Campus Network Infrastructure Upgrade Project Status

Basics FAQ

Q: Why does the network need to be upgraded?

A: The majority of the campus network has not been upgraded since 1987. Campus use of the network has changed dramatically since then. Enhancing the security of the network heads the list of reasons for modernization. Other important reasons include: increased reliability; accommodating growth due to changing user needs and support of an increasing student and research population; preparing for changes in networking technology; and staying competitive with peer institutions.

Q: What work is involved in the upgrade?

A: Over the lifespan of the project, approximately 250 buildings on campus will be upgraded. About one-half of these buildings will be completely upgraded; most of the rest will be upgraded as needed. The upgrade work includes installation of network jacks, associated infrastructure, and building or retrofitting about 60 Communications Equipment Rooms (CERs). New network equipment (e.g., switches, routers, and firewalls) will be installed, and each upgraded building will be connected to the campus network backbone by high-bandwidth fiber optic cable.

For a specific description of how information travels through the campus network, see the Network Map. More information is also available about Current Backbone Network Usage.

Q: How will the upgrade help make the network more secure?

A: When upgraded, the network will be more secure and less vulnerable to security threats due to greater firewall and filtering capacity at the network entrance to the campus; improvements to the core network backbone for filtering within the campus network; and improved tools for the management and detection of problems, such as anomalies resulting from security attacks.

Q: How will the upgrade make the network more reliable?

A: The core network is already redundant, but after the upgrade is complete, the redundant devices in the network backbone will be capable of handling more traffic, and redundancy will be simplified to allow for expansion as the university grows and technology increases.

Q: How is the upgrade being funded?

A: Costs of the network upgrade will be funded as a campus priority within the overall set of campus needs. Campus priorities are funded from the total new funds available to the campus and from reallocation.

Q: Why is the project going to take five years?

A: The sheer magnitude of the upgrade (over 250 buildings) requires enormous amounts of time and coordination. As such, the upgrade is being planned to take advantage of other capital improvements that are already under development or that will occur in the next few years. Finally, by scheduling the upgrade over a five-year period, it is hoped that disruptions to campus will be minimized and that units can be given plenty of notice.

Q: Won't equipment put in at the beginning of the project need to be updated in that time period?

A: Yes, some of the equipment will need upgrades. A separate fund has been set up for these recurring expenses.

Q: Is student housing affected?

A: No. The network in the dormitories (URHnet) is funded and maintained by University Residence Halls and is, therefore, not covered by the UIUCnet network upgrade.

Project Administration FAQ

Q: How did campus account for the growing use of the network in planning the upgrade?

A: For planning purposes, a conservative figure of 10 percent growth was used. The network growth rate will be monitored on a yearly basis during the project.

Q: How will campus prioritize which buildings will have their networks upgraded soonest?

A: The Office of the Provost has appointed a group of administrators from each college and major unit on campus to determine the order in which the over 250 buildings in need of wiring and electronics upgrades will be done. The Academic Network Advisory Group advises the CIO, on the advice and review of the Provost. While each college and unit will establish their own building priorities and approaches to addressing space and other associated issues, this advisory group will review and vet priorities that go across colleges, including advise the CIO (within the priorities set for each college) regarding which buildings are upgraded in what order over the life of the project.

CITES is planning and implementing the upgrade and providing input on how the units' needs match with the more technical requirements. If you are interested in when your unit or building will be upgraded, see the current list of buildings awaiting upgrade or contact your department or unit's representative.

Q: Right now, if there is a problem with my connection I just go to my unit's network administrator. Will that change?

A: No. Each college or unit's net admin will still be responsible for communications with CITES and will serve as your liaison with CITES.

Q: Why was a consulting firm hired?

A: Western Telecommunication Consulting, Inc. (WTC), Los Angeles, was hired for its expertise from similar projects at peer institutions (e.g., Purdue, Univ. of Wisc., MIT, Cornell) and the presumed cost savings to be gained by benefiting from the lessons learned at these other institutions. WTC will soon be conducting a condition audit of the CERs.

Project Status FAQ

Q: What is the status of the project?

