Networking@MIT Easy Guide
General
Registration
All new machines at MIT need to be registered in order to have full access to all MIT networked resources. This applies to both wired ethernet and wireless. To register a machine at MIT you need to go here.
Wireless Networking
Users need to connect to MIT, MIT N, MIT Secure or MIT Secure N to access MIT resources after registration.
The MIT GUEST Wireless network
Please note: MIT Guest WiFi network has NO ACCESS to printer or MIT Administrative site resources. MIT Guest really only gives access to the MIT websites and outside web pages. You should assume on-campus non-web internet resources are locked out.
How to access the MIT Secure WiFi networks
To access MIT Secure or MIT Secure N you would type in your kerberos username and password.
Static IP Addresses for Ethernet connected machines
The one exception to the Registration rule is that any machine with assigned static IP Addresses don't need to be registered. They will work the moment they are put in.
To request an IP Address go here.
The other pieces of information you will need with a static IP Address are as follows:
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 18.#.0.1 where # is the same number found after 18 in your assigned static IP address.
DNS Servers: 18.71.0.151, 18.70.0.160, 18.72.0.3
Please note the 18.72.0.3 has been associated with some problems resolving IP Addresses so it is best not to have this DNS server listed first or second.
DHCP for Ethernet connected machines
The way DHCP for Ethernet connected machines works at MIT is all unregistered machines are given an IP address in the pool 18.2.*.*
Depending on building, the pattern becomes more specific. For example, if you're Building 4, the pool is 18.2.53.*
The third number 53 is significant because this number is appropriate subnet for valid static IP Addresses. So if you had an IS&T issued static in Building 4 it would be in the 18.53.*.* subnet pool.
DHCP for Wireless connected machines
Wireless devices at MIT are issued a temporary DHCP IP Address that may stop working if the user doesn't register their machine to the MIT network.
Registered wireless devices on central campus at MIT are typically issued IP Addreses in the 18.111.*.* subnet.
Troubleshooting
Firewalls
Until MIT decides to implement up an Institute-wide firewall, machines on campus are fully accessible and potentially vulnerable from anyone out on the Internet. This has security implications for every section within the school. Hacking attacks should be expected and unnecessary guest accounts and services that use ports should be disabled on individual machines by turning on the machine's built in firewall. Unprotected machines can experience slow performance or slow internet access if they're being attacked. Or at worse, the machine could be compromised if it hasn't had its updates in a while. Though Macs are rarely compromised directly in this way, Windows machines can be, especially unpatched versions of Windows XP and lower. Machines access the internet and each other through numbered ports and firewalls should always be enabled to close down any ports users don't really use.
Broken services
Sometimes there are things that you DO want a computer to do through the protection of a computer firewall, for example file sharing, screen sharing or remote management. On Unix machines like Mac OS X, these services are controlled within System Preferences. But if all your other services are running, like web access and email, but for some reason the file sharing, screen sharing, or remote management doesn't work, the best thing to do is to uncheck these network services to turn them off. Then shut down the machine. After you count to ten, turn the machine back on and turn those services on again. This should hopefully restore those services back into a working state.