Harvard Offers Sneak Peek Into Their Network

Bob Brown writes "Harvard University doesn't usually talk much about its internal network, but here, the guy overseeing it opens up about the homegrown and commercial tools used to manage the massive system." From the article: "Harvard, as of late, has been exhibiting another telco trait - considering the network as part of the university's critical infrastructure. As such, its construction is considered during the initial planning phases of building renovation, new construction and campus expansion projects. The data networks that are being built today, at Harvard and similar institutions, are being built to host a variety of IP-based traffic. Most every physical-plant control device, whether it be security cameras, chilled water-valve actuators or parking garage card readers, are being designed to work with the IP network"

Comments

Incompetence

[schmiddy]

All that, and they still don't know how to set up DNS properly.

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$ host harvard.edu
harvard.edu A record currently not present
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I notified them about this months ago, but they didn't seem to care. Most web browsers automatically try the "www" prefix when you type, say, "harvard.edu" into your address bar, so you don't notice this problem generally. However, if you try wget, you can see it fail.

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$ wget harvard.edu
--14:38:45-- http://harvard.edu/
=> `index.html'
Resolving harvard.edu... failed: Host not found.
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Pretty sloppy if you ask me.

Re:WiFi Accounts Disabled

[theJML]

Because there aren't any legitimate uses of internet access during class time...

Like maybe browsing the notes to the lecture that the teacher made available and adding notes/annotations
Pulling down source code from the book you've got because it didn't come with a CD (that costs extra)
Googling for more info to assist a group project
Uploading/Downloading your notes from your home server so you can keep them all in one place
Saving bookmarks and urls that a teacher may point out as a good source for more info
Using your laptop to run a presentation/group project
etc...
I know I was able to get a lot of use out of internet access when I was in the classroom a number of years back. It was Quite invaluable in MANY of my classes. The annoying thing is that we didn't have wireless then so I had to make sure I was by a port, although many of the newer buildings had classrooms where there was a network port and power plug available at every seat (if there weren't already PC's there). How one sided of a universtiy to think that because someone COULD missuse a piece of technology, that everyone will... but then again, it is Harvard. I bet they talk to the RIAA on a regular basis.

Necessary Approach

[iamlucky13]

I worked for the network and telecommunications department for a smaller university for a few years. Building the infrastructure in place like this is critical. We constantly found ourselves working out awkward solutions to providing access to older buildings. A couple of the buildings are running ethernet over phone wires and served by hubs that are 20 years old because they are the only thing with a strong enough signal for the quality of the wires. Two of the dorms are using Cisco's LRE DSL technology. Locating IDF's when we did major upgrades was a pain in the butt. Sometimes we would spend most of a day adding a couple drops to a single office that needed more space, but rewiring that wing wasn't in the budget. In the long run, the costs add up, as do the frustrations.

In contrast, our newest building is thoroughly wired (with the perplexing and random exception of two small labs that I spent several days running cable to last summer). Even the closets have multiple ports, just in case, and that has been important several times.

Documentation is equally important, and someplace where we currently lag. Currently, what goes where is stored in our heads, and gets lost every time someone leaves. The mix of old and new standards, as well non-standard crap has made the documenting process difficult. Also, it is impossible if there isn't a method in place for ensuring that changes made as documentation is being built up aren't recorded.

Another challenge is correctly anticipating what your future needs are and building in expandability. Our athletic center was built right before the networking became standard, and while it has plenty of phone lines, the distance is too far to run ethernet in some cases, and the routing makes spot-upgrades close to impossible.

Re:MIT already knows. (was Re:Wait..)

[The Pim]

It used to be a microwave link to MIT. When whether was bad (and remember this is Boston), we had massive packet loss.