Transcript Overview of our WiFi environment * Pat Burns, VP for IT

WiFi Open Forum
Pat Burns, VPIT; Greg Redder, ACNS & Lance Li Puma, Chair UTFAB
Monday, Feb. 23, 2014
Morgan Library Events Hall
5-6:30 PM
2014-02-24
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Outline
• So what’s up with networking at CSU?
• So what’s the deal with our wireless network? “WiFi is hard!”
• So, how do we fix it together?
• UTFAB proposal
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Wired Network Status
• 3 Years ago, we were falling behind in network capacity to buildings
• SPARC request and funding to upgrade building connections from 100 Meg
to 1 or 10 Gig (1 year ahead of schedule)
• Led to oversaturation of 1 Gig CSU Backbone
• NSF grant of $486k
•
•
•
•
Upgrade backbone from 1 Gig to 10 Gig
Deploy a 40/100 Gig research network
Deploy dynamic routing for researchers (DYNES)
Upgrade Wide Area Network from 10 Gig to 30 Gig
• Other responsibilities too: new buildings, fiber, security, firewalls,
authN, …
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Our Backbone Network: ~10X Upgrade
CSU Aggregate LAN Capacity
No. of Connections
70
60
Sep-2010: 45.1 Gig
Sep-2013: 366 Gig
50
40
30
20
10
0
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10
2
1
0.1
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Open Forum
Backbone Network
Connection
Speed (Gbps)
4
Network Upgrade & Research (DMZ) @ 40/100 Gig
DYNES
IDC
Research
B
i
S
O
N
Dynamic
VLANs
3 ea. 10 Gbps Wave
WAN
Internet
FRGP
Networks
Border 2
Border 1
40 or 100 Gig?
Research
“Research
LAN”
DYNES Server &
Storage, FDT
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Core 2
Campus 10 Gig
Core Routing
Cluster
Core 1
10 Gbps
Research
Connections (typ.)
Backbone
Production
LAN
Commodity Users &
Researchers (typ.)
AFTER
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Voice over IP (VoIP) Project
VoIP Installations
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
FY11
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FY12
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Current
FY13
6
ACNS Networking - 2000
Internet
Modem
pool
OC-3
16K computers
Internet2
5 routers, 1 ATM
switch
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ACNS Networking – Jan. 2006
Internet
Internet2
National Lambda
Rail
Gigabit
Bison
North
Fort Collins
Community
Network
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Packet
VPN
Shapers
300
28K computers
APs
Monitor
Border
1,400 devices
Firewall
VoIP
Video Conf.
Core
Surveillance
Routers
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Gigabit
Bison
South
City and County Life
& Safety
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Size of our WiFi Environment
No. of Devices
50,000
40,000
45,000
32,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Wired
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Wireless
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Wireless Access Points (Antennas)
• > 1,200 Antennas
• In >100 buildings
• All funded with 1X $ (no
replacement)
• Some > 6 yrs. old
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Simultaneous WiFi Usage
Max. No. of Connections
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Fall 2013
Spring 2013
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Spring 2013
Fall 2012
Spring 2012
Fall 2011
Spring 2011
Fall 2010
Fall 2009
Spring 2010
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Spring 2009
Fall 2008
Also, Speed of
Each Device
Increasing
Simultaneously!
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UTFAB Funding > $1M over 5 Years
Fall 2012
Spring 2013
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Spring 2012
Fall 2011
Spring 2011
Fall 2010
Fall 2009
Spring 2010
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Spring 2009
Fall 2008
$350,000
$300,000
$250,000
$200,000
$150,000
$100,000
$50,000
$0
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Networking Staffing
Wired: 4 FTE
1,100 devices
WiFi: 2 FTE
1,200 devices
ACNS
Cannot Reallocate
Any More Staff
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Educational Campaign: Feb. 2014
Interactions
Special WiFi Table Interactions
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30
25
20
15
10
5
0
29
16
18
18
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Misalignment
WiFi Needs:
Enormous growth
• No. of devices
• Speed/device
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Budgets:
• All 1-X
• Have not kept up
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WiFi is Hard
Greg Redder, NOC Manager, ACNS
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WiFi Architecture
INTERNET
Campus Border
Wireless
Access Point
“Edge”
switch
Building
switch
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Campus
“Core”
Network
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Frequencies, Channels, Protocols
2 Frequencies:
• 2.4 GHz
• 5.0 GHz – less interference from commodity devices
Problems:
• 2.4 GHz most common/popular but highly influenced
by cordless phones, microwaves, humans!
• 5.0 GHz….not quite as bad
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Channels
• 2.4 GHz has 3 usable channels
• 5 GHz has ~23 usable channels
• Problem:
• Devices cannot talk at the same time – wireless is
a “shared” medium (saturates easily)
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Wireless Access Point Protocols:
•
“a” runs at 5GHz up to 54 Mbits/sec
•
“b” runs at 2.4GHz up to 11 Mbits/sec (but Least Common Denominator)
•
“g” runs at 2.4GHz up to 54 Mbits/sec
•
“n” runs at 2.4GHz and 5GHz up to 150 Mbits/sec
•
“ac” phase 1 runs at 5 GHz up to 1.3 Gbits/sec
•
“ac” phase 2 runs at 5 GHz up to 7 Gbits/sec
Problem:
• Lots of devices + lots of protocols = hard to support.
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Additional Difficulties
• Drivers can be very problematic, especially new ones released by Apple!
• Configurations of devices not preferring the right network
• Working on solutions to reduce the number of choices, and to help user
devices auto-select preferred networks and frequencies
• Old devices supporting only older protocols
• Changes in space, requests for wireless in arcane areas (e.g. subbasements)
• Interference: TVs with WiFi, rogues, humans, legacy wireless devices
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Difficulties (continued)
• Dynamic nature of intervening materials, including humans
• Much higher density of devices, overwhelming older WiFi radios
• Much higher speeds per device, overwhelming older WiFi radios
• higher capacity = need for additional infrastructure, e.g. PoE connections
per wireless AP, gigabit or higher speed connections to buildings
• Changes in technology: higher capacity = higher frequency = lower
penetration = new WiFi grid!
• “Organic” growth, unknown age of devices in the various buildings,
the type of WiFi Access Point devices, etc.
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Summary
• WiFi is critically important to CSU
• Our WiFi environment is significantly underfunded
• Poor WiFi coverage in some areas: density, proximity,
protocols
• Need to inventory/categorize our WiFi devices as to
model, type, and age
• WiFi needs to be on a regular replacement cycle
• But, we need first to catch up, over the next 1-2 years
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How do we fix it together?
• Pending: eliminate user logins for guests
• “Catch up” - Replace older WiFi devices to get to a regular refresh cycle
• Requires higher density = more devices = more maintenance cost
• “Refresh” – Establish a regular refresh cycle after we “catch up”
• Add staff to catch up and then to sustain the refresh cycle
• Educational campaign and signage (underway)
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Additional Resources Needed
• Central IT (CSU)
• $385k 1-X to catch up
• $75k/yr. staffing (add 1 FTE)
• $50k/yr. increased maintenance costs (for more WiFi devices)
• UTFAB
• ~$280k/yr. WiFi budget increase
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Central IT: CSU Budget Request
Base ($/yr.)
1. Add 1 FTE WiFi support
$75,000/yr.
2. Additional Maintenance
3. WiFi Upgrades
$50,000/yr.
TOTALS
$125,000/yr.
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1-time ($)
$385,000
$385,000
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UTFAB
• Continue current allocation to WiFi
• $280k/yr. additional allocation to WiFi
• $5/student-semester UTF increase proposed
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Any
Questions?
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