A: As of the beginning of the spring 2005 semester, work has begun on some of the buildings to be upgraded this fiscal year. Bid packages have been created for several of the buildings on the Year 1 list. Some Computer Equipment Room (CER) work has begun. In an effort to tie down specific installation needs, an audit of existing network connections has begun in buildings in the first wave of upgrades.

Q: How will campus be kept informed of project status?

A: For updates on the status of the upgrade project, you should bookmark and regularly visit these Project Status web pages.

Q: How are those involved in the planning and implementation of the project getting input from campus?

A: In order to involve campus in the planning process, three advisory groups have been set up:

Academic Deans' Liaisons: The Academic Deans' Liaisons act as the sole and final authority for programmatic priorities within their respective colleges, working collaboratively with representatives of their respective units. The liaisons also determine whether CITES efforts on the network upgrade meet the needs of the colleges.
Academic Network Advisory Group: The Academic Network Advisory Group is made up of a subset of the associate deans or others identified by the deans to work on the campus network planning process. The membership advises the CIO, on the advice and review of the Provost.
Network Upgrade Technical Advisory Group: This group includes experienced technical staff members from several units across the campus. The Technical Advisory Group works with and advises the Campus Network Architect about the network upgrade planning.

In addition to these groups, the Research Computing Advisory Board will play a key role in advising CITES on high-demand, research-oriented networking needs.

Q: Who do I ask about questions specific to my building or unit?

A: Please check with the the representative on the advisory group for your college or unit if you have general questions.

Implementation Details FAQ

Q: Why not use wireless instead of rewiring the entire campus?

A: There are multiple reasons why wireless is not a panacea for the cost of upgrading the existing CAT 3 wiring infrastructure.

First, the minimum wired transport rate for the upgrade is faster than current wireless transport rates. The current Upgrade provides for selective 1 Gbps wired data transport, which is up to 9000 percent faster than the current wireless rate of 802.11b. In projecting data transport requirements for the next 10 years, given the growth of high-bandwidth applications since 1987, it would not be prudent to design to such a small incremental improvement. In addition, within the year, the core network data transport rate will be 10 Gbps.

Second, the density of the campus would invariably result in mutual interference of access points. This would reduce availability and reliability of the wireless network.

Third, every wireless access point must be wired to the core network via CAT 5 (or greater) cable. A significant wired infrastructure is required to support the current density of access points in UIUC public spaces. As the campus looks to increase the number of public areas with UIUCnet wireless access, additional CAT 5 (or greater) wired infrastructure will be needed to support those additional access points. The existing CAT 3 wiring infrastructure is of very little value in expanding wireless coverage.

Q: Should we be looking ahead and implementing fiber to the desktop?

A: There are currently two reasons fiber to the desktop is not currently being implemented: cost and lack of need for higher data rates.

• The initial capital cost of installing fiber-to-the-desktop is about three times higher than the cost of installing copper wiring.
• Present technology can already provide for 1Gbps over copper for distances up to 90 meters. Currently, there are very few applications that can take advantage of the 1Gbps data rate of existing network interface cards.

Q: Will departments have the ability to firewall their building through department administered firewalls?

A: Clearly the increasing vulnerabilities of data and systems to network-borne intrusion events provide a powerful motivation for department firewalls. However, building infrastructure is often shared between departments, as well as between CITES and F&S. Because UIUCnet makes extensive use of VLAN trunking, multiple VLANS are often carried on the same connection to the building. Interruption of this connection to insert a department firewall at the trunking level is not desirable.

In order to troubleshoot and maintain UIUCnet, CITES Network Maintenance must have visibility into the department LANS, which precludes some common firewall implementation techniques. The Upgrade supports a distributed network management framework in order to achieve the targeted levels of reliability, security, and availability. The new reference design, which is under final review, accommodates departmental firewalls and sniffer ports in a consistent fashion across campus.

Q: Will we have to replace equipment we have just installed in order to make all equipment similar?

A: The Upgrade funding model assumes a four-year refresh cycle. Equipment in place that can support the Cat 6 data rates will not need to be replaced. Since the Campus Network Upgrade Project is a five-year program, FY05 installed electronics will be refreshed in four years. Thus, pre-existing electronics will be refreshed by the end of the five-year project, and most if not all equipment will support the standardization requirements as stated in the Upgrade objectives.

