The University of Florida’s
Virtual Private Network (VPN) enables faculty, staff, and students who are off-campus to securely access UF services that are generally only available when connected to the campus network. In layman language, the VPN provides a secure “tunnel” that routes your computer’s network traffic through the UF network. Since the university’s response to COVID-19 began, usage of UF’s VPN has grown significantly. However, it is not always necessary to use the VPN to achieve the goal of secure access. This is because many of the university’s campus-wide services are hosted off-site and accessing via the campus network is not required. Here’s a list of when the UF VPN is — and is not — needed:
Use the VPN to access:
• Departmental drives and network files
• UF library resources
• Remote Desktop
• myIRB
Do not use the VPN to access:
• myUFL
• ONE.UF
• University of Florida email systems
• UF SharePoint sites
• Microsoft Teams
• Skype for Business
• Zoom
• UF e-Learning (Canvas) content
• OneDrive
• UF DropBox
• UFApps
Anyone with questions about how and when to use the UF VPN should contact their local IT staff. The UFIT Help Desk can also answer questions about using the UF VPN.