1. Cutting The Cords
The success and pain of all wireless
student housing.
Presented by David Wallace
Senior Network Design Engineer
2. Cutting The Cords
Abstract:
• The Kent Campus provides the resources and facilities of a
large(42,185), diverse Ohio university, while offering the
friendly casual atmosphere of a small liberal arts colleges.
• During the summer of 2011, the Information Services Division
partnered with Residence Services and the Office of the
University Architect to implement the refresh of network edge
devices located throughout all the residence halls as well as
the installation of 600+ new access points across 22 buildings
to expand ubiquitous wireless coverage into residence halls.
• The following presentation discusses the challenges
encountered during pre-implementation ,initial roll out and
lessons learned.
3. Pre-implementation Network Status
• Legacy Network switches approaching ten years in age.
• 287 Edge switches installed in residence halls. 240 24-port 10/100
ethernet switches and 47 48-port 10/100 ethernet switches. 8016
ports in total.
• Very limited construction season and access to rooms.
• Demand for ubiquitous wireless coverage equivalent to academic
areas.
• 50/50 Usage by KSU credentialed users of unsecure FLASHZONE
SSID versus FLASHZONE-WPA SSID.
• End of Life of CCA NAC implementation in Residence Halls
supporting 6000+ users daily.
• 22 Residence Halls with a variety of wireless deployments.
• KSU Kent campus has several SSID’s in production. (Flashzone,
Flashzone-WPA, Kent State Guest, Classroom, KSUWVOIP, and
SNET6, Commencement.)
Cutting The Cords
4. Kent Campus Residence Hall Wireless Coverage(Spring 2008)
5%
70%
13%
10%
Complete Wireless
Coverage
Partial Wireless Coverage
No Wireless Coverage
In Progress/Scheduled
40%
40%
20%
Complete Wireless
Coverage
Partial Wireless Coverage
No Wireless Coverage
Kent Campus Residence Hall Wireless Coverage (Fall 2010)
6. • Budgeting of Time and Financial Resources required
project to spend dollars across multiple fiscal periods.
• Spent time planning installation schedule with
Residence Services to maximize construction
opportunities while at the same time minimize impact
to students living in halls.
• In several instances access point cabling was installed
in advanced of ap installation by 6 months or more.
• Residence Services staff approached NTS engineers
about providing a way to support Game consoles via
the wireless network.
Cutting The Cords Planning
7. Switch Distribution Schedule of Deployment
Building
Bldg Pkg
Complete # WAP
# 12
port
# 24
port
# 48
port SFPs WAP Cabling
Forecast
WAPS avail WAP install
Contractor
Completion
Deadline Halls Occupied
Forecast SW
avail
Target Sw
Install Week Bldg Completion Notes
LEE Y 86 1 0 14 23 complete Deployed complete 13-May May 22-Fall Ready complete Week 1 complete
Johnson Y 0 0 1 3 0 complete Deployed n/a n/a May 21-Fall Ready complete Week 1 complete
Stopher Y 0 0 1 3 0 complete Deployed n/a n/a May 21-Jul 31 Ready complete Week 1 complete
TWT Y 6 0 1 0 1 complete Deployed complete 13-May May 18-Jul 16 Ready complete Week 1 complete
CCA Y 22 0 1 4 0 complete Deployed complete 27-May May 30-Fall Ready complete Week 2 complete
CCB Y 21 0 1 4 0 complete Deployed complete 27-May May 30-Fall Ready complete Week 2 complete
KOO Y 58 1 2 10 19 complete Deployed complete 27-May May 30-Fall Ready complete Week 2 complete
KORB Y 0 0 0 3 8 n/a n/a n/a n/a May 30-Fall Ready complete Week 2 complete
WRT Y 58 1 2 10 19 complete Deployed complete 27-May May 30-Fall Ready complete Week 3 complete
BEA Y 48 0 0 9 8 complete Deployed complete 27-May May 30-Jul 31 Ready complete Week 3 complete
Allerton 0 0 0 7 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a Ready complete Week 3 complete
CCC Y 24 0 0 6 0 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 4 complete
CCD Y 21 0 1 4 0 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 4 complete
MCD Y 48 0 0 9 7 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 4 complete
VER Y 36 0 0 5 1 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 5 complete
DUN Y 32 0 0 4 1 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 5 complete
Lake Y 32 0 0 4 2 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 5 complete
