SFSU New Ultraslow Network

Have you noticed that recently logging into the SFSU network at school seems to take more than 10 minutes and excessive trials and errors while the network decides whether or not to accept your password or not?  The issues in not limited to one building as I learned on day, after trying to connect to the internet from 4 different lotions on campus. I decided to try and get to the bottom of why the wireless at San Francisco State is so dead slow this year.

 None of the websites run by SFSU mention any current network problems. After some difficult web searches, I found an outdated web page on sfsu.edu stating that in 2010 San Francisco State completed a network-wide upgrade.  The website stated that the upgrade was completed in June 2010 as part of the CSU Infrastructure Terminal Research Project (ITRP). 

The upgrade focused on new Cisco networking equipment to speed up wired network connections to desktop computers campus-wide.  It also involved upgrading the links between buildings and network distribution plans.  The website stated that the transition would be gradually rolled out over the 2010/2011 year to all buildings.  The website did not mention internet connection slowness issues or wireless problems just upgrades to the internal networks.

Ironically, I do remember them installing these ominous looking black boxes around campus last year, but I wasn’t aware of what they were for.  The boxes had fiber-optic cables and cat6 cables -- computer networking cables terminated in them but no other equipment. In addition, I found new wall plates in several class rooms with fiber-optic, cat6 and TV cable connectors.  None of them were live as I tried to use them a couple of times. When I asked sever people in the DAI lab no one knew what they were for. I also noticed that new wireless access points began popping up in many of the classrooms around campus but they were not activated.

In DAI lab Fine Art Building

Fine Arts building

After more research I stumbled upon a website run by the California State University system. The website was for the Network and Technology Alliance. The group is charged with advising the CSU chancellor with tech policy. In 2002 the group came up with standards for computer networks on all CSU campuses.   A review networking systems on all CSU campus revealed that our systems were outdated and didn’t follow the minimum standards of a modern computer network.   The working group came up with a plan that recommended a new round of infrastructure system upgrades and called it ITRP2 – ITRP1 was a similar project in 1994 that funded the first campus wide networks.

The program will cost $17 million to $22million a year for eight years and is in two phases. Phase one was from 2006/07 to 2009/10 and Phase two 2010/11 to 2013/14.  Total cost will between $136 million to $176 million. Details on what the money will be spent on is hard to find as most of the files on the Network and Technology Alliance website are password protected and only the overview for the project is viewable to the public.

Cisco Catalyst Switches like ones to be purchased

 

The good news is the CSU system is trying to modernize and standardize computers systems on the SFSU campus.

The bad news is since we are in the middle of a two phase project there is no telling when or if the network will improve. The issue also points out the lack of information and transparency at SFSU and the CSU system as a whole. They are so disconnected from their users they can’t even tell them why the problems are happing, if there are plans to address their concerns or are even if they are aware that the issue exists.

Current Network unlink in DAI lab and yes if you step on the cable the internet goes out for the whole lab

 The website for the project has not been updated in more than a year, so there is no way to tell how the budget struggle has affected the project. There is also no timeline to show if the project is on time or even if is still ongoing.

The other fact that I found disturbing was in the limited material I could find on the project it had no mention of internet connections at SFSU or any other campus in the system. The outline was focused on internal networks—between buildings and to users, with the ultimate goal to be able to hand additional internal network traffic and more users. Nothing in the report about how the new network would connect to the rest of the outside world,  the internet or what the speed of the internet will be for users. I fear that the CSU system will spend 170 million on a ultra fast network and still have ultra slow internet speeds.