IT Services
How to...
Connecting to Sussex networks with Ubuntu
Before you start
- Find your IT Services username and password (you collected these during online registration)
- Ensure your computer is connected to the wired access network socket with the cable provided by your residence
- Ensure your wireless card is switched on and that you are connected to the Sussex.ac.uk-wifi-setup network (if connecting with wireless)
- Make sure that the date and time are set correctly on your computer
Register your computer
- Open a web browser - it should go to a Sussex web page (https://www.sussex.ac.uk/roaming)
- Login using your IT Services username and password
- Read and accept the conditions of use
- Click Register and complete the form, giving your ocmputer a Name and fill in the information about its Type and Operating system (the comment field is optional)
- Click Register to create a record for your computer
- Click Register again to log your MAC (Media Access Control) address on our network, choosing Wired Access (see Setup for Wired Access below) or Wireless to use the wifi on campus (see Setup for eduroam)
MAC address
The MAC address is a unique, 12-character reference which identifies your computer for wireless or cable networks. Depending on how your computer is set up, this address may be different for wireless or wired connections.
To find your MAC address on Ubuntu 9.04, first launch the Terminal window by choosing Applications and then Terminal, then type the command ifconfig and press enter.
If you are connected to a wired network, the Mac address will show up as the "HWaddr", short for hardware address, under the details for an ethernet connection ("eth0" in the example below or likely to be "wlan0" for wireless connections).
Setup for Wired Access
To setup your computer to use wired access in a study bedroom on campus:
- Find the network connections icon in the menu bar
- Click on it and then choose Edit connections
- Select Auto Ethernet under wired and then click on Edit (or, if you prefer, click on Add to set up a new location)
- In the pop-up window,choose Tunnelled TLS as Authentication method, enter linux-os-user@sussex.ac.uk as Anonymous Identity, Select Thawte_Premium_Server_CA as the CA certificate (normally located on the Ubuntu file system under /etc/ssl/certs/Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem) and PAP as the Inner Authentication method. Finally, enter your normal IT Services username (followed by "@sussex.ac.uk") and password
- Click on Apply
Set up for Eduroam
- Left-click on the network connections icon in the menu bar and select the eduroam network
- In the Wireless Network Authentication window which appears, set Wireless Security to WPA and WPA2 Enterprise
- Change Authentication to Tunnelled TLS
- For Anonymous Identity, enter linux-os-user@sussex.ac.uk
- The CA Certificate should be set to Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem. This certificate is normally installed by default on Ubuntu - if you click on the file icon at the side of the window, you can navigate to the folder in which it is normally stored: /etc/ssl/certs/Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem
- Set Inner Authentication to PAP
- Enter your username followed by "@sussex.ac.uk" and your usual password
- Click on Connect
You normally have to complete this process the first time you connect and then in future, your computer will recognise the eduroam network and connect automatically.
Check the connection
Open a web browser and try navigating to a web site, for example www.google.co.uk.
Troubleshooting
Please note that Linux Ubuntu is not a supported platform at Sussex, but that if you make an appointment with one of the advisors on the help desk in IT Services Shawcross, they may be able to offer advice.
created on 2010-10-05 by David Guest
last updated on 2012-07-20 by Matthew Wall