Connecting to the VPN for Students

Owned by Athena Tate (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jul 04, 2020 by Amy Pfeifer (Unlicensed)
6 min read

For students or student workers who need access to campus-only resources such as departmental shared drives (BCShares, or the “M” drive), Raiser’s Edge, or other specific services, you may need to connect to the college using a VPN. The following instructions will help you install and connect to the campus through the student VPN.

Important: The student VPN only allows access to certain specific campus resources. It does not offer the ability to access websites or services (such as Google) from countries that may block access to such services, nor does this VPN offer any additional security, protection, or anonymity. For those situations, consider subscribing to a commercial VPN service such as Private Internet Access which does offer those features.

Faculty and staff who need to access campus resources should not use the student VPN and should instead use the faculty and staff VPN .

 

 

Important Information

Use of the college VPN should be limited only to the situations in which it is required. While public VPN services exist to help address privacy concerns while browsing the web, the college VPN is not designed for this purpose and should be used exclusively for accessing campus resources that are not available from off-site.

When to Use the VPN

While off-campus or when using a personal computer, certain resources will be unavailable unless you have first connected to the VPN. If you are off-campus or performing student work from your personal computer, connect to the VPN in order to access these services:

  • BCVault (Includes BCShares, or the “M” drive)

  • Other services as specified by your supervisor or by LITS

Disconnecting When Not In Use

It’s important to remember to disconnect the VPN when not using the above resources. While connected to the VPN, you may notice that network connectivity (including web browsing, file transfers, etc.) will be slower than normal, even while on a fast internet connection. The VPN client may also try to keep you connected to the VPN even after you have returned to campus or after you have restarted your computer or disconnected from the internet. To prevent connection speed issues or other problems, be sure to disconnect from the VPN after using it.

 

Installing the Student VPN Client

On a Windows PC

  1. Open your web browser (Chrome is recommended) and navigate to https://144.89.4.1/

    • If you see a page that says something like “Your connection is not private”, click the Advanced button, then click the link Proceed to 144.89.4.1 (unsafe) or Continue Anyway

  2. Log into the GlobalProtect Portal with your Beloit College username and password

  3. Click the link labelled “Download Windows 64 bit GlobalProtect agent” to download the VPN Installer

    • Note: If the application will not run in the next step, you may need to download the 32 bit version instead

  4. Once the download completes, run the downloaded application and follow the installation prompts to install in the default location

 

On a Mac

  1. Open your web browser (Chrome is recommended) and navigate to https://144.89.4.1/

    • If you see a page that says something like “Your connection is not private”, click the Advanced button, then click the link Proceed to 144.89.4.1 (unsafe) or Continue Anyway

  2. Log into the GlobalProtect Portal with your Beloit College username and password

  3. Click the link labelled “Download Mac 32/64 bit GlobalProtect agent” to download the VPN Installer

  4. Once the download completes, run the downloaded application package and follow the installation prompts to install in the default location

 

Connecting to the Student VPN

On a Windows PC

To connect to the VPN

  1. Click on the GlobalProtect icon in your system tray at the bottom of the screen near the clock - its icon looks like a globe

    • You may need to click the arrow to the left of the visible icons in order to show additional tray icons

  2. When the GlobalProtect window appears, enter the portal address 144.89.4.1 into the text box and click Connect

    • If you receive a certificate error, click Continue

  3. Enter your college username and password when prompted and click Sign In

To disconnect from the VPN

  1. Click on the GlobalProtect icon in your system tray at the bottom of the screen near the clock - its icon looks like a globe with a lock over it

    • You may need to click the arrow to the left of the visible icons in order to show additional tray icons

  2. Click Disconnect

 

 

On a Mac

To connect to the VPN

  1. Click on the GlobalProtect icon in your system tray at the top of the screen near the clock - its icon looks like a globe

  2. When the GlobalProtect window appears, click Connect

  3. Enter your college username and password when prompted and click Sign In

To disconnect from the VPN

  1. Click on the GlobalProtect icon in your system tray at the top of the screen near the clock - its icon looks like a globe with a lock over it

  2. Click Disconnect

 

Troubleshooting

I receive an error message stating “Authentication failed” or “Invalid username or password”

“Authentication failed” errors mean that either an invalid username and/or password was used, or you do not have access to the VPN.

  1. Try reconnecting again - be sure to use your college username (the first part of your email address, before the @ symbol), and your college password (the same one you log into your email or the Portal with)

  2. Make sure your password is not expired and that you’re not locked out of your account; try logging into the Portal or your email to verify that your account is active

I receive a warning about a “problem with the security certificate”

Because Beloit College self-signs the security certificate used to connect your computer to our servers, your computer may not recognize its validity.

You can safely ignore the warning and click Continue to continue connecting to the VPN.

I installed the GlobalProtect app but am asked for a “portal” or “gateway” address

On Windows, you will need to manually enter in the portal address the first time you connect to the VPN. This address is 144.89.4.1

On Mac, the gateway address should be pre-populated within the app. If not, use the same address as above.

Further support

If you still have trouble connecting to the VPN or accessing college resources from off-site, please contact LITS support by submitting a SchoolDude ticket, emailing itsupport@beloit.edu, or calling (608) 363-4357.