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Network

Lifeline Modem Pool Update

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NACS has offered dial-in access to UCInet for Faculty, Staff and Students for many years. In 1999, the service was substantially upgraded in response to recommendations from the Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee, and the “Lifeline Modem Service” was born.

The Lifeline service is offered at no cost, but it comes with noteworthy restrictions, and does not substitute for a commercial Internet Service Provider such as ZOTnet (http://www.zotnet.net/). For more information on current Lifeline Modem Pool policies, refer to 
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/communication/modems/lifeline-modem-policy.html.

Recently, the modem pool firmware was upgraded both to comply with vendor requirements for support, and to improve reliability. With the support of the NACS Faculty Advisory Committee, and following a review of modem pool capacity and usage, Prime Time Usage was expanded from 7 hours to 10 hours a week.

More information on the modem pool is available from
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/communication/modems/

UCI Internet Traffic Costs Rise

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UCI’s Internet traffic increased at an alarming rate during the first 4 months of 2002. UCI’s bill includes a fixed component, plus an additional cost based on actual usage.

NACS monitors usage levels on behalf of UCI. The primary two sources of traffic increase in 2002 might be characterized as “recreation” and “abuse”

“Recreation” includes downloading large video and audio files using “peer to peer” applications similar to Napster. NACS has limited the bandwidth allotted to peer to peer applications in an attempt to reduce recreational usage and its impact on campus costs.

An example of abuse would be an unauthorized person taking over a campus computer, and using it as a remote server. NACS is addressing abuse through several activities, including analyzing daily network traffic looking for “top talkers.” These are the machines making a disproportionate demand on the network. NACS can sometimes find compromised systems in normally quiet machines that suddenly start making unusual demands of the network.

NACS has collected links regarding network metrics and campus Internet usage at http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/metrics

Residential Networking

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NACS and Residential Networking (http://resnet.uci.edu) are working together to provide students with a high-performance network, while at the same time preserving sufficient network capacity for use by faculty and staff, encouraging students to use the network only for legitimate educational purposes, and managing security in a situation where users and machines may come and go at any time.

A previous article (http://www.nacs.uci.edu/news/2002.3.html#2) introduced the Packeteer traffic-shaping device which regulates the fraction of UCI’s connection to the Internet which is available to the residential communities. In addition, NACS and ResNet have installed a custom-designed DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server which enhances the security of UCInet by requiring computers on ResNet to be registered and authorized.

Authorization (access to UCInet) is only granted to registered systems, and registration requires a valid UCInetID and password. Unregistered systems are automatically directed to the registration process. The requirement for registration limits access to UCInet to systems owned by legitimate users, and allows record-keeping so that inappropriate use can be traced back to its source, as required by law.

ResNet has published a set of guidelines which instruct students in appropriate network use, and how to go through the registration process to gain access to UCInet (http://resnet.uci.edu/connection_policy.html). ResNet currently supports over 7000 users.

Wireless Networking

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One recent innovation in UCInet has been the initiation of a wireless computing infrastructure at UCI.

Based on the 802.11b standard, UCInet Mobile Access (http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/) began with installations in Engineering Gateway, GSM, the Main Library, Gateway Study Center, and the Student Center. Since then, the Science Library, the Physical Sciences Nobel Courtyard, the Cal-IT2 suite on the 4th floor of Engineering Tower, and within the Administration building, Research & Graduate Studies and the conference room 107 have been added.

NACS has identified funds for expansion of UCInet Mobile Access, and schools have been asked where the next targets for coverage should be. We expect the wireless network to be of increasing importance to the campus. Installations are proceeding in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Biological Sciences, Engineering, College of Medicine, and the Beckman Center.

NACS recognizes some individuals and departments have installed their own wireless access points. NACS recommends checking with us before installing any new access points to insure proper configuration. For workgroups looking into adding wireless networking, NACS would prefer to install wireless in your area for you. If the workgroup covers initial hardware costs, NACS will install, manage, and monitor the equipment at no cost. Working together in this way, UCI will enjoy a uniform campuswide wireless network

Laser Link to North Campus

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North Campus has been connected to UCInet via a new 100 megabit/second (Mbps) laser link connection. The TereScope 3000, from Optical Access, provides a full-duplex connection at more than sixty-five times the bandwidth of the previous 1.5 Mbps microwave connection. In addition to the higher bandwidth laser link, a backup 11 Mbps network connection has been installed using 802.11b wireless Ethernet. (The laser can suffer degradation in extremely foggy conditions.)

The new link improves the transfer of data between the two sites to keep up with increasing demand as well as to address the problem of legacy equipment no longer supported by the manufacturer. The laser solution was chosen over trenching cable to North Campus which would have entailed three times the cost. The laser employs an “eye safe” beam which will not harm creatures straying into its path.

This upgrade improves the networking capabilities of the Air Pollution Labs, Facilities Management, the Arboretum, the College of Medicine’s Child Development Center, and other North Campus organizations.