[Tang-residents] [Fwd: Update on Tang ethernet connectivity issues [help.mit.edu #1005618]]

[Jayashree Subramanian]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Stuart Peloquin via RT <rcc-west at MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: rcc-west at MIT.EDU
To: jaya at mit.edu
Subject: Update on Tang ethernet connectivity issues [help.mit.edu
#1005618]
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:27:36 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Tang Residents,

I'm emailing you with an update to the state of network connectivity in Tang hall.  Please read the sections below thoroughly as they have further instructions if you're still having connectivity problems.  We're aware that there are still concerns establishing a reliable wireless connection in many rooms.  This is a separate issue being looked at.  Today, I'd mostly like to update you on the state of the wired network connections which many residents are falling back on.

There has been an ongoing problem that began around the end of August.  IS&T has been to W84 looking into the issues many times since then and found a temporary resolution on 9/11/2009.  The devices serving the building were reset and connections were all investigated.  This only resolved the issue for a number of days.  The slow connectivity returned early last week.  We believe that the main problem has been resolved; details can be found below.

A note about bandwidth management:

While this particular problem has been resolved, there's no guarantee that the network will continue to work uninterrupted.  Tang has very old wiring and hardware.  
Because of the limitations this infrastructure imposes, we ask all residents to be mindful of the amount of network data they're using.  The network connection for each floor is shared in the truest sense of the word and a single resident can use enough traffic alone to make the network inaccessible to other residents on their floor or nearby floors.  If you're uploading or downloading large files at high data rates you can severely affect the ability of other residents to connect to the MIT network.  Please be aware of your network use.  A general rule of thumb is to completely avoid file sharing applications such as bittorrent, Kazaa, Limewire or other P2P networks for downloading movies and music.

Details regarding the recent network outage:

As mentioned previously, Tang has very old wired infrastructure.  The ethernet cabling is not compatible with today's network equipment specifications.  When the switch that serves connectivity to the rest of the house was upgraded to be compatible with the new wireless network, it attempted to make use of features consistent in any modern infrastructure - most notably, auto-negotiating 10/100/1000 Mbps.  This brought to surface an electrical problem that did not affect the old hardware that only negotiated between 10/100 Mbps connections.  The IS&T network team has established a work-around for this problem and believe this should no longer affect the wired network connections.  If this is not the case, we want to know right away.

Problems going forward:

IS&T is aware of the concerns regarding the wireless network reliability in Tang and we will likely be contacting residents for feedback after changes have been made or for additional information to help guide the installation.   If you experience any significant change in connectivity, we would like to hear about it, however, if the connection has been consistent over the last few weeks, we may not be able to follow up with your report before changes are made.  We are also aware of residents using personal access points in Tang.  These are only add interference for residents trying to use the MIT APs and we ask that they be disconnected from the network.

If you experience any loss of ethernet (wired) connectivity, we'd like to know right away so we can attend to those issues.  Please visit http://rcc.mit.edu or reply to this email to report a problem.

Again, please be reasonable with your network use for the sake of the residents that live nearby.  Thank you,

--
Stuart Peloquin
Residential Networking Coordinator
Client Support Services
Information Services and Technology
N42-140U

-- 
Jayashree Subramanian
PDOS, MIT