NOTE: This web page is out of date. Please see Information Technology Services' Quick Connect guides for information on how to connect to MUN's @Memorial wireless network using Ubuntu.
This web page contains instructions for configuring a machine running Ubuntu Linux 6.06.1 LTS (Desktop) to access MUN's WPA wireless network using NetworkManager, from RedHat Inc. Copies of Ubuntu are available at the Digital Media Center (DMC) in the Library, or Ubuntu will ship you a CD free of charge. You can also download and burn your own copy of the CD from the Computer Science's ftp server. The ISO image is about 698MB.
Using other distributions, such as RedHat/Fedora Core, Gentoo, SUSE, etc., to connect to MUN's wireless network may also be possible but they are not discussed here. However, The same general procedure for configuring NetworkManager should be applicable, though.
A more generic (and more technical) guide for connecting to MUN's wireless network using Linux is available on the MUN Linux Wireless page from The Commons.
MUN's Computing & Communications (C&C) is not responsible for the contents of this page.
These directions assume that you already have Ubuntu Desktop Linux 6.06.1 installed on your machine, that an appropriate driver for your wireless network card is available to the kernel and the driver supports WPA connections. If your wireless card isn't recognized by your distribution, you may have to look into using drivers from other operating systems in conjunction with the NdisWrapper or Linuxant programs. Further discussion is beyond the scope of this document.
These directions also assume that you have the
network-manager-gnome package installed and running on
your system. Its nm-applet program runs in the Notification area
of Ubuntu's desktop which is in the upper right part of the desktop, by
default, next to the Date/Time, Battery Power indicator, Volume Control
etc. When no network connection is present, the applet displays
two computers with an small exclamation point in the foreground.
If network-manager-gnome is not installed, then you
need to download and install it using these
directions before following
the instructions below.
/etc/network/interfaces.
You can do this by starting up a text editor, as root:
$ sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
and inserting a '#' character at the start of each line not
related to the loopback interface (lo) and save the file.
This will allow NetworkManager take over the network interfaces
from the default application. After you are finished, the only lines
in /etc/network/interfaces without a '#'
at the beginning should be:
auto lo iface lo inet loopback
This will allow the NetworkManager to take over management of the wired and wireless network interfaces.
nm-applet in Notification Area
and select "Connect to Other Wireless Network..." from the
menu.
This will display a dialog box which will let you configure the wireless connection.
The dialog box will then be expanded to allow you to enter more configuration information related to the WPA Enterprise security.
Ensure that EAP Method is set to PEAP. All the other fields related to Certificates and Private Keys should be left empty.
When all the data is entered, click the Connect button at the bottom of the dialog box.
NetworkManager will attempt to connect to the MUN network.
The nm-applet in the Notification area will display a small
animation to show its progress.
If the connection is successful, you'll be asked to supply a password so that a default keyring can be created. Each time you reconnect to the network (after rebooting and logging in again, for example) you must provide this password. If your laptop was stolen or misplaced, this password would prevent someone else from using your laptop to connect automatically to MUN's wireless network and accessing your network resources. The password does not have to be the same as the password in Step 5 above.
After the keyring creation is successful, the animation will be replaced by vertical bars indicating the strength of the wireless signal at your location.
If you made a mistake in entering the configuration information, then the connection attempt will timeout after a few minutes. Try entering the data in Step 5 again and retry the connection
Each time you start and log on to your machine while at MUN, NetworkManager will automatically reconnect you to MUN's network, at which point you will be prompted to re-enter your keyring password. If you connect to other encrypted networks, (WEP, WPA etc.), you will also be prompted for the same keyring password. All the other information you specify when you first connect to the network will be remembered by NetworkManager and does not need to be re-entered each time you connect.
