Off-campus Access
Remote Working Client
Introduction
For all users of IT Services managed laptops (Staff Desktop Service), a full Remote Working VPN Client will be pre-installed and available from the University IT Services menu on your computer.
If this is not present on your laptop, or you are using a desktop computer, then the Remote Working VPN client will be available as an Optional Application Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client 2.2 (see www.lboro.ac.uk/it/desktop/xp/optional.html for information on installing Optional Applications).
Getting Started
The client has to be manually started, this is to ensure that you have the greatest flexibility to decide where and when you want to connect to the campus network.
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Click Start then Programs then University IT Services then Lboro VPN.
If you are connected already to the Loughborough University Network, you will get a warning message.
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When you use the system for the first time, you will be redirected to this web page to help you gain familiarity with the new system. As this redirection will not happen in the future, it may be advisable to add this page to your Favourites for future use.
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The dialogue box will be pre-populated with the address of the server on campus, you simply have to enter in your University Username and Password and click Connect.
It will take between 10 and 20 seconds to establish a connection to the Loughborough Network depending on the speed of your Internet link. Also during this time the client will ensure that it has the latest configuration.
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Once the connection has been made, the dialogue box will minimise to the System Tray. This is the area at the bottom right of your desktop where the clock is located.
Hovering over this icon with your mouse pointer will display confirmation that the VPN (Virtual Private Network) link has been connected.
All network traffic destined for the Loughborough Network will now be directed through the secure connection. This means that normal Internet browsing to sites like Google and BBC News as well as services like BBC iPlayer and 4oD will not use the secure connection, and they will use your traditional Internet Provider link.
University IT filestore, U: and Y: drives will be automatically mapped and content on the Intranet and other services can be updated. We still strongly recommend that you do not open documents directly on the drive - copy the document to your own computer, edit it there, and then copy the edited document back again. This will avoid any loss of work if there is a problem with your Internet connection.
Disconnecting
To disconnect, right click the VPN icon in the System Tray and select Quit from the pop-up menu.
This will disconnect from the IT Services VPN cleanly and exit the application. Connecting again is as simple as starting the application as before.
[Note that if you click the icon, the client window will re-open with a "Disconnect" button. If you click this it does disconnect, but the application still exists in the System Tray, and you must still right-click and select "Quit" from the pop-up menu to close the application fully!]
Connection Problems
If there are connection problems (e.g. you are at the edge of availability of a wireless network), then you may see the following:
The client should re-connect and you can continue working.