In a massmail this morning, it was announced that Compass will begin using the AD password. This is huge news. We all know how difficult it is to keep track of every different password, but now it is a little easier. CITES also offers the password manager which will allow you to merge all your passwords into one. Check it out.

Dear Student,

This message provides important information about logging in to your courses on Illinois Compass beginning January 14, 2009.

On Wednesday, January 14, Illinois Compass will begin using an Active Directory (AD) password for logging in (for example, this would be the same password that is used for CITES NetFiles).  We suggest that you allow extra time when logging in to Illinois Compass for the first time this semester in case you have forgotten or need to create an AD password.  If you have difficulty logging in, you may need to use the CITES Password Manager to set your password.  Please note, the new Password Manager makes it easy to set a single password for
many CITES services and you may wish to take this opportunity to consolidate your passwords.

For more information about CITES passwords, please see <http://www.cites.illinois.edu/accounts/index.html>.

If you have any problems logging in or have any questions about the Illinois Compass login change, please contact the CITES Help Desk by email at <consult@illinois.edu> or by calling 244-7000.

Sincerely,

CITES Educational Technologies

The long-time-coming update to Cites Express Email is finally coming on January 6, 2009.

The new design includes:

• Increased accessibility (e.g., for those who use screen readers or other assistance technology to navigate web pages)
• Reorganized buttons in your Inbox, making it easier to find the function you need
• Search, Logout, Spam Control, and Help features present on either the Login or Inbox windows

The bad thing is that it appears that it is only a new design – essentially the same thing with some added buttons and new colors. I think forwarding email to a modern email interface like Gmail will still be very popular for students even after the “upgrade.”
CITES: New CITES Express Email Look Coming Soon

CITES announced yesterday that they have deployed access points named “UIwpa2″ that are now in beta. This is exciting for UIUC wireless users, as WPA2 gives better encryption and easier logins.

I haven’t tested it myself yet, and it’s “only available in some buildings (those with Meru access points).” Meru access points are the gray boxes with 2 black antennae that are usually seen mounted near the ceiling of classrooms. No word on how much of the UIUC campus is covered by the Meru boxes. More information on the WPA2 network and how to connect on the CITES website:

CITES: WPA2-secured UIUCnet Wireless (beta)

Today I had to use the CITES VPN client. As usual, I browsed over to cites.uiuc.edu/vpn. What I found was a new version of the VPN client! Yes! This is excellent news for all University of Illinois students, considering the old Cisco VPN client was bloated, slow, and didn’t work well with Windows Vista.

For Windows Vista, there is no extra program needed to use the new UIUC CITES VPN. All you need to do is add a VPN connection in the Network and Sharing Center. The instructions on how to do this were very good, and I set up this connection in no time. It worked well.

For Windows XP, however, the new VPN client program is required. Although this program is only for adding and managing Windows settings (the VPN connection is actually using Windows networking infrastructure), it still works well. I downloaded the VPN client from the CITES Webstore as described. The installer was a measly 544 KB – much less bloated than the Cisco VPN client used to be.

The install process is easy and quick. It placed a shortcut on my desktop to the VPN client, which, because the program is highly customized for UIUC, has a neat little UIUC logo for the icon. It is very simple – all you have to do is type in your netID and password – no choosing between 4 different connections like before. Again, this is a very nice touch.

I typed in my netID and password, and voilà! I was connected! I did run into a problem that I could not connect for 30 minutes one time – hopefully this is only a one-time problem (or it may have been a problem on my end). Either way, the new VPN solution is very good, and it will only get better with time. (Plus, I think it is cheaper than the expensive Cisco solution). Way to go, CITES!

Note: the old VPN is still available at cites.uiuc.edu/vpnarchive

University of Illinois CITES has now released a VPN solution for Windows Vista users. As you may know, VPN is required for all CITES wireless access if you don’t want to use the feeble “Quick Connect” option. Links for CITES VPN are below:

CITES VPN Home
CITES VPN for Windows Vista

Did you know that the UIUCNet Network is currently being upgraded? “CITES is currently just over two years into the project, an ambitious five-year, $20-million initiative that began in late 2004 to upgrade more than 260 campus buildings with the latest in state-of-art data networking technology.”

For information on the project, see the CITES status page:
About the Campus Network Upgrade Project
Also, check out the Year 1 report:
http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/projects/netupgrade/cnupprogressreport.pdf

This is really exciting for the University of Illinois community. Some of the highlights are wireless internet access in all public locations and 10 Mbps connections to every computer on the campus! Go CITES!