Off-Campus Network Access
Connecting to the VPN and Network Drives

Connecting to the VPN

The UF VPN Service is designed to allow University Faculty, Staff, and Students to securely “tunnel” into campus over other networks, such as their home internet connection, and access services as if they were on campus. It is ideal for using the UF Libraries resources from off-campus. If you are reading journal articles and searching library databases from home you’ll want to install the VPN.

  1. Go to vpn.ufl.edu
  2. Login
  3. Download VPN (Cisco AnyConnect)
  4. Redirect Cisco AnyConnect VPN to vpn.health.ufl.edu and press Connect
  5. Login

Accessing Network Drives

Using Samba for Mac OS-X
Accessing your network drives on a Mac using OS-X can be accomplished using a system named Samba. Samba is very useful as it does not require any special software applications to use it; it is built into the operating system of your computer.
Samba can be used to access your network drives from on- or off-campus, as long as you have an Internet connection. It will allow you to directly edit files on your network drives using Finder on your Mac.

How to Access Your Network Drives Using Samba
If you are off-campus, you will need to log into the VPN before following the below steps.

  1. Click on FINDER to launch a new Finder window.
  2. Click on the GO menu, which should be along the top of the screen.
  3. Select CONNECT TO SERVER from the GO menu.
  4. Enter the following in the SERVER ADDRESS field: smb://PATH.AHC.UFL.EDU/PATH$/
  5. Click CONNECT.
  6. You should now be prompted for a username and password. Enter your UF network credentials and click CONNECT.
  7. Go back to the Finder window you opened previously. You should now see your network drive connected, under the heading SHARED.
  8. Click on the drive, and browse to your personal or shared drive(s) to access all of your files and folders.

To access any of your network drives the next time you restart your computer and wish to connect:

  1. Open a FINDER window.
  2. Select the GO menu along the top of your screen.
  3. Choose the RECENT FOLDERS option, then select your network drive from the list.
  4. Enter your UF network credentials and your network drive will appear in your Finder window again.