Curious as to which University you work for and what your exact job is there...
At CMU, we have a very nice perl script that we can use to add ACLs to our routers (Cisco 6509s) to block all traffic off the subnet to and from hosts who are infected or about whom we receive email from RIAA/MPAA/Random studio saying that they have been caught serving copywritten material. We force all users to register their MAC address with us, and all Residence network machines are using dhcp supplied static global IP addresses (static in that they do not change, not that they are manually configured). (see http://www.net.cmu.edu/netreg/ ). We are working on a very cool replacement for the ACLs that will allow a big red button, no ACLs and centralized killing of machines. Email me, and when the paper has been written up for the public, I can send a copy. I guarentee it is super cool;-)
We are not using 802.1x port security, since OS support is not there for everything, and we do not want to limit users. The one mac addr per switch port is not interesting, since that would also unnecessarily limit users.
By filtering users off the network, we are giving them a reason to fix their machine. We do have a help desk and can walk users through various common problems, but do have a specific list of applications and OS's that we support. If it is needed to get things done for school, it is supported.
You put a bsd box between the users and the router. The bsd box has a table of all the allowed mac addrs for the network. invalid addrs http requests (and all other traffic) is directed to a registration machine.
It works where I work, quite well. Throughput is excellent: http://www.net.cmu.edu/authbridge/
Furthermore, to get on-topic, the DMCA that I assume you refer to would certainly not protect someone encrypting a P2P transaction involving copywritten material that neither peer owned.
I think that Zeroconf is useful in many different network environments. Certainly in the home, it is nice to allow users to find printers, tivos, and the inside interface of broadband routers. In a University network (such as the one which I help administer) It is nice to use iChat, Apple's zeroconf instant messaging client, and be able to see other users on our/20 wireless network. It is also nice for people visiting the campus who want to use a printer without having to be told how to set it up. In a corporate environment, where OS's can be mandated and all the computers are centrally maintained, the use of zeroconf is questionable. Printers can and probably should be set up more deterministically. There are also possible security issues, that may have a higher importance than in a home or University. To clarify why a University is different from a corporation, there is no mandate as to which platform/os users need to use, only that they can run tcp/ip.
Do I think that the US would let them use the emergency capsule? Yes. If it comes to it, they definitely will. Even if the Shuttle is grounded for more than six months, there is also the Russian Soyez rockets that can carry people up and down the gravity well. I believe they can also recieve supplies with the Russian rockets.
The cold war is over, and Russia spent alot of money learning about rockets, they are at least as good as the US, as long as they have the money. They definitely have the Science.
Messed up with the money we have given them? I think that in the 40 or so years of manned spaceflight, that three accidents with fatalities is a pretty damn good record. That does not change the fact that it is a tragic event in the least.
The problem with private companies have a monopoly on space is that it will pretty much prevent good public research in space. We would end up with space science being like genetic science. NASA allows the whole of the United States to enjoy the benefits of space, not just rich corporations.
That does not mean that I am against corporate space ventures, quite the opposite. I think that we need both. We need NASA to allow NSF researchers the ability to perform experiements in space. We need the corporations to come up with the innovations that only a private corporation can come up with.
You definitely want optical mice if you have boys in your school. They love nothing more than to remove the balls from the mice. Superglue works until the rollers are all gucked up. Better to go with cheap optical mice.
Re:Great, and when they graduate with zero Windows
on
Maine School & Linux
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Well, I would guess that if they wanted to learn windows, they would learn more with a home computer. You are not going to be able to pass the MSCE, with what you learn in a H.S. computer lab. (close though;-) Cisco, OTOH has a Cisco Academy program where students can get their CCNA certification in H.S. and get useful experience. Not to mention that Cisco actually has a cert that means something (CCIE). When Microsoft has a cert like the CCIE, then they will have a cert worth attaining.
