Connecting to the SSL VPN
Foreword
The connection via SSL VPN is a service for establishing a secure communications channel to RTE’s FrontOffice via the Internet.
This channel is established after authenticating with your certificate from a dedicated website (
here).
Once the channel is established all communications with the requested RTE service will be encrypted.
LThe use of SSL VPN requires the installation of a dedicated tool, installed during the first login to the site.
The application is called Secure Application Manager (SAM).
SSL VPN enables secure access to your mailboxes hosted on RTE’s FrontOffice.
Prerequisite
In order to connect to the SSL VPN with Firefox, Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5.07 or higher needs
to be installed on your workstation.
If this is not the case, you can download the latest version on Oracle’s website:
http://java.com/fr/download/index.jsp
IMPORTANT NOTE
Before your first connection, you must verify that your workstation can resolve
the address
secure.iservices.rte-france.com (
click here).
PPSIS (Pulse Secure Installation Service) is a Windows service made available on the RTE customer site.
This service allows, once installed, to update future SAM versions without requiring the intervention of a person with administrator privileges on the machine.
To do so, download the executable under the link:
http://clients.rte-france.com/lang/an/visiteurs/accueil/portail.jsp
And decompress the compressed file:
Once the file is executed, the following window appears. Click
"Yes".
This enables the service installation to start.
It will be automatically activated at every operating system launch.
First connection
This paragraph applies only to your first login to the SSL VPN with Mozilla Firefox.
IMPORTANT
The first connection must be made by a computer specialist
with Administrator rights on your workstation in order to install the SAM application.
Lunch your Mozilla Firefox browser and go on the following website:
If necessary, you will be asked to input your smart card password:
Click "
OK". the following window appears:
Select your certificate from the dropdown list entitled "
Choose a certificate to present as identification" and click
"OK".
If a window asking you permission to execute a script from "
Pulse Secure, LLC." appears, click "
Yes".
If the following red icon appears, click it in the address bar.
Then in the dropdown menu of the message, select "
Activate all plugins" and then choose "
Allow and remember".
On the newt appearing window, click "
Run"
If necessary, the following window appears:
If the window below appears, click "
Yes".
The installation of the SAM application starts:
If your Internet access requires authentication to a proxy, a window appears asking your login and password. Enter them and confirm.
Then, the icon
appears in your task-bar which means you are now connected to the SSL VPN.
Click the "
Sign out" button (top right of the page) to end the session:
Using the SSL VPN
Establishing the connection
Run your browser and access the following website:
If necessary, you will be asked to input your smart card password:
The following window appears:
If necessary, a window will ask you the access password to the Mozilla Firefox certificate store.
Select your certificate from the dropdown list entitled "
Choose a certificate to present as identification" and click "
OK".
If a window appears asking you permission to execute a script from "
Pulse Secure, LLC.", click "
Yes":
If your Internet access requires authentication to a proxy, a window appears asking your login and password. Enter them and confirm.
Then the window below appears:
Then, the icon
appears in your taskbar which means you are now connected to the SSL VPN.
Notes
- The certificate is only used to establish the connection to the SSL VPN.
- To close the SSL VPN session, click on the "Sign out" button (top right of the page).
Use to access hosted mailboxes
The SSL VPN can be used to access mailboxes hosted on the FrontOffice with a standard email client.
Access to hosted mailboxes requires the SSL VPN connection to be established (
see here).
The Email account configuration in your mail client is then to be made with the following parameters:
- Mail server type: POP Server
- POP server address: pop.services.rte-france.com
- SMTP server address: smtp.services.rte-france.com
When your access to RTE’s FrontOffice is provided, you will receive your login name, your password and your email address.
NOTE
Since the messages are transferred through a secure channel (everything that passes through this channel is automatically encrypted),
sending and receiving e-mail messages does not require the use of a certificate for message encryption.
