been generously provided for free use by Paul D. Smith of mad-scientist.us.
Download the script to your home folder and make is executable. Run the script and answer the questions as prompted. At some point the script will fail in its attempt to contact the UTD server, so don't worry about what to type if you are not sure. They key function of the script is just to install the software.
Connecting to UTD
Now that the software is properly installed, connecting is rather trivial. Log back in to http://utdvpn.utdallas.edu and click the network connect start button again. This time the applet should start up network connect and you should now be tunneled into the school network.
Good luck!
