Most consumer-oriented devices that use Wifi or Ethernet to connect to the internet work on the following assumptions:
- The device will be used on a home network
- The user of the device has administrative control over the network
- The network uses DHCP, and allows any device to join
- The network allows any device on it to operate as server or client
- The device will be configured using a laptop, tablet, or phone.
- The device and the laptop, tablet, or phone used to configure it are on the same network
Institutional networks pose some challenges when connecting consumer devices because of their security restrictions.
Here’s how to connect your devices:
Sandbox370
Sandbox370 is an experimental wireless network for development of new networked devices. Unlike the main NYU net, devices on sandbox370 can be both servers and clients. This is the network we’ll use for most device tests. This network is MAC address filtered, so your device needs to be registered in advance. You can register up to two devices on itpsandbox by going to computer.registration.nyu.edu and logging in with your netID. You can only connect to the registration page while you’re at NYU, or on the NYU VPN, however. If you need to register more than two devices, contact Marlon Evans to connect to sandbox370. He’ll need to know what device it is you’re connecting, what its MAC address is.
Sandbox370 is entirely made up of private IP addresses. Devices can reach the larger internet as clients, but they cannot be reached from outside the NYU network as servers. They can be reached from inside the NYU network as servers, though. Devices on this network are visible from the regular NYU network, so there is no need to put your laptop on sandbox370.
If you are putting anything with an operating system on sandbox370 — an embedded board like a Raspberrry Pi or Beaglebone, for example, or a laptop — make sure it has a firewall in place to block ports you will not be using.
Contact Marlon Evans for the login credentials. These may not be shared over email, or in any online posting, blog, code repository, etc.
NYU
NYU’s main wireless network is an enterprise network, with some security limitations. Devices on the nyu net must be able to connect using WPA2-Enterprise authentication.Most consumer devices do not allow for WPA2-Enterprise authentication, so you won’t be testing devices on this network, for the most part.
The main NYU wireless network switched over to 5GHz only in summer of 2016. This means that any device still operating on 2.4GHz only, which includes most networked devices and many tablets and phones, will not work on this network. You’ll need to use nyu-legacy instead if you need the services of the main network. For most device production work at ITP, though, you’re better off using sandbox370 until your device is done. See above for more on this network.
NYU-Guest
The NYU Guest network is not encrypted, but features a captive portal to login. Like the main NYU net, this network only allows client activity, you can’t run a server on it. In order to login, a device has to make a HTTP request to the form address embedded in the portal page with the login ID and that week’s password. Alternately, if you register the device’s MAC address, you may not encounter the captive portal. While technically possible, the complexity of this is high enough to make it not worth using as an experimental net. Stick with sandbox370.
NYUGuest-legacy
The NYU Guest network is not encrypted, but features a captive portal to login. Like the main NYU net, this network only allows client activity, you can’t run a server on it. You can connect Arduino Nano 33 IoT or MKR1010 devices to this network if their MAC address is registered through computer.registration.nyu.edu in advance. Use the ConnectWithWPA2Enterprise example from the WiFiNINA library, and use no user name or password.
Eduroam
The eduroam network at NYU works more or less like the main NYU network: it’s WPA2 enterprise encryption, and it’s all private IP address space. However, eduroam is used by universities around the world, so your eduroam login works in many institutions around the world. Use your netID@nyu.edu as the login.