Computing Facilities
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Northwestern University

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Connecting to the Wireless LAN

In January of 2002, the department commissioned the installation of two 802.11b wireless access points. One was installed in the conference room in room L324, and the other in the Wilkinson Cluster lab.

Requirements

Step-by-step instructions

  1. NIC software configuration: The configuration steps for the wireless card software will vary from vendor to vendor, but the important settings are
  2. DHCP: Set up your PC to get its IP address via DHCP. Note that unless you at some point specifically set up an IP address, Windows defaults to obtaining its network configuration information--including IP address--via DHCP, so in the general case, nothing needs to be done for this step.
  3. Obtain an IP address: Start a DOS shell by clicking on Start->Run... and then typing cmd for Windows XP and 2000 or typing command for Windows 95, 98, and ME. Next, type ipconfig /all and look for your NIC. Use the ipconfig /renew command to obtain an IP address with Windows XP and 2000. Use ipconfig /renew NIC_number for the other Windows versions.
  4. Start the VPN client: VPN is required to use the wireless network. If you don't already have the VPN client software, you can start Netscape or Internet Explorer and try to connect to any web site. NUIT's router will then redirect you to their VPN client download page. Follow the instructions therein to download and install the VPN client software. Note that the VPN software uses your netid for authentication purposes, so you must know your netid and netid password in order to use it. Once the client is installed and running according to the instructions on the NUIT web page, you're all finished. You may now reach any network destination as if you were on a wired LAN.

    NUIT's VPN page may also be reached at:

    http://www.tss.northwestern.edu/vpn/

Important note: The CFS does not support the wireless LAN. Please contact NU IT TNS for problems.

2145 Sheridan Road . Evanston / IL . 60208
Phone: 847-491-8140 . FAX: 847-491-4455
webmaster@ece.northwestern.edu

Tue Oct 21 10:36:23 CDT 2003