Mac OS X instructions for joining the staff CNE wireless network

Prerequisites

• A laptop or other wireless device capable of WPA2 encryption. Apple Airport Extreme cards qualify, original Airport cards do not (to my knowledge). You can determine what kind of card you have from the Apple System Profiler (in /Applications/Utilities or click on "More Info" from "About this Mac"). Aluminum PowerBooks and all MacBook/MacBook Pro models should be fine.
• Active Directory account

Try this first

In theory, you should be able to simply connect by selecting the desired network name ("SSID") from the Airport menu. You will then get an authentication window in which you can type one of the above username/password pairs.

The CNE's own configuation guide can be found here.

Internet Connect setup

For some users (particularly those with already established AirEUD 802.1x accounts), sometimes the simple method above does not work. With a few extra steps of setup, you can still make things work.

Background

Setup

• Open "Internet Connect" (either from the bottom of the Airport menu or from /Applications).
• If you do not already have an 802.1x icon, select "New 802.1x Connection" from the File menu.
• Click on the 802.1x icon.
• Next to "Configuration:" is a pop-up menu. Select "Edit Configurations" from that pop-up.
• Click on the "+" in the lower left of the window to create a new configuration.
• Fill in the following fields:
  • Description: "staff CNE wireless" or whatever you like (without the quotes)
  • User Name and Password
    This is your Active Directory username ("gsfc\flastnam") and password.
  • Wireless Network "CNE" (without the quotes)
  • Authentication Uncheck everything except PEAP.
• Click [OK] to dismiss this window. (You may have to type your Keychain password (often the same as your login password) after this.)

First Time Connection

• Open Internet Connect and click on 802.1x icon.
• Click [Connect] in Internet Connect
• A "Verify Certificate" window should now appear.
  Click [Show Certificate] button.
• Select "Always trust these certificates" checkbox just above the "vpn-acs1" certificate. (Note that the certificate expires in November 2007.)
• Click [Continue]
  Type your Keychain password (if requested) in the Authenticate window.

Subsequent connections to staff CNE wireless

How do I know I am connected?

• The Internet Connect 802.1x window will show "Status: Connected via PEAP (Inner Protocol MSCHAPv2)" with a running clock.
• The Network System Preference should show an IP address in the 128.154 range.
• There should also be a checkmark next to "CNE" in the Airport menu, of course.