VPN - eduVPN

Note: Currently, the use of eduVPN is still optional. You can continue to use OpenVPN (in parallel). However, we recommend switching over soon, as OpenVPN will be shut down during the winter semester of 2026/27.

VPN gives you access to university content and services that are otherwise only accessible from within the university, e.g. licensed databases and e-resources, including full texts from the library of the university. This page describes VPN access via the open-source-based software eduVPN.

The login is done via your ZIMT account, as used for webmail or Moodle, for example.

VPN profiles

Note: The profile for external users / guests will be available soon. Until then, this user group should continue to use OpenVPN.

Uni-VPN

This is the right choice for most users.
Upon successful login via the university VPN profile, the user is assigned a random (dynamic) IP address from the university's VPN address range.
Multiple VPN sessions are possible on different devices when using this profile.

Admin VPN profile

Only needed if special shares are required in the firewall with a static VPN address assigned to the user. An example would be remote access to the workstation computer from outside the university.

Split profiles

There is also the university split profile and the admin split profile. These are basically identical to their non-split variants, but only route internal university data traffic through the VPN. This saves bandwidth, but can lead to problems on external sites with VPN functions (e.g. publication sites).

Instructions

Setting up eduVPN

General information

Using the admin profiles of eduVPN and OpenVPN in parallel is not possible!

The eduVPN service is fully IPv6-capable. In addition to the IPv4 address, an IPv6 address is also assigned and the traffic for both protocols is redirected through the tunnel. This is also the case if the network in which the end device is located does not itself have an IPv6 Internet connection.

Testing the connection

The following links can be used to check whether the VPN tunnel is being used successfully for connections:

When using the Uni-VPN profile:

https://ip4.zimt.uni-siegen.de
(the IPv4 address displayed should begin with 10.2.224-239 )
https://ip6.zimt.uni-siegen.de
(displayed IPv6 address should start with 2a04:dfc0:dc:225: )
https://ip.zimt.uni-siegen.de
(automatic protocol selection, IPv6 is usually preferred)

When using the Admin VPN profile:

https://ip4.zimt.uni-siegen.de
(displayed IPv4 address should start with 141.99.224-231 )
https://ip6.zimt.uni-siegen.de
(displayed IPv6 address should start with 2a04:dfc0:dc:224: )
https://ip.zimt.uni-siegen.de
(automatic protocol selection, IPv6 is usually preferred)

FAQ

Please test whether you have a working internet connection. Try to access a website of your choice. If this does not work, it is not a VPN problem.

If you have a functioning Internet connection, it is possible that the operator of the network in which your end device is located is blocking the necessary VPN ports in its firewall (udp/443 and udp/1194).