Setting Up The VPN on MacOS

For MacOS, you will be installing "Tunnelblick", an OpenVPN client software package for Mac. This software is pre-packaged for our systems and already includes built-in configuration. Do not install this software on public or shared computers!

Before installing Tunnelblick, you must have enrolled your cell phone for Duo MFA using your CruzID account with UCSC. Most folks already have this from when they first started at UCSC. If you don't yet have a CruzID, please contact your sponsor/PI and ask them to help you acquire a CruzID. If you have a CruzID but haven't yet enrolled your cell phone, please follow the instructions here to enroll your phone:

https://its.ucsc.edu/mfa/enroll.html

After confirming your cell phone MFA enrollment, or if you have already done this a while ago, continue to install Tunnelblick. You will need to download Tunnelblick from this link:

https://giwiki.gi.ucsc.edu/downloads/Tunnelblick.dmg

The username and password to access that web link will be sent to you in your account creation welcome email.

Once you have downloaded the file, navigate in the Finder to wherever you downloaded it to and double click on it. It should open the .dmg file and you should see the Tunnelblick application icon. Double click on the Tunnelblick icon to install. During installation, it will ask you if you want to install for "Only You" or "All Users". Select "Only You".

After installation, in your Finder, you may want to navigate to the Applications folder and drag the Tunnelblick icon to your dock for easy launching.

After launching the software from the Applications folder, you will see a small "tunnel" icon on the top right of your screen. You should be able to click on that icon, then click "Connect prism" to start the VPN. Use the username and temporary password to login to the VPN for the first time. After typing in your username and password, you will be sent a Duo MFA push to your phone. Accept that push, and then you will be connected.

Once you authenticate to the VPN (username/password/MFA), then login via SSH to 'mustard.prism' for example, and you will be asked to change your password. Once you change your password, log out of mustard, then log out of the VPN (click the Tunnelblick icon on the top right of your screen and select "disconnect"). Then, log back into the VPN using your new password. It will send another Duo MFA push to your phone, then you should be logged in!