Welcome to the BAMEX Network

Latest version is available online at: http://www.atd.ucar.edu/dir_off/projects/2003/bamex/systems_help.html
May 30, 2003

BAMEX Network Description
The BAMEX Network is behind a firewall system for security reasons. No one can access the network from outside BAMEX unless they have an account on the bamex gatekeeper and use secure shell tools. Using secure shell tools and the Virtual Private Network (VPN), we can access the NCAR/UCAR network. More information on accessing NCAR/UCAR network is below.

If you need access to the BAMEX network from NCAR, request an account from the system administrator at BAMEX. Then from NCAR, you can use a secure shell (SSH) utility to connect to bmxgate.cust.qwest.net. Once on the BAMEX gatekeeper, then you can use tools such as telnet or ssh to connect to your system within the BAMEX network.

Connecting your system to the network
You can connect your systems to the BAMEX network in one of three ways: configuring your system for DHCP, obtaining a static IP address or using the wireless network.

• Configuring your system for DHCP: Using DHCP is the preferred method for connecting to the BAMEX network. Simply configure your system to obtain an IP address automatically and connect to the network.
  
  To configure a Windows system to obtain an IP address automatically, open your network settings (Start, Settings, Control Panel). Open your network connection, highlight TCP/IP, click on properties, and select obtain IP address automatically and obtain DNS server addresses automatically.
  
• Obtaining a static IP address: If you would like a static IP address for your system (mostly used for UNIX systems and network printers), contact the system administrator on site (system administrator information is listed at the end of this document) so that she can assign an IP address for you. Once you receive that, use that IP address and the following information:
  
  • IP Addresses: <obtain from system administrator>
  • Domain name: bamex.rdp
  • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.000
  • Default Router: 192.168.2.251
  • DNS Servers: 205.171.3.65
    
• Using the wireless network: If you have a wireless card, you can connect to the wireless network at BAMEX. We have implemented security on this network as well. There are two wireless areas, in the main operations center and in the aircraft staging area. The main operations center's wireless is using an SSID of bamex, the aircraft staging area's SSID is bamex2. To access the wireless network, use the appropriate SSID. You will also have to talk to the system administrator on site to obtain the WEP (wireless encryption protocol) code to get on the network. For security reasons, that code is not published on this web site.

Printing
Attention: if you are using the VPN software, then you cannot print to the local printers. Disconnect from the VPN to print.

We have several printers available for general use.

To install the printers on a Windows system, open the printers utility on your system (Start, Settings, Printers). Double-click on add printer.

• Select to install as a local printer
• When prompted for a network port, select Create a new port and select from the pull-down list Standard TCP/IP port.
• It will prompt you for the printers IP address. Enter the appropriate one listed above. Keep the default port name.
• Now you need to install printer drivers.

  You can select the appropriate vendor and model from the list to install a driver. or there is a CD-Rom located by the printers that have the drivers on them. The drivers on the CD-Rom are located in the English\drivers\ folder.

• Answer the rest of the questions appropriately to complete the installation.

Accessing the NCAR/UCAR Network

The NCAR/UCAR network also has a security perimeter in place. You can gain access to the NCAR/UCAR network by either using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) client or using secure tools such as SSH. You may need to access the NCAR/UCAR network to read email.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)
If you are an NCAR/UCAR employee, you can use the Virtual Private Network client to connect to the NCAR/UCAR network. Documentation for installing and configuring VPN is available at: http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/ucarlocal/vpn/vpn_main.html. You can also request assistance from the system administrator on site.

Once installed and configured, start the VPN, by selecting Start--> Programs--> Cisco Systems VPN Client--> VPN Client. When prompted for a username and password use your timecard/gatekeeper information. After connecting to the VPN, your system will appear as if it's on the NCAR/UCAR network, keep in mind that may not have access to BAMEX resources (such as printing). To close the VPN, right-click on the padlock icon in your system tray and select disconnect. After closing the VPN session, you are back on the BAMEX network.

Secure Shell (SSH)
Using the secure shell or SSH, you can connect to the gate.ucar.edu system. From there, you can connect to the UNIX systems. If you need a SSH client, you can download them from the following web page: https://www.ucar.edu/csac/internal/repository/ssh/

Accessing E-mail (NCAR Only)
There are several ways to read your email. If your division is participating with the UCAR web mail service, then you can gain access to your e-mail via http://webmail.ucar.edu. ATD Folks can use the ATD web mail service at https://www.atd.ucar.edu/horde/

Otherwise, you can use the NCAR VPN to tunnel into the NCAR network and gain access to e-mail (or use SSH and connect to gate.ucar.edu and then connect to your UNIX systems).

