VPN Remote Access

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is used to establish a secure connection over the Internet to access restricted University resources from off campus. Faculty, staff, and students with a current, active relationship with the University can use the VPN to access applications that would otherwise only be available on campus. A VPN connection is required for remote access to select services and resources of the Big Data Lab.

Getting Started

An OpenVPN client needs to be installed on your computer to connect to the Computer Science VPN. The OpenVPN client for Windows can be downloaded from the OpenVPN download page. On Mac OS X, you may use Tunnelblick. On most Linux distributions, OpenVPN can be installed through the distribution's package management system. For detailed instructions on setting up the VPN client, please refer to the Client Setup Guide.

A client profile is also needed to connect to the Computer Science VPN. To download your client profile, go to the main page and supply your network credentials. Please provide your network id or the username part of your pride email address, without "students\" at the beginning or "@pride.hofstra.edu" at the end.

Support

If you have trouble establishing a VPN connection, take a look at the solutions to common problems below. Your problem may be something you can solve yourself. If you are still unable to solve the problem, you may contact us at bigdata@hofstra.edu or visit the Systems Administrator at Adams Hall 211 for support.

Troubleshooting tips

You can follow these basic steps to resolve most problems you may encounter using the VPN. Please try these steps before contacting us for help.

1. Connection problems may be resolved by disconnecting and restarting the OpenVPN client.
2. Try restarting your machine. Sometimes a restart is necessary before you are able to connect using the VPN client.
3. For persistent connection problems, try using a new profile, which may be obtained from the VPN main page.
4. Try uninstalling and reinstalling the client. On Windows, you can uninstall by downloading the installer and double-clicking it. On Macintosh, you can drag the VPN Client from the Applications folder to the Trash. Reinstall the program by following the installation instructions given in the Client Setup Guide.