The Mac Admin's Blog

Before I write this post, I am in conversation with Cisco personals about the legal implications of decrypting the CISCO Shared Secret or Group Passwords. Please bare with me for few days as I will complete this post as soon as I get green signal from Cisco! Thank you for your co-operation. Meanwhile you can drop me an Email if you need to discuss this topic with me: Laeeq.Humam@macmasters.net

Today we are going to discuss the details of .pcf files and the way to configure it in iPhone or Mac. Once the configuration part is complete I will talk a little bit about how to decipher the .pcf file. You might be aware of the new option added in System Preferences under Network which is CISCO VPN. Yes, it means you don’t have to install the application if you need to connect to VPN. Indeed, Mac OS X is the most advance OS in today’s world – Oh we would discuss its greatness later on, lets talk about making the VPN work for you: On Mac OS X: Launch System Preferences Go to Network Now click on the plus ‘+’ sign (which is meant to create a new service) On the iPhone: Go to Settings Now go to General Under Network, select VPN   Now select Add VPN Configuration Enter the details in these fields from your .pcf file. To get the value that needs to be entered, you need to open your .pcf file which could be save on your machine. To know where the .pcf files

Once the CISCO VPN client is installed on the machine the profiles are automatically saved. In case you want to find where the VPN profiles are saved on Macintosh, you can peek at the following destination: /etc/CiscoSystemsVPNClient/Profiles/ /private/etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/ VPN can be configured on iPhones and Macs but you will be able to access the office network using VPN tunnel only when you have been provided sufficient privileges on your corporate Active Directory account. In order to get VPN access you may contact your IT Helpdesk . How to configure Cisco VPN on iPhone or Mac Understanding the .pcf files How to decipher .pcf files

Whenever you launch VPN with multiple connection entries, you have to select the one of your choice every time when you try to login. There is an option where, using VPN you can set up default connection entry so that you don’t have to bother about selecting it every time when you login to VPN. This change in your VPN setting is surely going to increase your productivity.  Click on the option ‘Set as Default Connection Entry’

Check Your Exchange Mail Without VPN access in Entourage The most dynamic feature in Entourage 2004 is providing you the ability to check your corporate Email being out of office, on your Mac and all this can be done without even firing up a VPN connection and tunneling into your office network. Now all you need is your Macbook while you are on the move or at your home or at any Wi-Fi zone, just follow the following steps to access your mails in 'office style': 1. Launch your browser & log into your organization's Outlook Web Access website. 2. From the web address feild, copy all the matter till the first slash, including it. (j ust to explain, if the web address is http://mailexchange.com/laeeq , copy http://mailexchange.com/ ) 3. Now launch the Entourage and go to Tools and select Account Settings. 4. Open the settings and paste the copied website address in the Server field. 5. Once done, you hould be able to send & recieving mails without using VPN. If you wan