DATE: Tuesday, March 10, 2020
TO: Capital University Faculty & Staff Members
FROM: Department of Information Technology
RE: VPN Frequently Asked Questions
Given the rapidly changing state of COVID-19 in the State of Ohio, The Department of Information Technology has had a lot of questions regarding the use of the VPN client. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions and best practices for using the VPN client:
• What does VPN do?
A VPN connection connects your computer to campus through a secure tunnel, so that you can use campus resources that are not available when you’re away.
• Should I contact IT to learn how to use the VPN on my machine?
Only if you are a Colleague or heavy Shared Drive user. Almost everything else Capital related can be done without a VPN connection.
• What computers have VPN?
All university owned Dell laptops have the VPN client already configured and it is ready for use. Many university owned Mac laptops have VPN installed as well, but not all. If you are unsure if you have a VPN installed on your Mac or you are unsure how to use it, please contact the IT Help Desk for assistance.
• What services require a VPN connection?
Generally, the most common services that require VPN are Colleague, Shared Drives, and Synoptix. Most other common services can be accessed without VPN, such as email, iLearn, WebAdvisor, MyCap, 25Live, Google services, and The Raiser’s Edge.
• Should I do all of my work through a VPN connection?
No. VPN is a secure connection, which means it is very bandwidth intensive. It is fine to use something like Colleague, or access files on a Shared Drive, but you will find slower performance if you try to watch videos, attend video conferences, or use services such as Skype or Zoom. It is best to do the essentials through the VPN, and then disconnect from it when you are finished.
• Can Capital IT set up a VPN connection on my personal machine?
For security reasons, we cannot because we do not know what is installed on personal machines. Additionally, it is not safe to set up VPN on non-Capital machines as it could potentially infect our network infrastructure.
One more helpful tip, is if you want to access your home drive (H drive) files on a non-Capital machine, one option is to move those files to your Capital Google Drive. You can access this by logging into drive.google.com with your Capital email address and password. If you have further questions, please contact us at helpdesk@capital.edu, or at 614-236-6508.
Thank you!