There are three lifecycles involved:
• The technology life - typically 18 months for electronics
• The economic life - determined by funding feasibility and tax depreciation (three year and five year property)
• The service life - how long the equipment can actually be used

Some peer universities have developed funding models sufficiently robust to be able to refresh electronics at the end of their technological life. Most peers have developed a three to four year refreshment cycle as a compromise between economic feasibility and technological obsolescence. The cost of refreshment of electronics is provided through Campus Network Upgrade funding.

Q: Will this Upgrade convert our phone service to Voice-over IP (VoIP)?

A: Not at this time. The most pressing telecommunications need on our campus is upgrading the data network, and that is where the resources are being concentrated. That said, in order to convert our phone service to VoIP, we need to have a very solid campus backbone and at least Cat 5 cabling in the buildings. When the current data network upgrade is complete we will have much more of the necessary infrastructure in place to make a VoIP conversion.

Meanwhile, CITES is testing VoIP internally. The current cost-benefit ratios realized with converting to VoIP do not make it an immediate candidate for campuswide adoption. In short, the IP phones are relatively expensive compared to the analog phones we use today, and most people do not perceive the existing phone system as broken or in need or replacement or upgrading.

Q: Will the Upgrade provide campus with a network with “five nines” (99.999 percent) of reliability?

A: Probably not. “Five nines” reliability is not the design goal of the current Upgrade. The Upgrade is being engineered to meet a “three nines” (99.9 percent) standard. The total dollars allocated for upgrading the entire campus will be stretched very thin just to get the entire campus upgraded to 10/100 Mbps connectivity to the desktop with a 99.9 percent reliability.

“Five nines” may be obtainable, but it would require a significantly larger investment in items like back-up batteries, redundant fiber feeds, and standby generators. All of those items can be added to the existing design, but for budgetary reasons are not included at this time.

To put “five nines” in more concrete terms, a 99.999 percent reliable network could have up to 5.13 minutes a year of outage. By contrast a 99.9 percent reliable network could have up to 8.5 hours a year of outage. At this time, 8.5 hours a year has been determined to be an acceptable balance of cost and reliability.

Wireless Details FAQ

Q: Is the campus increasing the number of locations with UIUCnet Wireless coverage?

A: Yes, the Campus Network Upgrade Project not only provides for the upgrade of the wired infrastructure in a building, but also adds UIUCnet Wireless coverage to all the “public spaces” in that building. Each building being upgraded is surveyed to determine where wireless access points need to be installed in order to provide “public space” wireless coverage; and the infrastructure that is necessary to provide wireless networking is installed along with the wiring upgrades.

Q: What is the definition of a “public space” for the purposes of the Campus Network Upgrade Project?

A: A “public space” is defined as any space in a campus building where students and/or faculty may meet and collaborate. This would include, but not be limited to classrooms, teaching labs, conference rooms, libraries, lounge areas, and food courts. The primary spaces excluded from this definition are private offices and research-only labs.

Q: Can a Department or a College request “full building” UIUCnet Wireless coverage for a building, and if so, who pays for that additional coverage?

A: Yes, as part of the wireless survey, Units are given the option to request full building coverage. The additional cost of providing full building coverage is charged to the Unit making the request. In some cases the additional cost of covering an entire building is relatively small. In other cases a significant amount of additional equipment must be deployed. Each building is different, and the need for additional equipment will depend greatly on how isolated the “private” areas of the building are from the “public” areas of the building. If a private office is adjacent to a classroom or a conference room, there is a good chance that there will be some UIUCnet Wireless coverage “leakage” into that office. The only way to guarantee total coverage is for the Unit to agree to pay for it.

Q: Can our Department or College have “private” wireless coverage in our offices rather than UIUCnet Wireless?

A: Yes. Units may request and fund “Independently Secured Departmental Wireless” coverage, as long as it can be engineered to not interfere with the “public space” UIUCnet Wireless coverage. Contact the CITES Network Design Office at ndo@uiuc.edu for more information.

Q: What about “public spaces” that are outside of buildings? Is there a plan for providing UIUCnet Wireless coverage on the various campus quads?

