This article briefly explains the use of Internet and LAN at IIT Kharagpur for new users.
Connecting to the Internet
You can access Internet either through LAN ports using wire or using Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi). In both cases, you need to set the proxy servers.
Accessing through a LAN port
LAN ports have been provided for students in their rooms. To use one, you need a LAN cable and a computer. While buying your LAN cable, be sure it supports high speeds. As of now 100 Mbit/s communication is supported. To get a quick look at the cable specifications, read this:
http://www.home-network-help.com/transmission-speed.html
To access the LAN, simply connect the LAN port to the computer using the cable and the computer will automatically connect to the LAN. But, you won't be able to connect to the Internet just yet. For that, you need to set the proxy servers.
Setting up the proxy servers
Here, the Internet is provided through proxy servers. If you have only used broadband or dial-up Internet you might not have heard of proxies. Simply stated, they act as middlemen in your communications with any device on the Internet. Without, setting proxy servers, you can only access internal sites of IIT Kharagpur like "http://iitkgp.ac.in".
For Internet Explorer and Google Chrome,
Go to Control Panel -> Open "Internet Options" -> Select "Connections" tab
-> Click the "LAN Settings" button
Now, enter a proxy server address. 144.16.192.218:8080, 144.16.192.245:8080 and 10.3.100.212:8080 are some of the reliable ones as of now.
Be sure to uncheck all options in "Automatic configuration" group. So, this sets up the HTTP/HTTPS proxy servers, which means you can connect to any website now. Here is the official list of all HTTP/HTTPS servers:
http://www.cic.iitkgp.ernet.in/proxy/network.php. Proxy settings for other browsers can be changed through their own settings dialog.
I've found that some FTP sites open with the same proxy as for HTTP. So, you may be able to access FTP sites by setting the FTP proxy same as the HTTP proxy.
Mind you, proxy servers also use Internet security software to block connections to dangerous or "objectionable" sites.
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| e.g. anonymouse.org is one of the many sites blocked by the security software |
The restrictive proxy system, apart from blocking certain sites also makes it difficult to use protocols like BitTorrent on the Internet. Normally you won't need the access. But if you are desperate, talk with the experienced people to know the workaround. The philosophy of "just because there's a goalie doesn't mean you can't score" applies here as well.
Wi-Fi is available in most of the academic area and some of the residential areas. It functions using wireless routers which you may spot there fitted on walls. To use, you need a device which can accept Wi-Fi connections. Such devices include smartphones and for sure, laptops.
Of course, you still need to connect through proxies. For phones, you would have to configure the access points and set the proxy servers. For laptops, if you have configured for wired LAN, no change is required. To connect, simply look for the available networks and connect (method varies according to the operating system).
Tip
If you have a computer which has Wi-Fi support, you may be able to use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot. i.e. Your laptop, when connected to the net, can act as an Wi-Fi access point for internet for other devices. Connectify is a software which provides this functionality. Works smooth.
Now that you have the essential knowledge of connecting to the Internet, we can talk about file-sharing.
LAN basics and file sharing with the IIT Kharagpur DC Network
Now, this is another thing which many of you might be new to. This might very well be the first time, you would use a Local Area Network nay, a Metropolitan Area Network. The
Computer and Informatics Center (CIC) is where the center of the network lies.
So, apart from accessing Internet, as described above, you can do a lot of fun things on LAN including multi-player gaming, file sharing and streaming videos.
File sharing is quite a big part of not only the network traffic, but also the general life here. Anyway, I won't romanticize the thing, and just move ahead to tell you about using it.
You must have downloaded files from the Internet. But the speed with which you can download from direct LAN is way higher. So, here an infrastructure based on Direct Connect technology is present, which enables a connected user to download files from other users as well as share their own files. This network is administrated by students themselves, who happen to be very enthusiastic about the network.
SO! First, you need to install
DC++ or any of its
alternates. You need to get the hub address next. Go to this page to find out the current one:
https://www.facebook.com/iitkgpdc.
Then, open DC++ and add that address to the favorite hub list to save it. Before connecting, you need to go to settings, provide a nick and choose folders from your computer to share. If you have the correct share size you'll be able to connect and download straight away. If not, either the hub will tell you the needed size or you need to find it out from the above link.
Here's a YouTube channel about IITKGP's DC++ setttings:
http://www.youtube.com/user/surendraverma2501
If you don't have required amount of data to share and are having trouble finding data to share, you can:
- Duplicate a few large files
Of course such techniques aren't exactly favoured by the admins, and in extreme cases might cause your getting a ban. And for the record, I don't endorse these methods either. So, if you HAVE TO do any of the two, make sure that after you have connected to the hub, download some proper files, share them and then delete those duplicates or fake files.
Might be someday, the admins will provide some facility for the new users to download the required share, without weakening the sharing rules. One method would be to have a secondary hub which allows anyone to connect, but contains only a limited amount of data. This way admins can increase the mirroring of files of their choice i.e. admins can put files which aren't shared much on the secondary hub, and obviously those files are going to be downloaded and shared by the new users for sure. Just sayin'. :)
Apart from all that, keep an eye on the notices appearing on the DC hub.
And for the interested people, a DC hub can be created on any computer. Just as DC++ is a client to the network, there are servers for the DC networks, which one can install and create their own hub. PtokaX server was being used the last time I checked. YnHub server has been used in the past.
Extra Stuff
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For the management of institute activities, the ERP system is used. The site (erp.iitkgp.ernet.in) is configured to open only with Chrome and Firefox. However, if you use Opera (like I do and find very good), you can trick the site to allow you as a Firefox client. For that you need to go the the site, right click or press F12 to open up the Quick Preferences menu and open the Site Preferences dialog. In the Network tab of the dialog, change the Browser Identification option to "Identify as Firefox". Now you can access the site without leaving Opera.
