Crew Internet Setup

The optional KVH Crew Internet Service allows you to set up user logins and associated data allocations to control crew Internet access on each terminal in your fleet.

IMPORTANT! Setup of Crew Internet service requires access to the Fleet Tools section of KVH Manager. To request access to Fleet Tools, contact KVH’s Airtime Services Department.

Setup consists of the following steps:

Enable the Crew Internet service for your desired fleet. (Go to this step)
Create allocation profiles that set data usage limits for different types of WAN connections. (Go to this step)
Add users and assign each of them one or more allocation profiles. (Go to this step)
Enable Crew Internet on each vessel terminal in your fleet, specifying which onboard LAN and which WAN connections will enforce its controls. (Go to this step)

Follow the instructions in the sections below to complete each step in the process.

Note: You can also control data usage over a terminal's VSAT WAN connection by restricting or blocking certain types of applications. See Category Controls for details.

Note: You can also set up crew and guest vouchers for an Onboard Manager to issue on the vessel. See Vouchers for details.

Enabling Crew Internet Service for a Fleet

The first step in setting up Crew Internet service is to enable it for a fleet of vessels.

IMPORTANT! Select the account/group that is high enough in your account hierarchy to include all the vessel terminals on which you want to enable Crew Internet service, providing Internet access to the crew users assigned to that fleet. You cannot enable Crew Internet service separately on an account/group that is a parent or child of the currently enabled account/group. See Account Hierarchy for details about account structure in KVH Manager.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the highest-level account/group in your account hierarchy that includes the desired fleet of vessels.
Select the Crew Internet tab.
Select Enable Crew Internet.

Creating Allocation Profiles

An allocation profile specifies the amount of data each associated user can consume over a given WAN connection within a daily, weekly, or monthly time period. It can also specify a daily time limit, at your option. Once you have established allocation profiles, you can assign the appropriate ones to each user. A single allocation profile can be assigned to as many users as you wish.

Note: At a minimum, you need to create an allocation profile for each WAN connection that you will enable for Crew Internet on vessel terminals.You can also create multiple profiles for the same WAN connection, allowing you to allot more data to certain crew members.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (It has a globe icon next to it.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
If no profiles have been set up yet, select New Profile. Otherwise, select Manage Profiles then New Profile.
Set the following fields:

WAN Connection Type – WAN connection that will enforce this allocation profile
Profile Name – Descriptive name for this profile; it must be unique from all other profiles
Daily Time Limit (Optional) – Number of minutes user is allowed online over this WAN connection per day

Select a data allocation:

No Internet – The user cannot use this WAN connection
Unlimited – The user may consume unlimited data over this WAN connection (optional daily time limit still applies)
Limited by Allocation – The user may consume the specified amount of data over this WAN connection within the specified time period; enter an Allocation Amount in MBs and select an Allocation Period

Select Create Profile.

If you ever need to modify a profile's settings, select the edit (pencil) button next to that profile in the list. Then make your change and select Save. (Changes do not affect any user Internet sessions already in progress.)

Creating a New Crew Internet User

To access the Internet on a terminal that has Crew Internet enabled, a crew member must first log in with a valid username and password. You need to set up these users in KVH Manager.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (It has a globe icon next to it.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
If no users have been set up yet, select New User. Otherwise, select Manage Users then New User.
Enter a name and username for this user.
Select an allocation profile for each WAN connection that might be enabled for Crew Internet.
Select Generate Random Password to create a temporary password for this user, or enter your own temporary password (6-20 characters). Be sure to give the username and temporary password to the user.
Select User is Enabled. If this checkbox is left empty, the user will be inactive.
Select Create User.

If you ever need to modify a user's settings, select the edit (pencil) button next to that user in the list. Then make your change and select Save. (Changes do not affect any user Internet sessions already in progress.)

Note: See Using the KVH Crew Internet Service for details on how users log in and access the Internet via a Crew Internet-enabled terminal.

