The following instructions outlines the procedure for setting up a Mac (running OS X) to use the College and University network. It assumes that the Mac is set up and working correctly. This guide was written using OS X 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion). Other versions of OS X may differ slightly.
You must not attempt to set up your computer on the network until you have registered for, and received, an IP address from the Computing Support Office (via the form on the previous page). You will receive the IP address (together with all the other network addresses and information that you need) in an email from computing@chu.cam.ac.uk
Setting up your Mac to use the Internet
Please note: If you have a MacBook Air, you must purchase a USB to ethernet/RJ45 adapter to use your machine with the wired network at Churchill College.
- Go to System Preferences. Open the ‘Network’ Preferences panel.
- If the padlock symbol in the bottom left corner of the Network Preferences panel shows that the network preferences panel is locked, click the padlock and enter the username and password of a user with administrative rights to the computer. This should change the symbol to an unlocked padlock.
- Click the ‘Location’ box, and select ‘Edit Locations’ from the resulting dropdown menu. Click + and enter ‘Churchill College’ as the location name. Click ‘Advanced’.
- Beside ‘Configure IPv4’, select ‘Manually’ as the configuration method. Enter the IPv4 Address, subnet mask and router, all of which are specified on your pink notification form.
- Click the DNS tab and enter the DNS addresses provided using the + button. Then enter the domain from your pink form in the box marked ‘Search domains’ using the same method. Click OK then Apply. Close the window.
- Open ‘System Preferences’, then choose ‘Sharing’. In the ‘Computer Name’ field, enter the ‘Computer Name (Host)’ detailed on your pink form. Then click the back arrow on the top left of the window.
- Whilst still in System Preferences, choose ‘Software Update’. Ensure that ‘Automatically check for updates’, ‘Download newly available updates in the background’ and ‘Install system data files and security updates’ are all ticked.
- It used to be the case when anti-virus wasn’t considered necessary for Mac systems. However malware written for Mac has become more widespread in recent years. It is strongly recommended you have some form of anti-virus running on your Mac. University Information Services has a web page at https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/service/security/antivirus where you can find links to the University’s recommended anti-virus software, which is available free of charge for use by members of the University.
