About VPN and access to certain BC services

You may want to use a VPN connection for the following reasons:

• To access specific computers or servers behind BC's firewall. The firewall is a security measure that prevents anyone that does not have a BC IP address from accessing certain things on BC's network.
• To access confidential BC information from home that should be encrypted (scrambled) while traveling on the Internet.
• If you are tired of getting busy signals using BC's modem pool. With VPN, you can use an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that accepts a VPN connection and have access to everything on the BC network - even those services that are behind the BC firewall.
• To access your campus computer through file sharing.
  Note: VPN is not needed to access your BC email; you should use your BC email client for this. A VPN connection is also not needed for standard use of the Internet and Web; this can be done through your ISP alone.
• To use IRC (used for "mIRC," "Chatzilla," "xChat," etc.) from on-campus.
• To use iChat from your residence hall.

Configuring a VPN connection to the BC network

Important: When you connect to the BC network via VPN, you are agreeing to the  University Technological and Information Resources policy, even if you are using a personally owned computer. Failure to follow the policies, including keeping your computer's virus protection up to date, may result in loss of VPN or other network privileges.

Learn how to configure a VPN (Virtual Private Networking) connection to the BC network using:

• Are you using Windows Vista Home, XP Home, Me, or 98? Learn why Boston College does not support Windows Vista Home, XP Home, Me, or 98 and what you need to do about it.
• Windows Vista
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows 2000 - Email help.center@bc.edu with your name and phone number to get information about configuring your Windows 2000 computer for VPN.
• Mac OS X (Leopard, Tiger & Panther)
• Mac OS X (Jaguar) - We recommend that you upgrade to Mac OS X (10.3) Panther or higher.
  Educational pricing is available from the Apple Store Online:  www.apple.com/education/hed/students/discounts.html

= BC sign-in required.