Bulk Upload of Users

Rather than creating one user at a time, you can upload a CSV file to create multiple users at once. The CSV file must be formatted to include the following fields:

The easiest way to prepare your CSV file is to follow these steps:

Set up one or two users manually, following the steps in the previous section.
At the Users page, select Upload/Download CSV.
Select Download List to download a CSV file containing the one or two users you just set up. Save the file to your computer.
Edit the CSV file in Excel or other spreadsheet application. Enter your additional users in the same format. For each user, include an allocation profile for each WAN connection that you might enable for Crew Internet, separated by a semicolon (;). When you're done, save the updated CSV file.

Note: A blank password field indicates the user has set a permanent password. If the fourth field is "true," the user is enabled ("false" = disabled).

In KVH Manager at the Upload/Download CSV page, select Browse Files. Then find and select the updated CSV file on your computer. Upload the file to add all its users.

Enabling Crew Internet on a Terminal

You can enable Crew Internet service for any or all vessel terminals included in the fleet. You need to enable it on each desired terminal, one at a time.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (A globe icon indicates Crew Internet service is enabled.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
Select Enable Terminals (if none have been enabled yet) or Manage Terminals.
Find the desired terminal in the list and select the edit (pencil) button next to it.
Set "Crew Internet Enabled" to ON.
Select the vessel LAN on which to apply Crew Internet service. For example, if the crew is using the High-speed (HS) LAN and the Unlimited Use (UL) LAN is reserved for business operations, you would enable Crew Internet on the High-speed LAN. For details about these LANs, see Port Configurations.
Select the WAN connection(s) that will enforce Crew Internet allocations by setting them to ON. If a WAN connection is set to "OFF," users will have unlimited access to the Internet on that WAN connection (user still need to sign in and set the session timer).
Select Save.

Note: In the Terminals list, that terminal should now have a checkmark under "Has Crew Internet" and each WAN connection that you enabled. An "X" indicates unlimited Internet access (no Crew Internet controls) and "N/A" indicates that WAN connection type is not available on the terminal.

IMPORTANT! If you later need to switch Crew Internet to the other vessel LAN (HS or UL), you must first disable Crew Internet on that terminal then re-enable it with the change in LAN setting. You also need to disable/re-enable Crew Internet whenever you make a change to the terminal's port configuration.

Deleting a User

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (It has a globe icon next to it.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
Select Manage Users.
Using the Search, find the user that you need to delete. Then select the delete (trash can) button next to that user record.
Select Delete to confirm. This action cannot be undone.

Resetting a User Password

If a user forgets his/her login password, you can reset it to a new temporary password. The user can then log in with this temporary password and set a new permanent one.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (It has a globe icon next to it.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
Select Manage Users.
Using the Search, find the affected user. Then select the edit (pencil) button next to that user record.
Select Generate Random Password. You can then copy this password to send to the user.
Select Save.

Viewing Usage Data

You can view the current Crew Internet data usage of all users on your account in KVH Manager.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (It has a globe icon next to it.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
Select Manage Users.

The “Usage” column indicates the amount of data each user has consumed over each WAN connection that is controlled by an allocation profile.

Disabling Crew Internet Service

You can disable Crew Internet service, reverting to unrestricted data usage on all WAN connections.

Note: Disabling the service on an account/group is the only way you can then enable the service on a parent or child of that account/group in your account hierarchy. If the new fleet will have many of the same crew users, you might want to download the CSV file of users first so you can later upload them to the new fleet.

Select Fleet Tools.
Select the applicable account/group that has Crew Internet enabled. (It has a globe icon next to it.)
Select the Crew Internet tab.
Delete all users, delete all allocation profiles, and disable Crew Internet on all terminals in the fleet. You cannot disable the service while any users, profiles, or terminals remain active.
Select Disable Crew Internet from the menu on the Crew Internet home page.

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