ATD folks can configure their e-mail client (i.e. mozilla) to use the exposed IMAP server (exp-imap.atd.ucar.edu). For mozilla, open your e-mail and under the as the imap server and check the "Use secure connection (SSL)" box. The same configuration works both at home and on the road. To change these settings, open Mozilla e-mail and under the Edit menu, select Main & Newsgroup Account Settings. On the left, click on Server Settings and enter exp-imap.atd.ucar.edu in the Server Name field. Also, check the "Use secure connection (SSL)" box. Be careful using this method. You can receive e-mail, but you can't send it. Therefore, it's recommended that you also use the VPN.

FTP site
We have an FTP site available. Anonymous ftp is allowed from outside the BAMEX network to access data only.

To put data on the FTP site, you will need to request an account and use secure ftp to access the server. The server's name is bmxgate.cust.qwest.net. Make sure you place the data in /home/ftp/pub.

To retrieve data from the FTP site, you can use anonymous FTP to access the server. Again the server's name is bmxgate.cust.qwest.net.

Only 4 Gigabytes of data can be stored on the FTP site.

FX-Net Workstations
There are several Windows systems available to use for the FX-Net software. To use the computer, you need to log into the local system as bamex with password FX-net. The software is available on the Desktop. They all should have access to the printers. They also have the VPN software installed on them.

Zebra Displays
There are two linux systems available that have the Zebra software installed. They are called zebra1 and zebra2. To logon to the system, the account name is zebra, the password is also zebra. For information on using these systems, contact Chris Burghart.

Communicating to the aircrafts
There two methods to communicate with others on the aircrafts; using e-mail and using an IRC chat session.

Using e-mail: When sending e-mail to the aircrafts, do not send attachments. The size of the e-mail is limited due to bandwidth issues. The e-mail address to the aircrafts are

• nrlp3@atd.ucar.edu
• dropsonde@atd.ucar.edu

On the aircraft, the systems need to be configured to use:

• smtp server: pinot.atd.ucar.edu
• imap server: imap.atd.ucar.edu

IRC chat session: We will be using the Mozilla IRC Chat facility called Chatzilla. If you need Mozilla installed on your system, it can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.org

The Chatzilla nicknames will be:

To connect to the chat room, please see the system administrator for information. Messages between all "chatters" can be seen on one screen, but only three connections can be made from one ip address unless it is within the Bamex network at Mid-America where thrirty connections can be made. VPN users are not effected by this limit due to each having a different ip address. To connect to this chatroom, see system administrator.

Chatzilla and Mozilla Mail clients can be configured so that they are accessed from an icon on the desktop. If you need assistance with this, contact a systems administrator person on duty.

Presentation Area
Digital Whiteboard/Projector
There is a digital whiteboard, InFocus project and laptop available for use in the presentation area.

To use the laptop, log in as bamex with password FX-net.

Since the digital whiteboard gets moved around a lot, it needs to be calibrated before use.

• Reboot the laptop and log into the laptop (username bamex, password FX-net).
• Connect the InFocus projector to the laptop (may need to press Fn and F8 on keyboard to display on whiteboard (or wall)).
• Move projector and/or whiteboard to line it up. Make sure the Windows start menu icon is displayed on whiteboard.
• Turn on the whiteboard. Power switch is on the right side (when facing it).
• Wait for a beep from the whiteboard before preceeding.
• On the computer, in the system tray (lower right), there will be a pink icon that is an "i" in a circle. Click on it and select "Complete Calibration" from the menu.
• If you do not do this step correctly, the tip of the pen and the mouse on the screen will not line up. Use the pens in the tray on the whiteboard ONLY!!! You do NOT need to remove the cap on the pen. Using one of the whiteboard pens, click in the middle of the X's that are displayed on the screen to calibrate the whiteboard.
• On the computer, in the system tray (lower right), there will be a pink icon that is an "i" in a circle. Click on it and select "Interactive Mode" from the menu.
• The pens will act as a mouse. Use the buttons on the pen, like you would use your right and left mouse button.
• If you wish to write on the board, select the pen icons on the right side of the whiteboard and start writing.
• There is an erasure in the whiteboard tray that will erase the markings.
• To save an image, click on the image on the right that looks like a diskette.
• Files are saved in C:\Documents and Settings\bamex\My Documents\Interwrite\images\. To save them in another format (such as PNG, JPEG, etc), then select Export from the files menu. Select the format you want to save them in. These exported images are saved in C:\Documents and Settings\bamex\My Documents\Interwrite\export\.
• If you select the second icon from the top, that looks like a mouse, the screen will be saved and the drawings will be cleared (you'll start from a fresh screen).
• To access saved images, click on the icons that look like pages.

If you have questions using the digital whiteboard, contact a member of the systems group or Brigitte Baeuerle.

ELDORA
The ELDORA network will has web server available for ELDORA image and data retrieval. The web server is available inside the BAMEX/ELDORA network. To access the web server, go to http://eldora.priv.rtf from inside the BAMEX/ELDORA network.

If you need a large amount of data, then you should use the ELDORA anonymous FTP server instead. FTP access is available from the eldora.priv.rtf . Contact Michael Bell for information on using the FTP server.

Assistance

Several people are available for assistance. These people are carrying cell phones.