[46] in Resnet-Forum
Re: secure hubs in dorms
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve H. Updegrove)
Wed Nov 10 17:18:16 1993
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 16:54 EST
From: "Steve H. Updegrove" <S2U@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
To: lumm@spot.CC.Lehigh.EDU
Cc: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: lumm AT spot.CC.Lehigh.EDU
Thanks for the info on HP--we did our evaluation a year ago, so probably
preceded their announcement. We plan to stick with NCR, given our relation
with AT&T (NCR's "parent"). Others will undoubtedly find the HP info useful.
NCR's hub and others I mentioned allow more than one address per port, but if
you configure them that way, you lose the security and management capability.
We provide one jack per bed. I'm not aware we have yet had any requests for
two connections/student, but we only route one address per jack. Obviously, a
student could always buy routing software and connect other machines, but he
would be the one held responsible for whatever came through the jack. We can-
not tell whose hands are on the keyboard, but we know whose name is on the jack
and on the card in the pc connected to it.
I suspect most students who ARE fortunate enough to have multiple machines use
the "transfer via floppy" method of communication to convey information
between their two machines, with only one being attached to the network. How
are others coping with this? Is it (anticipated as?) a significant problem?
Also, has anyone PROHIBITED modem use from the residence halls? We haven't.
Regarding Ethernet nodes--in rereading my note, I probably gave the impression
that all 10,000 nodes were used. Sorry!! In fact, only a very small percent
are used--only half the students have pc's, we do not require them, many likely
use modems, we have convenient labs, students have to buy the networking cards.
Regardless, the number of nodes is only one variable of concern in terms of
saturating an Ethernet. We have Ethernets with several hundred pc's that work
fine, and others that are stressed by just a few nodes with high-performance
workstations attached. We are not yet worried about these networks. If/when
one gets loaded, we'll merely subdivide it, as we laid out the network to
easily accommodate that. But unless we start to REQUIRE networked pc's, or
there is an influx of workstations in residence rooms running "killer applica-
tions", we don't consider overloading the Ethernet an immediate concern. Has
any else had experience with 1000-node Ethernets in residence halls or ??
