Why is 2FA important?¶
By requiring a second factor, typically a cell phone or other physical device, it becomes much harder for an attacker to gain access to your account if they somehow have gotten hold of your password (which in this case is the 1:st factor).
For security reasons you will have to use a two factor authentication system if you are a) connecting to UPPMAX from outside of Sweden, or b) connecting from a network within Sweden that does not support forward and reverse DNS lookups (due to a misconfiguration in your network, you can ask your internet service provider about this). More information about why can be found below.
From outside Sweden¶
If you try to connect directly to our resources from computers outside Sweden you will most likely be required to set up and use two factor authentication (you will be asked for a code from your second factor automatically if required).
Another alternative, if you need to access UPPMAX from outside Sweden, may be to use a Swedish VPN service. For example, if you're employed at Uppsala University, then you can connect using the university's VPN service.
From within Sweden¶
If you are required to use two factor authentication, and are connecting from a computer in Sweden, this is typically caused by your computer not having a proper DNS name, or the forward and reverse name resolution do not match.
Why is that important?
See here
If this is the case, please contact your ISP and ask them to correct this.
Note¶
You can check forward and reverse name resolution on this webpage:
To see what address the other side thinks you come from (which will likely be what our systems see), services like
can be helpful.
On Linux, you can also use these commands:
- Forward resolution:
host mycomputername.domain.tld. You have to replacemycomputername.domain.tldwith your computers actual name, for example:
will give:
- Reverse resolution:
host my_ipnumber. You have to replacemy_ipnumberwith your computers actual IP number, for example:
which should give something similar to: