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P2P Programs on K-12 Networks?
deque_alpha asks: "I am a system administrator for a small K-12 public school district. I am taking over after a bunch of goofballs have really messed things up, the technology department is in utter disarray. I have near infinite problems, but the hairiest are with people sucking up what little bandwidth we have, introducing virii, downloading warez, and generally causing problems with P2P file sharing programs. I don't generally have a problem with these programs, but they are not an appropriate use of the limited bandwidth of a K-12 institution as they provide little in the way of an educational resource, not to mention the legal liability they potentially introduce. The rub lies in that these people are teachers, and I have virtually no policy to back me up if I come down on them, but shutting them down is neccesary to maintain harmony (and legality) on the network. I don't have the authority to pen new policies myself, and my supervisor cannot to be counted on to do it either. Have any of you been in this position before? How would you approach solving it without totally alienating your users? How do you broach the subject of introducing new policies with supervisors?"
I am not a big user of the P2P programs, but my first guess would be to figure out which ports are being used by common P2P programs, and then throttle them down to 0.5kbps. The trick is, that if your users are doing something illegal, it's really tough for them to complain about it running slowly. :^)
As for how to throttle them down, I'm sure it's possible with a properly configured linux server/firewall along with some kind of proxy program.
--Robert
Simple,
You just put in a new firewall that doesn't support such things. Technical limitation, wink wink.
In other words, lock them behind an http only proxy, or whatever other proxies they really need. You aren't a general use ISP.
If they complain, tell them it's impossible to change, due to some complex technical matter. Just mention TCP header length and TTL and their eyes will glaze over as they nod slowly.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Hold a meeting with your staff, and explain to them the dangers, liabilities and your other various points. Explain it so THEY will understand what you are talking about, without talking DOWN to them. If they are responsible adults, they will understand and should comply somewhat if not entirely.
I always believe that it is easiest to reason with people before going behind their backs with rules, policies, etc. Once you have an understanding established, then apply some rules and policies, with the backing of the staff.
Beyond that if they won't work with you, then block the common file sharing ports or throttle the bandwidth to their workstations! That will always work!
I find that most often I end up learning from necessity, rather than for enjoyment.
Find out if your town or county has any kind of acceptable use policy. They probably do. Or, if your school receives state funding, perhaps there is an acceptable use policy at the state level. In short, follow the money and then check for policies.
I'm sure you'll find that what these teachers are doing is not acceptable. Put up a firewall, do what you need to do so that P2P software doesn't work, and when they come and complain point to the policy that defines acceptable use.
Whatever you do, enforce across the board! Don't just block the few teachers that are the problem, block the whole network. That's the best way to stay out of trouble.
My Karma was at 49, then they switched to words. All that work for nothing!
Yeah, right. You must not do much work in schools. A policy is nothing unless you have a way to enforce it and penalties when it isn't followed. Teachers for some reason just can't resist downloading Gator and Bonzai Buddy for some reason.
To the guy in the story,
The first thing you need to do is to write a letter to whoever is directly above you and request that it be forwarded on to administration. Outline your concerns, explain any legal liabilities the school may have, cite lost man hours (translated into $$$) and instructional time caused by what's going on, and be sure to give a way (or ways) the problems can be addressed. If you don't include a potential resolution, then all you will have accomplished is that everyone knows about the problem. If the right people don't get it after you've followed the chain of command, submit it to the school board.
The technical side of this is the easy bit. Get the political support you need from the top and then start to implement. But be sure to do your homework before you start screaming. It'll pay off in the end.
I have worked as a consultant to quite a few K12 IT Directors who were in the same situation that you are in. This path usually works. However, some school districts want their teachers to be able to do whatever they want. If that's the District's opinion, and you can't just pack up and go elsewhere, make sure to do a good job of CYA.
Good luck!
.
load "linux",8,1
Well I can speak from experience that becoming a teacher is no easy task. My wife was an "education major" as you like to call it, and the list of classes she had to take was quite impressive. She was taking classes on foreign cultures, philosophy, mid-to-high level math, literature, environmental studies, child development, etc... My classload of 6 CS courses was weak compared to her schedule. And that's just to get the BA degree.
Then it's off to at least another year to get the credential (though since we live in California it's currently not required, but for the sake of the argument, go with me...) That program involves supervised and unsupervised time in a classroom, preparing and presenting lessons, and dealing with whatever age-level class you're in while trying to teach children who, for the most part, just want to go out and play. I've known several people who went through the entire program only to wash out in the classroom. Imagine devoting years of your life to an unpopular, low-paid career only to find out you can't cut it. People become teachers because they want to. People become IT drones because of the pay.
How good are you at keeping the attention of a room full of 1st or 2nd grade kids? If you're like most readers here you're probably working in an office somewhere and dealing with people who, for the most part, know how to do their jobs at least minimally. You can communicate with them on the same level. And you spend most of your time in an 8-foot-square cubical interacting with a machine that will do whatever you tell it to do (unless you're running WinME). Not exactly a rough existence, eh? Now imagine yourself in a room with 30 PCs, each with a different OS/CPU/GUI, and someone has broken into each machine and is installing and removing programs and drivers at random while you're trying to share a printer to each machine. You can't just yank the network and power cords. Wanna come to work today?
I will admit that "liberal studies" is kind of a fall-back major, but becoming and being a teacher in this country is not easy. I come to work every day and have no fear that a co-worker will pull out a gun and shoot me. I get paid well for the work that I do, and I don't consider it to be difficult work. But in the end, the work I do is inconsequential compared to what teachers do. Sure, there are some teachers who just don't care anymore, but wouldn't you get burned out if you can droves of people shooting down your profession after you've given years of yourself to it?
When I introduce you to my wife, go ahead and speak very slowly and in short little words. I'll be smiling as she plows your little brain into the ground.