A: At this time campus resources are being concentrated on providing UIUCnet Wireless coverage to the “public spaces” inside campus buildings. There may be locations where UIUCnet Wireless coverage “leaks” out of a building and provides some limited external coverage as well. While that is OK, it is not a goal of the current Campus Network Upgrade Project. If a Unit has a specific need for external UIUCnet Wireless coverage and is willing to fund the equipment and its installation, CITES will facilitate providing that coverage to the extent that the technology permits.

Q: Can anyone who can receive the signal use the UIUCnet Wireless service?

A: No. You must have either a valid UIUC NetID and password or a sponsored “guest account” to be able to use UIUCnet Wireless. When you first connect to UIUCnet Wireless and try to use a web browser, you will be directed to the authentication page, where you will need to provide your NetID and password. For most applications, you can use the QuickConnect method of authentication. For some applications, you must use the Cisco VPN client to authenticate. For more information about the campus VPN system and to download the free VPN client software, please refer to this website: http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/vpn/index.html.

Q: Can I use the native Windows VPN client or the native Mac OS X VPN client to access UIUCnet?

A: No, not at this time. Both of those native clients use protocols that do not scale well to a user base as large as the UIUC community. CITES is actively exploring hardware vendors who claim to be able to support thousands of simultaneous native client users on their VPN concentrators, but thus far nothing has scaled well. Native VPN client support is a very frequent request from campus end users, and CITES will continue to search for an effective solution.

Q: Our Department has guest lecturers that will be on campus for two weeks. Is there a way that we can get temporary “guest accounts” for those people while they work here so that they can access UIUCnet Wireless?

A: Yes. There is a process for up to five people in your Unit to become authorized to create “guest accounts.” If you need more than 10 “guest accounts” at one time, CITES can do that for you in a batch process, but you will need to match the “guest account” names to the actual users. Network Administrators can request the form for becoming authorized to create “guest accounts” from wireless@uiuc.edu. If you are a guest of the University and you need a “guest account,” you should contact your Unit’s Network Administrator. Guest accounts are active for 3 days, but may be extended by having the account’s creator contact wireless@uiuc.edu with an extension request.

Q: Why do we need to authenticate at all? Don’t some campuses have “free wireless Internet” available everywhere?

A: Although end users may not be paying for Internet access directly, Internet access is never free. There are both costs and obligations that come with providing wireless Internet access. The campus is responsible for knowing who is using its resources, and for restricting resource availability to the appropriate members of the campus community. Authentication protects the University’s administrative records, academic records, research data, and the personal identity information of nearly 50,000 users. To allow unauthenticated access to UIUCnet Wireless service would be irresponsible and violate several campus policies.

Q: What are the different types of Wi-Fi or wireless data technology? How are they different?

A: The most common “flavor” of wireless equipment used today operates according to the is 802.11b (“b”) industry standard for wireless networking, which will operate at effective speeds of up to 5 Mb/s in the 2.4 GHz radio spectrum. That is the same part of the spectrum that is used by 802.11g (“g”) equipment, which operates at effective speeds of up to 25 Mb/s. The “g” standard is backwards compatible with the “b” standard. If you have a “g” card in your laptop, it can communicate with a “b” access point (at “b” speeds). Conversely, if you have “b” card in your computer, it can communicate with a “g” access point - again at “b” speeds. Most of the Intel-based or Apple laptop computers with built-in wireless capabilities have “b” or “g” equipment.

Like 802.11g, 802.11a (“a”) equipment is also capable of an effective speed of up to 25 Mb/s but “a” wireless equipment operates in the 5.4 GHz spectrum. Consequently, it does not interfere with or interoperate with “b/g” equipment. The effective range of the “a” technology is somewhat less than “b/g” technology. For a more complete technical description of the various wireless standards, please refer to this website: http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/wireless/speed.html

Q: What types of wireless access points are being installed on campus for the UIUCnet Wireless service?

A: The access points being installed are 802.11 “a/b/g” compatible. Those are the three standards that are collectively referred to as Wi-Fi. You can use a laptop or other device that uses 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g to access UIUCnet Wireless.

Q: I need to buy a card for my laptop to access UIUCnet Wireless. What type of card should I buy: “a,” “b/g” or a combo “a/b/g”?