I personally can't stand Microsoft, but when one of the directors at my job bought an XBox for our lab to play with (I love my job), I tried it out. You know what; it is a pretty nice system. Halo rocks. Compare it to Q3 all you want, but does quake let you play on huge maps with 16 people with different kinds of vehicles. In the SP game, does it let you have a flying vehicle. As for the controller vs the keyboard war, once you get used to the controller (it took me a few hours), it rocks. It makes it super easy to walk in one direction and fire in another, while switching weapons and throwing grenades. All at once. It is much for efficent use of fingers. The story on Halo for SP is better than any other FPS I have seen. Bungie has always been able to make better FPS. Marathon came out able to run at 1024x768 at 24bit color while the PC equivalent, Doom, was running at 256 colors at 640x480. I am guessing that Halo will not be a straight out port of the console version, but will have state of the art graphics, new maps, a map editor, improved physics. I just hope they come out with a usb clone of the xbox controller.
As mentioned above, CMU does have a single cross platform logon across campus. One of the nice things they have done with Linux is develop "Andrew Linux" which can be installed over the network with a floppy disk. Once installed, the user does not have to worry about patches, as the Computing Services department has professionals which maintain the software. The workstations run some programs, pckg and depot, or something like that, which do the updates. Users can even set up prefs to determine which apps are stored locally, and which are run over the network. fvwm is in beta testing now, but that doesn't keep people from using wmaker or sawfish or whatever they want. It won't work in the public labs though (afaik). We struggle pretty hard to support alot of different OS's, and I think we do it fairly well.
Going wireless for a call center is a pretty stupid idea. First of all, the bandwidth is shared. If you get more then ten people on an Access point, you are going to have a hell of a time trying to access network services. Also, if they were smart, they would deploy voice over IP in the new center. You can run 10/100 switched to each desk, and have an IP phone, powered over the ethernet.
Not only will you have a faster connection, buy also a more secure one. I like wireless, but I don't expect it to be secure. You would be surprised to find out how easy it is to sniff packets from a wireless network.
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Force users to register MAC, if caught stealing MAC/IP then ban user from network for some period of time (like a semester). Not that hard to do.
Curious as to which University you work for and what your exact job is there...
;-)
At CMU, we have a very nice perl script that we can use to add ACLs to our routers (Cisco 6509s) to block all traffic off the subnet to and from hosts who are infected or about whom we receive email from RIAA/MPAA/Random studio saying that they have been caught serving copywritten material. We force all users to register their MAC address with us, and all Residence network machines are using dhcp supplied static global IP addresses (static in that they do not change, not that they are manually configured). (see http://www.net.cmu.edu/netreg/ ). We are working on a very cool replacement for the ACLs that will allow a big red button, no ACLs and centralized killing of machines. Email me, and when the paper has been written up for the public, I can send a copy. I guarentee it is super cool
We are not using 802.1x port security, since OS support is not there for everything, and we do not want to limit users. The one mac addr per switch port is not interesting, since that would also unnecessarily limit users.
By filtering users off the network, we are giving them a reason to fix their machine. We do have a help desk and can walk users through various common problems, but do have a specific list of applications and OS's that we support. If it is needed to get things done for school, it is supported.
You put a bsd box between the users and the router. The bsd box has a table of all the allowed mac addrs for the network. invalid addrs http requests (and all other traffic) is directed to a registration machine.
It works where I work, quite well. Throughput is excellent:
http://www.net.cmu.edu/authbridge/
Decryption != foiling copy-protection measures
Furthermore, to get on-topic, the DMCA that I assume you refer to would certainly not protect someone encrypting a P2P transaction involving copywritten material that neither peer owned.
I think that Zeroconf is useful in many different network environments. Certainly in the home, it is nice to allow users to find printers, tivos, and the inside interface of broadband routers. In a University network (such as the one which I help administer) It is nice to use iChat, Apple's zeroconf instant messaging client, and be able to see other users on our /20 wireless network. It is also nice for people visiting the campus who want to use a printer without having to be told how to set it up. In a corporate environment, where OS's can be mandated and all the computers are centrally maintained, the use of zeroconf is questionable. Printers can and probably should be set up more deterministically. There are also possible security issues, that may have a higher importance than in a home or University. To clarify why a University is different from a corporation, there is no mandate as to which platform/os users need to use, only that they can run tcp/ip.
