| VPN Information |
A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. Applications running on an end system (PC, smartphone etc.) across a VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and management of the private network.
For CS 6 or CS 8, you only need to perform one action while connected to the UCR VPN: Setup your AWS (Amazon Web Services) account.
Because AWS allows UCR students to create special accounts, they (AWS) do not want anybody outside of UCR to be able to do the setup. Therefore, they restrict access to users from UCR's network. If you are on campus and connecting to UCR's network, this is not a problem, but if you are remote, that means you cannot access the special AWS setup unless you connect to the UCR VPN first. This makes it appear you are at UCR, which means AWS will allow you to access the special setup.
Note that once you have setup your AWS account, you will not need to use the UCR VPN again (at least for CS 6 or CS 8).
The following page on the UCR website has general information about the VPN you should use: UCR VPN Info
The VPN software that UCR would like everybody to use is called GlobalProtect VPN. There are instructions on how to download, install, and use it on the following page: GlobalProtect VPN Knowledge Base Article
In order to download the GlobalProtect VPN client, you must login to their website using your UCR Net ID and password (the same ID and password you would use when logging into iLearn, for example). Remember to use your Net ID and not your email address.
A few students have experienced issues with logging into the GlobalProtect VPN website with their UCR Net ID and password. If this happens to you, you need to contact the UCR ITS (Information Technology Solutions) support group.
You can open a ticket from the following page: ITS Support Page
You can also send email to BearHelp@ucr.edu or try calling 909-537-4848.
The instructions for Mac users says "Depending on your system settings, you may also be asked to allow GlobalProtect as a system extension in your Security & Privacy system preferences." However, it appears that most Mac users are not asked to do this, so after they install the GlobalProtect VPN and try to connect to the UCR VPN, it fails. To fix this, Mac users should do the following:
If after doing the above connecting the UCR VPN still does not work, contact the UCR ITS support group as described above.