IT Project: VPN Service Transition
Project Status
June 23, 2020: GlobalProtect was successfully rolled out to the University.
VPN Service Transition Overview
Project Charter
Background
VPN (virtual private network) is a service that provides an encrypted connection between an end-user device and a termination point on another network. Currently, Northwestern IT runs two VPN platforms: one providing general access to campus for all users with NetIDs and one providing more granular, role-based access to campus resources. Northwestern IT is planning to migrate and consolidate our existing Virtual Private Network services by March 31, 2020 to a new, single, multi-factor authentication-supported service.
Note: This change does not apply to the Feinberg F5 BigIP VPN client or built-in client at this time.
Benefits to the Northwestern Community
With this change, Northwestern IT is consolidating three existing VPN clients – Pulse Secure SSL VPN client, Cisco AnyConnect, and the built-in client L2TP VPN services – into a single new client: Global Protect.
The benefits of the move to GlobalProtect VPN include:
- Integration of the VPN service with Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), providing added security to our network.
- The move to a private IP addressing space will allow us to build much larger pools of IP addresses for the groups that currently use our Pulse Secure SSL VPN client.
- Consolidation to one client, which will simplify support. This new service will consolidate our three existing clients: Pulse Secure SSL VPN client, Cisco AnyConnect, and the built-in client L2TP VPN services.
- Server-side consolidation, reducing the number of supported systems.
Project Timeline
| Date | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| August 1, 2019 - September 30, 2019 |
Testing and evaluation period |
Complete |
|
October 2019 - April 30, 2020 |
Rolling migration of all schools and departments |
Complete |
| June 23, 2020 | Retirement of existing VPN clients | Complete |
Last Updated: 26 June 2020
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