A: On the UIUC campus, all new access point being installed are “a/b/g” compatible models. Because of the effective range differences between the “a” and the “b/g” technologies, some areas of some buildings may have “b/g” coverage but not “a” coverage, so you at least want a “b/g” card. 802.11a is not as widely deployed in coffee shops and other Wi-Fi locations available to the general public as 802.11 b and g. So again to maximize the usefulness of your card, you want a card that can at least work with “b/g.”

However, 802.11b and 802.11g are built into many laptop computers and there will typically be more people attempting to access the “b/g” UIUCnet Wireless network at any given location than the “a” network. So to avoid congestion, you may want a combo card that also supports “a”. High-capacity locations are best served with "a" and if you expect to use wireless in locations like large lecture halls it will be to your advantage to have "a" capabilities. So, in order to be able to use your computer in Wi-Fi enabled coffee shops and to maximize your coverage areas on the UIUC campus you will want a card with “b/g” capabilities. If cost and maximizing coverage are your primary concerns, purchase a “b/g” card. If your connection speed in congested locations is your primary concern, spend the extra money for an “a/b/g” combo card.

Q: Does UIUCnet Wireless support any of the “turbo” or “extra-fast” versions of 802.11g?

A: No. The access points being deployed by CITES for UIUCnet Wireless coverage only support the base 802.11 standards. There are not currently any industry-standard “turbo” implementations of 802.11. Many wireless equipment vendors have created their own proprietary “turbo” systems that promise two or three times the effective data throughput of standard “g,” but none of those systems will interoperate. There are efforts underway within the standards organizations to define a common “turbo” standard, but until such a standard exists and interoperable equipment is widely available, CITES will not venture down that path.

Q: Which buildings have UIUCnet Wireless coverage today?

A: The list is long and growing every month. To see a list and a map of UIUC buildings with wireless coverage please refer to this website: http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/wireless/locations.html

Q: When will every building on campus have UIUCnet Wireless coverage?

A: Not any time soon. The Campus Network Upgrade Project is roughly one year into a five-year project and “only” provides upgrades for 150 of the 300+ campus buildings. There are more than 60 buildings that are included in the first two years of the project, and many of those are major campus buildings. For the entire list of buildings that are included in the first two years of the project please refer to this website: http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/projects/netupgrade/buildings.html

Q: What about Wi-Max? Will CITES be deploying Wi-Max technology?

A: No, probably not in the next couple of years. The first type of Wi-Max (also conveniently known as 802.16 2004) is a building-to-building technology, not one that is intended to communicate with laptops or portable devices. While there may be applications on campus where this type of Wi-Max could be used to provide connectivity to buildings on the South Farms and to other remote locations where there is no fiber-optic cable plant, 802.16 2004 is not a technology that will affect end users directly. By late 2005 or early 2006 we expect to see manufacturers producing 802.16 2004 equipment for the U.S. market.

The more interesting version of Wi-Max is 802.16e, which is intended to communicate directly with laptops and other portable devices over greater distances and at greater bandwidths than any of the 802.11 technologies. That version of Wi-Max is still on the drawing boards. It is not a ratified standard yet, and it could be two to three years before any commercial products are available for the U.S. market. If 802.16e lives up to its promise, it is certainly something that CITES will consider for deployment on the UIUC campus. At this point it is too early to make any firm predictions.

Q: Is there an official CITES position on the use of wireless technology for accessing UIUCnet and campus network resources?

A: CITES recognizes the convenience that UIUCnet Wireless access provides but is also deeply aware of its limitations. For as far as we can see into the future, hard-wired connections will be faster and more reliable than what wireless technology will provide. If you have a choice of using a hard-wired or a wireless connection to UIUCnet, we will almost always recommend using the hard-wired connection. That said, the security and reliability of wireless technology have improved to the point where you should not “be afraid” of using UIUCnet Wireless service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Campus Network Upgrade Project

Basics FAQ

Project Administration FAQ

Project Status FAQ

Implementation Details FAQ

Wireless Details FAQ

Basics FAQ

Project Administration FAQ

Project Status FAQ

Implementation Details FAQ

Wireless Details FAQ