Connecting to the MHC Network

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Welcome to MHC and the Mount Holyoke College Network

The most common device that is connected to the College network is the computer, but there are a number of other devices you may want to connect, such as an iPhone, TiVO, game console, etc. All of these will work on the local College network, but in order for them to have off-campus access, they need to be registered.

What all the devices have in common
All network devices have a unique Ethernet address. The Ethernet address is also known by other names such as:

To function on the Internet, an Internet Protocol or IP address must be assigned to the Ethernet address. On the Internet, your computer is known by its IP address. (Home routers often hide a number of local IP addresses behind a single IP address provided by your Internet service provider.)

Registration of Ethernet addresses
Any device connected to the MHC network will obtain an IP address, but to obtain an IP address that will allow off-campus access, the Ethernet address needs to be registered. You may have a number of devices, each with its own Ethernet address and therefore its own IP address.

In addition, a single device may have more than one Ethernet address. For example, a computer with both wired and wireless Ethernet will have a separate registration for each. (In many cases, our registration system will be able to determine that your computer has multiple Ethernet interfaces and will register them all at once.)

Wired vs wireless
The College network supports both wired and wireless connections. While a wired connection is faster, more reliable, and more secure, a wireless connection can be far more convenient. However, with wireless, reliability can be a problem.

Wireless signals can be degraded by things like 2.4G cordless phones, microwave ovens, bluetooth devices (e.g., hands-free phone ear sets), other non-MHC wireless access points, and even by the contents of a room (bookshelves, a crowd of people).

There are times when the reliability of wired overcomes the convenience of wireless.

Connecting a computer using wireless Ethernet
Some computers have a switch to turn off and on wireless. If you have such a switch, make sure it is on.

A modern computer with wireless will search for wireless networks. If there are more than one, as at many locations at Mount Holyoke, you will need to select the wireless network.

A Wireless network name is also called the SSID. The following SSIDs are available at MHC:

SSID		Notes
LyonNet-Encrypt		Residence Hall network and some other locations across campus. Computer registration may be done using this SSID. Encryption uses WPA/PSK TKIP (WPA Personal) Passphrase (all lowercase):    marylyon
MHC-Guest		Residence Hall network and some other locations across campus. Provides limited Internet access. This allows your guests to have limited Internet access without having to register the computer.

Once your computer has connected to the College network, you should be able to get to Mount Holyoke sites (Webmail, ISIS). You will not be able to go to off-campus sites until your computer is registered (see below).

Connecting a computer using wired Ethernet
In most instances, simply plugging your computer into the data port in your residence hall room will work. As mentioned above, once your computer has connected to the College network, you should be able to get to Mount Holyoke sites (Webmail, ISIS). You will not be able to go to off-campus sites until your computer is registered (see below).

If there are problems, there are some things to check.

• Use an Ethernet cable, not a phone cable.
• Be careful to plug into the data port, not the phone port. These are usually labeled, but the labels are not always easy to see.
• Test your computer in another data port using your Ethernet cable. If it works in one place but not the other, it may be a problem with the data port. To be sure, try another person's laptop computer using her Ethernet cable in your dataport. If the dataport is bad, there is a web page to help troubleshoot and report the problem:
  http://mhcdb.mtholyoke.edu/connect/
• Just because your computer is plugged into the wired network does not mean that it is using the wired connection. If you have wireless, it may be still using wireless. We have seen computers use a poor wireless signal instead of the good wired connection. If you are having problems with your wired connection, disable your wireless to make sure you are really using your wired connection.

Registering a computer
Until your computer is registered, you will not be able to access most off-campus web sites, but you will be able to access web sites on campus. Try going to these sites:

If you get to Webmail/Webshell or ISIS, you are connected to the network.

Try to go to a web site off campus, such as Google. If the computer is unregistered, you will automatically go to the registration page. (You can also go to the registration page by following the directions in the Manual registration section below.)

The registration process for both Windows and Macintosh will ask you some questions and then has you download the "Bradford disposable agent" which will check to make sure your computer is up-to-date with operating system patches and is running anti-virus software provided by Mount Holyoke.

The registration web pages provide more detailed information.

Registering other devices — Manual registration
Registering non-computer devices needs to be done manually.. Log into Webmail/Webshell at:

In the Webshell area, look for the link Register for Network Use (IP request). In the link, Registration system, you will find a manual registration link at the bottom of the normal registration page.

To complete the manual registration, you will need the Ethernet address of your device. Processing of the manual registration is normally done within a working day.

Connecting your wireless access point?
You will need to manually register your access point.

We are not yet prohibiting the use of wireless access points. If you have one, you need to consider the following:

• All residence halls have wireless provided by the College and a personal wireless access point is not needed.
• Your wireless access point may interfere with the College network.
• You increase your risk of lawsuit unless you are very careful to disallow the use of your wireless access point by others. If you allow others to use your access point, they may engage in copyright violations using a device you are responsible for on the network. The legal problems may fall on you!

If you need to use your access point to connect multiple wired devices, turn off wireless. That will avoid the problems listed above.

If you turn on wireless, use your MHC login username as the SSID. Do not use any of the College SSIDs. Restrict access by Ethernet address to only your computer(s).

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Historical documents: Resnet from former years
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