Olson Y 32 0 0 4 3 complete ASB complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 6 WIP Resolving Aps with ECHO24
PRN Y 31 0 0 4 1 complete Deployed complete 22-Jul Ready complete Week 6 complete
TRT Y 4 0 0 1 0 complete Deployed WIP n/a Ready complete Week 5 WIP APs being hung
CCE Y 0 0 0 4 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a Ready complete Week 7 complete
CCF Y 0 0 0 4 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a Ready complete Week 7 complete
ENG Y 25 0 1 5 1 WIP Deployed WIP 22-Jul Ready complete Week 8
VNC N/A 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a WIP Week 8
No new switches, just port
config/discconect wired
Allyn Y 0 0 0 5 4 n/a n/a n/a n/a May 18-Jul 16 Ready 18-Jul Week 11
needs to be before May 18 or
after July 16
Clark Y 0 0 0 5 4 n/a n/a n/a n/a May 18-Jul 16 Ready 18-Jul Week 11
needs to be before May 18 or
after July 16
Fletcher Y 0 0 0 5 4 n/a n/a n/a n/a May 18-Jul 16 Ready 20-Jul Week 11
needs to be before May 18 or
after July 16
Manchester Y 0 0 0 5 4 n/a n/a n/a n/a May 18-Jul 16 Ready 20-Jul Week 11
needs to be before May 18 or
after July 16
Res Building Equipment Totals
584 * Access Points
3 * 12 port switches
11 * 24-port Switches
141 * 48-port switches includes NTS 3 loaners for Allerton
110 * SFPs
8. Cutting The Cords Design
Spring 2011 Wired Design; 336 ports on 12 switches redesigned to …
9. Cutting The Cords Design
…5 Gigabit POE switches. Including wireless. Reduction of 96 ports.
12. – Challenge of securing consumer grade wireless
devices easily with minimum user/IT support.
– Initial plan was to create SSID that NAT’s to
internet with no access to KSU resources.
– MAC address filter was required by Security team
for access to this SSID.
– Gaming SSID is only broadcast in residence halls.
Gaming SSID Design
13. • Support Channels
– Web page refresh and re-design for Fall 2011
– Xpress Connect tool for Flashzone-WPA client
configuration
– Scheduling of support during Freshman Move In
– Training of ResNet Tech Spot staff
– Introduction of “new” wireless services to RD’s,
Resident Assistants and Area Desk staff during
training.
Cutting The Cords
Implementation
17. Cutting The Cords
Implementation
Welcome
Weekend
Thursday
Aug. 25, 2011
3:00-8:00 PM
Friday
Aug. 26, 2011
7:30-9:30 AM
3:00-8:00 PM
Saturday
Aug. 27, 2011
12:00-3:00 PM
Sunday
Aug. 28, 2011
2:00-6:00 PM
Allyn/Clark Glass
Lounge X X
Fletcher/Manchester
Glass Lounge X X
ResNet in Tri-
Towers Rotunda X X X X
Twin Towers Area
Desk X X X X
Dunbar Area Desk
X X X X
Stopher Area Desk
X X X X
18.
19. Cutting The Cords
Implementation
FLASHZONE Web Authentication,
least secure, requires KSU
credentials.
FLASHZONE-WPA Most secure,
requires KSU credentials, credentials
cached. Can be configured via
Xpress Connect installer.
Kent State Guest No security, no
credentials, restricted from KSU sites
and resources.
Gaming SSID, client must make
request to have MAC address of
Gaming console entered into DHCP
for access
Wireless Cheat sheet
for RD’s, RA’s and
desk staff.
20. • We require students to register the game console MAC address so that
they can associate to the Gaming SSID. . (Security policy on WLAN SSID
prevents clients from hard coding IP on subnet and gaining network
access.)
• Nintendo Wii, requires wireless network it associates with to support 1
and 2MBs data rates. While this is of little consequence on the testbed; in
reality it was bad for the overall RF environment. We discovered clients
were associating to AP’s several floors away as they could connect at the
lowest data rates. Disabling these rates forced NTS to withdraw support
for the Wii’s native wireless.
• Later reports from clients identified an issue with the Xbox networking
component, where certain applications did not function properly under an
enterprise NAT solution. ( Xbox LIVE under some titles requires the client
hosting to “open” ports on the gateway to set up online communications
between other Xbox users.)
Cutting The Cords
Implementation
“Gaming”
21. • Soon after start of semester requests came in
from users for access to Gaming SSID for
devices outside original scope. (Roku,
AppleTV, Sony Blu-Ray Players as well as
several models of flatscreen televisions.)
“Gaming” Implementation
22. Cutting The Cord
• Go Live
– Early reports positive. User count soared very quickly.
