The root cause of the authentication server problems is still under investigation. This article will be updated if any further information comes to light.

Further information

The root cause of the issues are still under investigation. We are aware that ~700 eduroam users (about 6% of all Bristol eduroam users), and ~160 VPN users were affected. Unfortunately the nature of the fault was that the problem authentication server was replying “access rejected” for all login requests – had it failed completely i.e. stopped providing any replies, the services that rely on it would have automatically detected this and failed over to an alternative authentication server.

This article will be updated if any further information comes to light.

We now have over 720 wireless access points covering the campus area, and another 630 in University accommodation.

As this bug was found to be affecting us very recently we were not able to give the usual two weeks notice for this work. A notification email has been sent to all staff and students regarding this maintenance work. Bristol users connecting to eduroam at another organisation will not be affected by this work.

IPv6 is the new generation of the Internet. On June 6th 2012, many web services including Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, Bing and many others will permanently enable IPv6 functionality on their systems.

As an Internet user, you don’t have to do anything. You shouldn’t notice the change. However, if you do find that e.g. facebook stops working for you on the 6th June, you might need to adjust some settings on your computer – search the web to find out what to do, or visit the Bristol Uni Laptop Clinic if you need further help.

How are Bristol Uni involved?

It’s important that the University ensures it’s services are ready for the new generation Internet. Unfortunately, the first week in June is right in the middle of the annual examinations period. This is a really bad time to change any of the University’s systems because if anything goes wrong it could be very problematic and stressful for staff and students. So instead we are doing the following:

• April 2012: The authentication magic that lets Bristol staff and students connect at other eduroam organisations and visitors connect at Bristol now uses IPv6. IPv6 is enabled for visitors from other organisations connecting to eduroam at Bristol.
• May 2012: We have enabled IPv6 on this website – www.wireless.bris.ac.uk
• August 30th 2012: We will enable IPv6 network access for all Bristol eduroam users – check out this IPv6 FAQ article for more information.

Where can I find more information about IPv6?

World IPv6 Launch has it’s own web pages, and there are regional sites as well: 台灣IPv6全面升級, 日本でのWorld IPv6 Launch, Всемирный запуск IPv6, 中国世界IPv6启动, Netherlands IPv6 Launch.

There are tons of web pages about IPv6 in general, and technical information, on the web. A good place to start for more information is the IPv6 wikipedia article. There are also sites that allow you to test if your computer and Internet connection will be ok with IPv6:

• Google IPv6 test
• … or a more technical IPv6 test

• The MSc study room in Geographical Sciences (Room G2s)
• Rooms C9-C10 and Rooms C72-C74 in the Medical School

We have also made adjustments to better cover the Mathematics Veranda.

Wireless coverage at the University is not yet pervasive, it’s only in certain areas. This is largely because the University is very spread out, with locations starting at Filton in North Bristol, all the way down to Langford in South Bristol. Even considering just the precinct area, there are many buildings. If you have Wi-Fi at home, you’ll be aware that each wireless access point can only cover a certain area before walls and other obstructions block the signal and make it unreliable. You’ll also likely be aware that domestic network equipment occasionally “gets stuck” and needs turning off and on again before it will work again. So imagine scaling this up to cover the precinct – you’d need a lot of access points, and a lot of people to look after them. Both of these require very large financial expenditure.

Getting more coverage

Connectivity is a key enabler in education, so how can we tackle the problems above?

We use “enterprise level” wireless access points – these are capable of handling more users, work more reliably and are remotely manageable. They also have special features that, for example, allow users to move from one coverage area to an adjoining coverage area without interrupting the connection. This allows us to manage a very large wireless network without requiring a small army of people to do it. The downside is that more capable equipment is more expensive.

We can only purchase and install a certain number of access points with the money we have. This means that coverage areas have to be prioritised accordingly.

Student study spaces

Recently increased funding has been made available to improve the wireless coverage in student areas. All students will have received an email from the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education about this and other improvements.

We hope to install 100 additional wireless access points by the start of the 2012-13 academic year. We have analysed the results of the recent Student IT survey and the requested wireless locations will form the bulk of the new coverage. In addition, we aim to cover all “tier one” lecture theatres, all student common rooms and various other areas. If you have any suggestions about student wireless or other IT aspects of study spaces, check out this post on our mobile IT forum and tell us your ideas. If you mention a location, please state the building name as well as the room name/number, otherwise we might not be able to determine where you mean. As the new locations come online they will appear in the location list, on the map, and we’ll post an entry in the new hotspots section of this blog, as well as putting up local signage.

We will soon be replacing all of these grey access points with newer white ones:

As well as being more aesthetically pleasing, the newer model of access point supports more recent wireless technologies which should enable better speed and reliability for wireless users. As some of the grey access points are in very difficult to access locations, such as near the ceiling in Will’s Memorial Great Hall, we estimate it will be about three months before all of the grey access points are replaced.

]]> http://www.wireless.bris.ac.uk/blog/2012/03/30/new-this-week-330/feed/ 0 http://www.wireless.bris.ac.uk/blog/2012/03/23/new-this-week-323/ http://www.wireless.bris.ac.uk/blog/2012/03/23/new-this-week-323/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:00:30 +0000 James http://www.wireless.bris.ac.uk/?p=4277 Wireless coverage at Bristol is ever expanding! This week wireless has been installed to cover Print Services. This should aid students and staff when visiting the print services desk to submit their print jobs.

We have also upgraded the wireless point in the Wiglesworth Library reading room (Biological Sciences).

• B74 and B75 Lecture Theatres
• C77 area
• D53 Lecture Theatre
• DE Floor

This means that all wireless services at all locations across campus will not be available on Tuesday morning 06:00-09:00.