Information Technology News Archive

1996 - 2017

NON-REGISTERED HOST ACCESS CURTAILED

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UCI, like other organizations, is experiencing an increase in illegitimate use of the network, particularly with the intent of gaining unauthorized access to campus computer systems. Some of these attempts to gain unauthorized access have come from systems that do not have hostnames registered in the Domain Name System (DNS). It has always been campus policy that systems connected to the campus network have registered hostnames.

On June 16, 1997, NACS systems and services will no longer accept connections from computers that are not registered in DNS. Effected NACS services include the EA systems, Orion, E4E, the HP Exemplar SPP2000, the campus FTP server (ftp.uci.edu), the UCI home page server, and Usenet News. These systems will not accept incoming telnet, ftp, pop (for Eudora) or Usenet news connections from hosts that are not registered.

Most users of NACS systems and services should not be affected by this change. If you receive a message stating that your system is not registered, please contact your Computing Support Coordinator (CSC) for help. If you do not know who your CSC is, or need further help, please call NACS Electronic Communications Services at x2222.

You may also register your system by filling out the form at: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/communication/ip_address_app.html

If you are connecting to NACS systems from an outside ISP, you will need to talk to the ISP help/trouble staff to resolve the problem.

CELLULAR SAVINGS

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NACS recently renegotiated Government Service Contracts (GSAs) with LA Cellular and AirTouch Cellular to provide additional savings and benefits for UCI employees. The UCI Employee Program now includes free activation, free phone with sign-up, lower monthly fees and a variety of other pricing incentives. All cellular services currently billed through NACS-Electronic Communication Services will automatically be changed to the new program.

For more information please call 824-5123.

UCINET 2001

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NACS has been reviewing UCI network needs over the past year toward the creation of “UCInet 2001”, a draft UCI network plan covering approximately the next 4 years. This process has included improving our ability to gather and analyze network use statistics, investigating network performance “hot-spots”, interviewing faculty about current and future needs, and staying in touch with the rapid changes currently taking place in network technology and national network infrastructure. NACS is currently in the process of presenting our initial conclusions to campus and external advisory groups for their review and comment. The first of several articles on the topic of UCI network issues and plans follows below.

COMPUTER SCIENCE NETWORK UPGRADE

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The Information and Computer Science network infrastructure connects four buildings and two trailers with a complex arrangement of coaxial, twisted-pair, and fiber optic cable and aging electronic communication equipment. This complex network of 20+ subnets is well-managed, but is showing the strain of growth and use, and is not flexible enough to support newer technologies and emerging communication needs of the department.

The inability of the ICS network to support current and future needs of the faculty and students is the most striking example on campus of growing electronic communication use exceeding local network capacity. NACS, as a part of “UCInet 2001”, plans to update and improve the electronic communication infrastructure in a number of academic buildings. ICS is just the first.

NACS and ICS network staff worked over several months to analyze the situation and develop a solution. By mid-July 1997, several buildings will be re-cabled and new network equipment will be installed. This will provide ICS with a local, high-speed “switched” Ethernet backbone. “Switched” networks use newer technology that allow users access to the full speed of the network. Traditional Ethernets are “shared” networks that allow users access at only a fraction of maximum speed.

In the new design, no traffic flows through the campus backbone from ICS unless it is destined for other campus sites or the Internet. This is distinct from the previous situation where all inter-building traffic traversed the campus backbone.

For more information about this project, please contact Garrett Hildebrand, NACS’ Lead Network Planner. Garrett may be reached by electronic mail (GDH@UCI.EDU) or telephone (824-8913).

NETCOM TERMINATES UCI CONTRACT

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In April of 1996, NACS announced the Netcom Campuswide PPP program, which made Netcom’s Internet dial-in service available to UCI at an academic discount. Recently Netcom changed their business model, and in a letter to UCI NACS exercised their option to terminate the pricing agreement.

As a result, Netcom is no longer accepting new accounts at the discounted rate and is no longer on NACS’ list of suggested Internet Service Providers. Existing UCI Netcom customers may continue to use their accounts under the existing pricing and other terms and conditions. Netcom advises us that they will notify users at least one month before any future change in pricing.

Watch NACS-News and/or the Home-Access@UCI.EDU Mailing List for future announcements of replacements for Netcom in NACS’ suggested ISP list.