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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum1

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum2

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, … WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum3

Our Backbone Network: ~10X Upgrade WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum4

Network Upgrade & Research 40/100 Gig BiSONBiSON FRGP Research Networks Internet Border 1 Border 2 AFTER Production LAN Core 2Core 1 Campus 10 Gig Core Routing Cluster DYNES Server & Storage, FDT “Research LAN” Commodity Users & Researchers (typ.) Dynamic VLANs 3 ea. 10 Gbps Wave DYNES IDC 10 Gbps Research Connections (typ.) 40 or 100 Gig? WAN Research Backbone WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum5

Voice over IP (VoIP) Project WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum6

WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum 7 ACNS Networking Internet OC-3 Modem pool 5 routers, 1 ATM switch Internet2 16K computers

WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum 8 ACNS Networking – Jan Internet Internet2 National Lambda Rail Gigabit Fort Collins Community Network Bison North Bison South Packet Shapers Border Firewall 300 APs VPN Video Conf.VoIP Surveillance City and County Life & Safety 28K computers Monitor 1,400 devices Core Routers

Size of our WiFi Environment WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum9

Wireless Access Points (Antennas) > 1,200 Antennas In >100 buildings All funded with 1X $ (no replacement) Some > 6 yrs. old WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum10

Simultaneous WiFi Usage Also, Speed of Each Device Increasing Simultaneously! WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum11

UTFAB Funding > $1M over 5 Years WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum12

Networking Staffing Wired: 4 FTE 1,100 devices WiFi: 2 FTE 1,200 devices ACNS Cannot Reallocate Any More Staff WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum13

Educational Campaign: Feb WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum14

Misalignment WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum15 WiFi Needs: Enormous growth No. of devices Speed/device Budgets: All 1-X Have not kept up

WiFi is Hard Greg Redder, NOC Manager, ACNS WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum16

WiFi Architecture WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum17

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum18

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) WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum19

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum20

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum21

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum22

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum23

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) WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum24

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 WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum25

Central IT: CSU Budget Request Base ($/yr.)1-time ($) 1.Add 1 FTE WiFi support$75,000/yr. 2. Additional Maintenance$50,000/yr. 3. WiFi Upgrades$385,000 TOTALS$125,000/yr.$385, WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum26

UTFAB Continue current allocation to WiFi $280k/yr. additional allocation to WiFi $5/student-semester UTF increase proposed WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum27

WiFi & UTFAB Open Forum28 Any Questions?