Engineering VPN FAQ

This document attempts to answer some common questions about the College of Engineering's VPN service

What is VPN?

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a tool that creates a secure network connection from a public or private network (like a cafe or your home) to another network (UW Or CoE). UW-Madison uses VPN technology to enable remote users to securely connect to certain campus and/or college resources.

What is the difference between WiscVPN and Engineering's VPN?

There is very little difference between WiscVPN and Engineering's VPN service. Engineering's VPN service has all the same features as WiscVPN and if WiscVPN does what you need it to, there is no reason to switch. The only additional feature of Engineering's VPN is that it will give you access to resources that are behind the College of Engineering's Firewall.

Are there any places that the VPN will not work?

No. The VPN client should work most anywhere.

Will Engineering's VPN work from the campus wireless network?

Yes. In fact, if you use Engineering's VPN, you can connect directly to the VPN using the "Full Tunnel" profile without having to authenticate to the campus wireless.

There are several types of VPN in Engineering, which do I choose?

For the most part, undergraduates will use WiscVPN, but have access to the license VPN for use with some software programs. Graduate students and faculty/staff can activate the CoE VPN and use either the full or split tunnel mode. There is also a special type called Collaborator VPN (see below). 

When should I use the VPN?

Whenever you need to access College resources that are not accessible through the College's firewall.

I'm traveling and I'm in a hotel (or at a conference, in a coffee shop, et cetera), what profile should I use?

You should use the Full Tunnel profile which will put all of your network traffic through the VPN tunnel and back out the College of Engineering's network.

Should I always leave my VPN connected?

No, you should only have the VPN connected when you need to do work behind the College's firewall.

What is the difference between "Split Tunnel" and "Full Tunnel"?

Split Tunnel means that only network traffic that is destined for a computer on the UW-Madison campus will be sent through the VPN tunnel. All other network traffic will travel normally over the internet and will appear to come from your computer's IP address. Full Tunnel means that *all* internet traffic will travel through the VPN tunnel, regardless of its destination and all of the traffic will appear to come from a College of Engineering IP address.

What is "Collaborator Mode"?

Collaborator Mode is a special restricted version of the College of Engineering's VPN. This version specifically denies access to resources that the College of Engineering or the University of Wisconsin have paid for. In addition, this version uses a split tunnel that only sends traffic destined for the College of Engineering's networks through it. Traffic to the rest of UW-Madison will *not* be sent through the VPN tunnel.

See Also:



Keywords:CoE Engineering VPN questions   Doc ID:8312
Owner:David D.Group:Computer-Aided Engineering
Created:2008-10-06 19:00 CDTUpdated:2016-04-19 14:13 CDT
Sites:Computer-Aided Engineering
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