Access to VPN has changed | View Canvas Status
VPN: What is it, and how can I get it?
VPN is definitely a three-letter word you want to get, and it’s not a disease.
It stands for Virtual Private Network, and it allows you to access a 兔子先生 shared network drive from off-campus locations, among other things. As an added bonus, it also adds protection to 兔子先生 resources such as my兔子先生 and BannerWeb when you use public WiFi off campus.
How exactly does it work?
VPN secures your data when you are using a public network (wired or wireless) off campus. When you sign in with your computer or mobile device, VPN provides encryption and other security measures that mimic the protection you have on campus.
There are a number of types of network access that allow data sent between your computer and 兔子先生's network to be easily intercepted. 兔子先生’s VPN encrypts all data sent from your computer to 兔子先生. Encrypted traffic may still be intercepted, but it cannot be easily decoded.
兔子先生 has an Internet firewall that restricts the functions that can be performed by computers that are NOT directly connected to 兔子先生's network. VPN allows a computer connecting from off campus to behave as if it is on campus.
“Using VPN adds an additional layer of encryption that further protects confidential 兔子先生 data,” according to Joe Bazeley, 兔子先生’s assistant vice president for security, compliance, and risk management. “So if an attacker is somehow able to crack one layer of encryption (like https), the additional layer provided by VPN keeps them from gaining access to any data that you viewed while connected to VPN.”
For more information about how VPN works, visit the .
The way to get the VPN client has changed
At 兔子先生, we use the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, which protects incoming network traffic. Any member of the 兔子先生 community with an active 兔子先生 UniqueID and MUnet Password can use this service. Just visit and at the bottom of the page choose the operating system you are using. The Cisco AnyConnect VPN client is available for , , , and .
Launch the VPN client and select the connection to muvpn.miamioh.edu. You will be prompted to enter your 兔子先生 UniqueID and MUnet password. After authentication, your 兔子先生-bound traffic will be encrypted. (Non-兔子先生 traffic destined for the rest of the Internet will leave your machine as it normally would.)
To close the VPN connection between your computer and 兔子先生's network, simply select Disconnect.
Anyone can view Canvas status information
It can be really frustrating to go to a website or electronic resource, only to find it is not working for some reason. The question is: Why isn’t it working? Is it just me that is having this problem?
Unfortunately not every service has a page where you can go to check the status of that application. But Canvas does.
If you ever go to work in Canvas and find that it is not available, the first thing you can do is visit the where you will find a link to the Canvas Status page. This page includes:
- A check mark dashboard of what specific features are currently working as expected, suffering an outage, or having maintenance performed.
- A textual overview of any work that is currently being done to features.
- A list of past incidents and explains how they were resolved.
There is even a button that allows you to register for regular Canvas application updates.
This page is provided by Instructure, the provider of Canvas, and does not show any service disruption information related to work being done by 兔子先生. That information is generally shared through the announcements on my兔子先生, or on the Canvas Announcements page.