Department Use FAQ
We would like
wireless coverage in and/or around our building, what do we do?
If you would like to cover areas in or around your location
on campus please contact us at net-services@ufl.edu.
We will be happy to work with you to conduct a site survey and to
go over the details of the installation.
It's our hope that eventually, by working with each group to coordinate and install wireless in their area, we will be able to provide a ubiquitous network that covers the entire campus.
What should
we do if we are already using wireless systems?
If you already have wireless devices running please contact
us as soon as possible. The potential for harmful RF interference
by neighboring devices is very high. We would like to coordinate
frequency usage and configuration specifics to avoid disruption
of both networks. We can also discuss what would need to be done
to configure your local system to work with the campus wide system.
What type of
Access Points are you using and recommending?
In
all of our installations we are using the Cisco Aironet 350 series
Access Point. There are a lot of comparable 802.11 products on the
market right now but in our opinion the Aironet systems were the
best choice for performance and features.
What is the
plan for the campus deployment and what is the ultimate goal?
Eventually
we hope to provide a campus wide wireless network. Ideally users
will be able to access the network from almost any location on campus,
even while moving from location to location. To move towards realizing
this future we are working in outdoor areas to install wireless
coverage. The highest priority locations will be areas that are
highly traveled and popular gathering areas. After that we will
start to cover secondary locations. At the same time we are also
working with many departments to coordinate the installation of
wireless networks in their areas. These efforts will hopefully over
time cover almost all of the areas on campus. The current status
of the project can be seen at the coverage map.
This stuff
is great. Now I don't need to pay for expensive wiring right?
*Wrong*.
Wireless networks are no substitute for conventional wiring unless
wiring is impossible or cost prohibitive.
They do not have the bandwidth nor the reliability of wired networks.
Installing a wireless network and expecting it to serve in place
of a wired connection is inviting disappointment and aggravation.
It fills a specific niche allowing mobility and flexibility but
it should not be used anywhere that a wired connection is possible.
What are the
problems associated with using wireless systems?
There are several problems that are assoicated with with wireless
network operations. The first is that it is a shared system. This
causes load related problems and raises specific security concerns.
Another potential problem with wireless networks is radio frequency
interference. The radio frequency range used by the wireless network
is becoming very crowded with all types of devices (in addition
to networking devices) and raises the very real possibility of harmful
interference affecting wireless services. There are also environmental
considerations such as building composition, foliage, and even weather
than can affect wireless functionality.
I've
heard about WEP encryption for wireless networks, what is it and
why aren't you using it?
WEP stands for Wired Equivalent Privacy and is a mechanism for providing
encrypted communication over 802.11 wireless networks. Early on
we decided to avoid the use of WEP for a number of reasons. WEP
is based on a shared key system. A large part of the security relies
upon maintaining the secrecy of the WEP key. Unfortunately all clients
that access the system need to have the key. In a large environment
where potentially thousands of hosts have the key, it's secrecy
becomes nonexistent. There are newer protocols emerging that offer
solutions for this problem but that haven't matured yet. Another
reason WEP was rejected is that there is degree of protocol overhead
and latency associated with using WEP encryption. Also, there was
some incompatibility between vendor implementations and we wanted
to maintain as generic an environment as possible. Most recently,
there have also been reports that the WEP encryption mechansim can
easily be cracked.
