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Connecting to the QB3-secure wireless infrastructure from a Macintosh is relatively simple. The basic steps are:
If you have problems configuring your computer or connecting to the QB3-secure network, see the Getting Help section at the end of this guide.
Note: MacOS X releases prior to 10.4 are not supported.
The QB3@UCSF secure wireless infrastructure utilizes the Kerberos authentication system (named for the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades) to verify your username and password. Kerberos accounts may be obtained from any WLAN account facilitator in Byers Hall. By default, Kerberos guest accounts are enabled for 24 hours and disabled after that. Accounts for longer periods of time, including permanent accounts for faculty and staff, may also be obtained. If you already have an account on the Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics (RBVI) socrates.cgl.ucsf.edu cluster, or through the UCSF Sequence Analysis and Consulting Service (SACS), then you already have a Kerberos account and you will not need an additional account. To verify your Kerberos account is active and your password working, try accessing the Kerberos account test page.
Most of the configuration information you will need is contained within the file: QB3-secure.internetconnect, which has already been provided. Click on the link above, and download it to your desktop or some other convenient place.
Once the configuration information has been downloaded, you can import this information into your wireless configuration. First, click on the Airport status icon in your menu bar and select "Open Internet Connect...":
Once Internet Connect is open, check to see if you already have an 802.1x icon showing in Internet Connect's list of network devices and services. If not, click on the File menu and select "New 802.1x Connection...". Now click on the 802.1x icon. Import the configuration information by clicking on the File menu and selecting "Import Configurations...". This will bring up a file dialog. Import the file you saved in Step 2 above:
For this step, you will need to be in range of one of the QB3-secure wireless access points. The dialog shown above provides a "Connect" button, or you can pull down the list of available networks from the Airport status icon in your icon bar at the top of the screen and select "QB3-secure". Once you connect, you will probably be required to explicitly "trust" the certificate provided by the authentication server (see below). Otherwise, you will see the authentication dialog shown below:
By default, the certificate provided by the authentication server is not "trusted" by the Macintosh, so you must specifically trust it. Once the Verify Certificate dialog pops up select "Show Certificate".
Scroll down and you will see a "Trust Settings" area. Click on the triangle to expose the current trust settings. Under "When using this certificate" select "Always trust" to avoid having to explicitly trust the certificate every time you connect to the QB3-secure network, and even sometimes every 30 seconds or so (!).
Now that your Macintosh laptop is configured to correctly connect to
the QB3-secure wireless network, all you will need to do in the future
is to select the "QB3-secure" network from the Airport status icon.
You will be asked to authenticate by providing your Kerberos account ID
and password (see Step 4), and once you
have done this you will be connected to the QB3-secure network!
Getting Help
If you have followed the configuration instructions provided here but still cannot connect to the QB3-secure network, try the following. First, verify your Kerberos account is active by accessing the Kerberos account test page. If your Kerberos account is working correctly, you should see a message that says "Kerberos authentication successful." This test can be performed from any computer, but if you are using someone else's computer you may have to restart the web browser application so that a previously cached password doesn't foul up the test. If you cannot successfully authenticate with Kerberos, then see one of the WLAN account facilitators in Byers Hall.
If you can successfully authenticate with Kerberos but still not connect to the QB3-secure network, then contact one of the WLAN support coordinators in Byers Hall. If you can connect to the QB3-secure network in some locations in Byers Hall but not others, then it may be a problem with the wireless network. In this case, contact the UCSF ITS Customer Support at 415-514-4100 Option 2, or send e-mail to itscs@its.ucsf.edu. Members of the UCSF campus community may also submit a problem report directly to ITS Customer Supoprt via the web at http://help.ucsf.edu.
