Week 9 VPN issues in LabraNet

LabraNet administration is aware of a recent issue in LabraNet VPN after week 9 service migrations. Some Windows 10 clients disconnect immediately or soon after connecting to LabraNet VPN and reconnecting usually does not help. LabraNet administration is focused on fixing this issue but for now the following workaround seems to resolve this issue.

Configure your LabraNet VPN connection to use split tunneling with the help of LabraNet remote access guide. Be sure to configure the additional fix for DNS lookups while you are at it. More details available here https://student.labranet.jamk.fi/windows-10-and-labranet-vpn-issues/ and in LabraNet remote access guide available here https://student.labranet.jamk.fi/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Remote_access_guide.pdf

//UPDATE Week 10

Rollback of VPN server for now, should work like before.

Service migration maintenance notice

Due to data migrations some LabraNet services may be unavailable for short period of times during week 9. Migration takes only minutes in most cases but at least the following services will be unavailable for extended periods due to the sheer volume of data:

• gitlab.labranet.jamk.fi and any CI runners
• student.labranet.jamk.fi
• mysql.labranet.jamk.fi
• mariadb.labranet.jamk.fi
• postgres.labranet.jamk.fi
• LabraNet VPN

Postgres server added

The new PostgreSQL server is now available (accessible from LabraNet/student/over VPN) at https://postgres.labranet.jamk.fi. The server is running postgres 12.4, and supports TLS but does not enforce it.

Unlike the MariaDB/MySQL servers, you only get one database, but you can create more schemas inside that database as needed.

Student server updated

The server has been updated to Centos 8, with PHP 7.5. User data was migrated over and the web page locations and php configuration were preserved, so the only thing you might immediately notice is that the SSH keys changed.  The PHP version changing may also have caused breakage depending on your usage, and configuration differences may cause issues with usage patterns we didn’t explicitly test. If you have a new problem you would like us to look into, please contact the LabraNet helpdesk.

A new sql server (accessible from LabraNet/student/over vpn) is also available: https://mariadb.labranet.jamk.fi , running MariaDB 10.5. The old mysql server at https://mysql.labranet.jamk.fi is still functioning, but will be phased out eventually (probably next summer.) Please use the new one for all your new mysql-type database needs, and if you have anything important to you on the old one, you might want to migrate it over during the starting school year.

A PostgreSQL server is also planned in the short term, but is not available yet.
The new postgres server is now available at https://postgres.labranet.jamk.fi, running postgres 12.4.

Covid-19 situation

Covid-19 changes our customer service completely to online mode. If you need to contact LabraNet administration, please use our ticketing system to submit a service request. Our staff monitors new requests actively.

Windows 10 and further LabraNet VPN issues

It has come to LabraNet Administration’s knowledge that connecting to LabraNet VPN fails on Windows 10 1903 when the following applies.

– User has not saved credentials for the VPN connection AND
– Connection is initiated from the taskbar Network menu

Issue:

– VPN connection never actually asks for credentials / connects

Workaround:

– Save credentials for the VPN connection OR
– Use the VPN System app and initiate the connection from there OR
– Open cmd and issue the command rasphone which will open the old connection menu which lets you complete the connection

Presumably Microsoft will fix this at some point, but for now if this is an issue for you, please try the workarounds.