Configuring VPN for the Department of Math + CS with Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" or Mac OS 10.6 "Snow Leopard"

A short description on how to configure the VPN connection to the department's computer network.
You need this VPN connection in order to connect your private laptop or other self-administered computer to the internet or to access IT ressources from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science here at Freie Universität Berlin. The VPN connection can also be used cable-based with the "Green Dot" (Grüner Punkt) network ports in the department's buildings (or from home via DSL or dial-up internet access).

Configuring VPN in brief

Protocol	Server	User	Password
PPTP	vpn.mi.fu-berlin.de	<accountname>	VPN password

A new VPN connection can be added to the network configurations in Mac OS 10.5/10.6 via "System Preferences" > Network … Interfaces - Add ('+') - VPN Type PPTP
(We'll provide a more detailed description in the next days…)

Important: Under Mac OS 10.5/10.6, a VPN connection is no longer configured via "Internet Connection.app" as it had to be in earlier versions of Mac OS X!

Configuring VPN - Step By Step Guide

Apple Menu > System Preferences > Section 'Internet & Network' > Network

There, click on the '+'-Button in the lower left corner (in order to create a new service)

Choose VPN-Type 'PPTP' and give the new VPN connection a name that helps you recognize it in case you have several different VPN connections configured:

Set to the following options/enter the following:

Configuration: 'Default'
Server Address: vpn.mi.fu-berlin.de
Account Name: username (Use the name of your account here at the Department for Math & CS, not 'username', of course!)
Encryption: Maximum (128 bit only)

Klick on the 'Authentication Settings...' button

Activate the 'Password' radio button and enter the VPN passwort you generated on https://portal.mi.fu-berlin.de (Description on how to generate or renew your VPN password: Link to the description on how to generate/display the VPN password in our portal MIPortal)

Klick on the 'Advanced...' Button in the lower right corner

In the 'Options' tab of the window that opens, check "Send all traffic over VPN connection":

In the 'TCP/IP' tab, choose 'Configure IPv4:' 'Using PPP' and 'ConfigureIPv6:' 'Off'

Leave the 'Advanced...' submenu with the 'OK' button

Check 'Show VPN status in menu bar' and click on the 'Apply' button in the lower right corner:

Congratulations, you're done configuring the VPN connection to our gateway!

Opening a VPN connection (after you have configured it)

To establish a VPN connection to our departmental network, you can either click the 'Connect' button in the Preferences > Network window or open the VPN drop-down menu in the menu bar and choose the menu entry ”Connect VPN for FU MI" (or the name you chose for this VPN config in the first step).

The Mac then tries to connect to our VPN gateway. If it worked, you should see a clock in the menu bar that counts the connection time

and the Preferences > Network window should look like this:

Klicking on the small number lock-like symbol in the menu line at the top of the Mac OS X screen, you activate a menu where you can also trigger a VPN connection:

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