Short-term Network Guest Accounts: Creating and Distributing Them

Any student, faculty, or staff member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign can create 2 short-term network guest accounts, each with 3 days' duration. In addition, departmentally authorized guest account administrators can create more guest accounts with longer durations.

Administrators can view and edit all departmentally sponsored accounts, even if they were created by another administrator in your department. Only CITES Security staff members can view information about personally sponsored guest accounts. In order to assist a guest whose account was created by someone else, you should create a new guest account and try debugging steps with the new account.

Creating and viewing guest accounts

1. Log in to the UIUCnet QuickConnect and VPN Short-Term Guest Accounts web site at:
   
   https://ctweb1.cites.uiuc.edu/guestwireless/
   
   

   What you will see in this interface depends on what level of authorization you have. Most users will only see options for personally sponsored accounts. Authorized guest account registrars will also see options for departmentally sponsored accounts, and CITES Help Desk and Security members will have additional options for troubleshooting.

2. In the left navigation, select the type of account you wish to create (if you have more than one option). Most users will select Personally sponsored accounts.
   
   
3. The account creation form asks for several pieces of information, including:
• The guest's name
• The date on which the guest account should be activated
• The duration of the account
• Your acceptance of the Campus Appropriate Use Policy and Terms of Use.
  (Note that you must check the acceptance box in order to create an account.)

Note: Although you can create accounts with one or more of the text fields blank, CITES strongly recommends that you complete all three of the fields in the guest account form. Associating human information with guest account information will greatly simplify the process of account distribution and guest support.

4. Clicking the Create Users button will generate a new guest account for the guest, and the browser window will display the following information:
   • The guest user ID (given in the form vpn###)
   • The dates the account will be active
   • The guest's password

This information will only be displayed in the browser window; it will not be emailed to you. You can print this page for each user created and give the page to the user in question.

Guests' VPN client configuration differences

Guests will configure their VPN clients differently than University students, staff, and faculty will. Guests will not be allowed to use the campus authentication certificates associated with the L2TP method of VPN client connection; instead, guests will use the PPTP method of connection without certificates.

For more information about guests' methods of VPN client configuration, choose your guest's operating system from the list on the Short-term Guest Network Accounts and VPN Access page.