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Connect to AirVandalGold wifi on Linux

There is no automatic set up utility for University of Idaho’s AirVandalGold wifi network for Linux users. 2020 Update: CA certificate step is no longer needed which greatly simplifies the process and ITS finally added instructions (with screenshots from an very out of date Ubuntu desktop). However, VandalGuest’s new captive login portal does not seem to work.

I got it to work using these ITS instructions on Ubuntu and Fedora:

  1. Open Settings > Wifi, then click on AirVandal Gold, which should pop up the full manual settings (alternatively, from the Wifi menu, choose ‘Edit Connections’, then click ‘Add’. Choose connection type ‘Wi-Fi’, click ‘Create’. Give it a connection name (this is for your own use), AirVandalGold. Under Wi-Fi tab add SSID: AirVandalGold.)
  2. Under Wi-Fi Security tab, select/add these options:
    • Security: “WPA & WPA2 Enterprise”
    • Authentication: “Protected EAP (PEAP)”
    • Anonymous identity: [leave blank]
    • CA Certificate: check “No CA certificate is required”
    • PEAP version: “Automatic”
    • Inner authentication: “MSCHAPv2”
    • Username: [your vandal web id]
    • Password: [your vandal web password]

You should now be able to connect!

VPN

You can also connect to UI VPN on Linux:

  1. Request VPN access by starting an ITS ticket if you aren’t already set up with permissions.
  2. Download the Cisco AnyConnect VPN software from ITS software page.
  3. Follow VPN install instructions. Even though it is out of date, the sh install script should work, taking just a few seconds.
  4. Open Cisco AnyConnect, in the “Connect to:” box add vpn.uidaho.edu, then use your UI netid and password. Your Duo two factor id will be prompted to complete the log in. The first time you connect, the client will immediately download and install an update.

Once connected via VPN, it is like you are connected to the network on campus. You can also then connect to the shared drives (although these are being phased out for OneDrive) and remote desktop.

To connect to shared drives, you can use the “Other locations” > “connect to server” option in Files. However, this is usually very slow because Ubuntu uses an out-of-date SMB version to retrieve directory information (see note). It is better to manually mount the share, once you have connected via VPN.

Remote desktop works well with the default Remmina remote client:

  1. The windows computer must be set up to enable remote desktop (must be admin).
  2. Connect via VPN.
  3. Open Remmina and click “create new connection profile”.
  4. Use the computer name given during windows setup, something like xxxx.uidaho.edu (don’t fill in other fields).
  5. accept security certificate.
  6. use UI netid and password to log in (leave Domain blank).