Do I think that the US would let them use the emergency capsule? Yes. If it comes to it, they definitely will. Even if the Shuttle is grounded for more than six months, there is also the Russian Soyez rockets that can carry people up and down the gravity well. I believe they can also recieve supplies with the Russian rockets.
The cold war is over, and Russia spent alot of money learning about rockets, they are at least as good as the US, as long as they have the money. They definitely have the Science.
Messed up with the money we have given them? I think that in the 40 or so years of manned spaceflight, that three accidents with fatalities is a pretty damn good record. That does not change the fact that it is a tragic event in the least.
The problem with private companies have a monopoly on space is that it will pretty much prevent good public research in space. We would end up with space science being like genetic science. NASA allows the whole of the United States to enjoy the benefits of space, not just rich corporations.
That does not mean that I am against corporate space ventures, quite the opposite. I think that we need both. We need NASA to allow NSF researchers the ability to perform experiements in space. We need the corporations to come up with the innovations that only a private corporation can come up with.
You definitely want optical mice if you have boys in your school. They love nothing more than to remove the balls from the mice. Superglue works until the rollers are all gucked up. Better to go with cheap optical mice.
Well, I would guess that if they wanted to learn windows, they would learn more with a home computer. You are not going to be able to pass the MSCE, with what you learn in a H.S. computer lab. (close though ;-) Cisco, OTOH has a Cisco Academy program where students can get their CCNA certification in H.S. and get useful experience. Not to mention that Cisco actually has a cert that means something (CCIE). When Microsoft has a cert like the CCIE, then they will have a cert worth attaining.
I personally can't stand Microsoft, but when one of the directors at my job bought an XBox for our lab to play with (I love my job), I tried it out. You know what; it is a pretty nice system. Halo rocks. Compare it to Q3 all you want, but does quake let you play on huge maps with 16 people with different kinds of vehicles. In the SP game, does it let you have a flying vehicle. As for the controller vs the keyboard war, once you get used to the controller (it took me a few hours), it rocks. It makes it super easy to walk in one direction and fire in another, while switching weapons and throwing grenades. All at once. It is much for efficent use of fingers. The story on Halo for SP is better than any other FPS I have seen. Bungie has always been able to make better FPS. Marathon came out able to run at 1024x768 at 24bit color while the PC equivalent, Doom, was running at 256 colors at 640x480. I am guessing that Halo will not be a straight out port of the console version, but will have state of the art graphics, new maps, a map editor, improved physics. I just hope they come out with a usb clone of the xbox controller.
As mentioned above, CMU does have a single cross platform logon across campus. One of the nice things they have done with Linux is develop "Andrew Linux" which can be installed over the network with a floppy disk. Once installed, the user does not have to worry about patches, as the Computing Services department has professionals which maintain the software. The workstations run some programs, pckg and depot, or something like that, which do the updates. Users can even set up prefs to determine which apps are stored locally, and which are run over the network. fvwm is in beta testing now, but that doesn't keep people from using wmaker or sawfish or whatever they want. It won't work in the public labs though (afaik). We struggle pretty hard to support alot of different OS's, and I think we do it fairly well.
Going wireless for a call center is a pretty stupid idea. First of all, the bandwidth is shared. If you get more then ten people on an Access point, you are going to have a hell of a time trying to access network services. Also, if they were smart, they would deploy voice over IP in the new center. You can run 10/100 switched to each desk, and have an IP phone, powered over the ethernet.
Not only will you have a faster connection, buy also a more secure one. I like wireless, but I don't expect it to be secure. You would be surprised to find out how easy it is to sniff packets from a wireless network.