– 1st time in memory Tech Spot had no line for getting
PC’s setup to connect to NAC.
– Early on network experienced significant latency and
throughput issues caused by our implementation of
NAT on layer3 core switches.
– Several client impacting outages were experienced.
– Isolating issue to design took some time.
– Clients experienced service issues to internet.
– Users reported complaints via class of 2015 Facebook
page.
23. Cutting The Cord – Fall 2011
• What the students are saying:
Freshman
Aeronautical Systems Technology Engineering
“The first days we were here it kept cutting off, and then we couldn’t even connect. The connection has
been laggy, slow and now you’re lucky if you even get it at all.”
Senior
Computer InformationSystems “It’s all right, but it could use some improvement.Connection has been
slow. Sometimes it takes more than one try to sign in.”
Freshman
Exploratory“So far I haven’t had any problems with it. I have never had a problem with the gaming
network.”
Sophomore
Architectural Studies “Sometimesit disconnects, but so far it’s done pretty well. It’s actually improved. I
would rather have an Ethernet port, but as far as Wi-Fi goes, it’s working pretty well.”
Senior
Psychology “At first I wasn’t a big fan of it because they had the strict settings on way too high. As soon
as I got a wired connection for my computer, the wireless signal going to my room has been superb.”
24. • Complaints in the evenings during peak usage
guided the decision to expand client support later
into the evenings with student employees living
in residence halls to help support and perform
basic 1st level troubleshooting.
• NTS provided training to student workers, also
gave us a chance to educate students on how the
technology works, and some of the differences
from their home network.
Cutting The Cord – Tech@Night
28. Gains
• Successful migration of users to Flashzone-WPA SSID. Increase
of users on secure SSID by 50% over last school year.
• Retirement of 1 port per pillow infrastructure model serving
residential users.
• Reduction of switched port count in Residence halls by
equivalent of 33 48-port switches.
• Overall port count reduced from 8016 to 6432, equals a 19%
reduction in overall port count.
• Switch count reduced down to 134 48-port Gigabit PoE
switches.
• 100% wireless coverage available in all residence halls.
• 97% utilization of wireless by residents in halls.
• SmartNet savings on switched deployment.
29. Pains
• Nintendo Wii & unintended consequences of consumer grade devices on
enterprise wireless network.
• On campus residents are using 3 or more IP’s simultaneously and at the same
time. IP exhaustion issues required maintaining lease time to 15 minutes.
• Nintendo Wii, requires wireless network it associates with to support 1 and 2MBs
data rates. While this is of little consequence on the testbed; in practice it was bad
for the overall RF environment. We discovered clients were associating to AP’s
several floors away as they could connect at the lowest data rates. Disabling these
rates forced NTS to withdraw support for the Wii’s native wireless.
• Later reports from clients identified an issue with the Xbox networking
component, where certain applications did not function properly under an
enterprise NAT solution. ( Xbox LIVE under some titles requires the client hosting
to “open” ports on the gateway to set up online communications between other
Xbox users.)
• Facebook is Feedback…clients expressed their frustration on Facebook, long before
they would open a ticket.
30. KSU Wireless Stats
• Spring 2011 Kent campus supported over 5800 concurrent users at peak.
• Summer of 2011 NTS wireless team installed just over 600 wireless access points
in approximately 108 days.
• NTS wireless team brought 19 buildings online with full building-wide wireless
coverage.
• Wireless usage from Spring 2011 to Spring 2012 has more than doubled.
• Kent campus has just under 2200 access points deployed. Just under 900 access
points are installed in residence halls.
• Fall 2011 Kent campus supported over 10500 concurrent users at peak.
• Spring 2012 Kent campus supported over 12000 concurrent users at peak.
• 97% of Residence Hall students on wireless full time.
• KSU wireless network has supported over 19,000 unique wireless devices in the
past 7 days.
• KSU wireless network has seen over 12,000 unique devices in a 6 hour period of
time.
• Over 2600 Access Points Deployed.
• 97% of Residence Hall students on wireless full time.
• Over 2000 unique Apple devices have been seen on the KSU wireless network.
• KSU wireless network has seen over 12,000 unique devices in a 6 hour period of
time.
31. Cutting The Cords – The Future
• Summer 2012
– Migrate rest of residential clients to 10.X.X.X IP’s
– Re-survey residence halls and make adjustments.
– Enlarge Gaming subnet to expand capacity.
– Wireless adaptor testing for vending machines.
– Wireless printer support
