Information Technology News Archive

1996 - 2017

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Network

Peer-to-Peer Applications On UCInet

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First popularized by Napster, peer-to-peer file sharing, or P2P for short, is a growing concern for network administrators. The newest generation of P2P programs, such as Morpheus and Kazaa, download not only music files, but photos, applications, and even video files with sizes ranging from multi-megabyte to multi-gigabyte. Users engaging in this activity can adversely affect network performance.

Instruction and research on campus and affiliated locations depends on a high-performance network infrastructure, and the University must act to preserve it for its intended use. Beyond this concern, increased downloads from the commercial Internet increases the cost of UCI’s connection to the Internet.

In response, Residential Networking Services has installed a specialized gateway that allows Housing to fine-tune the flow of specific kinds of network traffic. In particular, Housing has limited the amount of total bandwidth that P2P can consume, while keeping connections for academic uses wide open.

P2P applications are not permitted on the campus wireless network (UCInet Mobile Access, http://www.nacs.uci.edu/ucinet/mobile/) because such traffic would overwhelm the network and prevent other uses. Wireless is both a slower technology as well as a shared one (that is, all users are sharing the bandwidth of a single connection). We welcome campus comment on this issue.

Border Router

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UCI now has a versatile border router providing a more configurable and secure connection to the Internet.

The border router is a Cisco Catalyst 6509 with a crossbar-fabric switch. The router currently features 32 ports, each running at one gigabit per second (1 Gbit/s) bidirectionally, and is expandable to 180 ports as campus needs grow. It replaces a router with a total bandwidth of 2.4 Gbit/s and represents a substantial upgrade in network capacity.

The border router now aggregates formerly separate circuits to CalREN, the Internet, and Internet2 (Abilene), allowing a single set of policies and security measures to protect the campus across all our links to the rest of the world.

The router is a sophisticated device that allows network administrators to build circuits into, out of, and even back into the router. This permits a virtual path from the Internet to the router, through the campus firewall, back through the router, and on to UCInet. The border router also will support an “intrusion detection system”, presently being designed and implemented, which will complement and enhance the campus firewall.

The intrusion detection system will be able to spot subtle patterns in campus network traffic which represent a network-based attack. It will alert campus network staff when an attack begins, and allow the creation of precise rule sets for network traffic, which will allow UCInet to remain open to legitimate network uses while filtering out many kinds of hostile traffic.

ZOTnet Dial-up Internet Service

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Need more than 7 hours of Prime Time per week? For those people needing more time online than is available through the UCI Lifeline Modem Pool, a good alternative is ZOTnet Internet Service. ZOTnet is an advantageous dial-up Internet provider for UCI faculty, staff, and students. For $14.95 per month the following features are included:

  • Unlimited Hours
  • Direct Connection to UCI’s network
  • Unrestricted access to UCI online resources, such as Medline
  • Local phone numbers throughout California
  • Personal Use Email
  • 10 MB of Personal Use Web Space

To sign up,

  • Online: www.zotnet.net
  • In Person: Network & Academic Computing Services, EG2130, or UCI Computer Store
  • By Telephone: 1-888-438-2963

Optional ZOTnet Software CD-ROMs are available at NACS’ Help Desk and the UCI Computer Store for $4.95.

Internet Application CDs

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Note: NACS no longer sells the Internet Application CD. You can still download current software from the Macintosh and PC archives.

For users of UCI network resources from off campus, NACS has developed the UCI Internet Applications CD. A successor to the former Anteater Access Toolkits (MAAT and WAAT), this CD collects into one place “the usual suspects” of Internet client applications, both free and those site-licensed for UC Irvine.

Instead of burning up their online time, slowly downloading internet utility software, UCI faculty, staff, and students can use this CD to install everything they need. While users of UCI’s Lifeline Modem Service will find this CD particularly useful, the programs on it are of value to anyone in the UCI community who uses the Internet.

The CD is available from NACS’ Response Center and the UCI Bookstore, for $10.00 each. Please beware, some of the software included is licensed for use by UCI faculty, staff and students only. Also, new versions of some of this software are released frequently. Users who want the very latest versions are advised to download copies.

For a full listing of included software and a FAQ, please see: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/computing/softwarecd.html

Housing Telecommunications/Network Upgrade — a.k.a. “Light Every Pillow” —

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UCI Housing Administrative Services (Housing) and NACS are working together to create the telecommunications and network infrastructure UCI residential students will need in the first years of the 21st century.

When completed, every “pillow” in the six residential communities on campus will have access to a 10-Mbit/s Switched Ethernet connection and support for multiple telephone lines. The project will provide residential students with their own Gigabit Ethernet backbone. The residential network will use the same technologies comprising the main campus backbone, to which it will be redundantly connected, and which will provide Internet access to the residences.

To date, one node of the two node backbone has been completed and the new infrastructure and network connections are complete in Mesa Court. This complements the network connectivity that existed prior to this project in Arroyo Vista, Palo Verde and Middle Earth Phase Two. By the end of Spring 2000, the infrastructure implementation will be complete in Campus Village, Verano Place and Middle Earth Phase One.

In the Fall, the network will be extended to Middle Earth Phase Three which is currently under construction. The long-term goal is to upgrade the older network equipment in Arroyo Vista, Palo Verde and Middle Earth Phase Two, and to connect all Housing networks directly to the Housing backbone network.