"The [internet] network, in general, has become an essential part of the educational experience on campus [at the University of Richmond]," said Greg Miller, manager of network services. "The wireless network is important because it has become the primary means that students use to access the network. Use of wired connections in the residence halls is declining."
Scott Tilghman, user services manager, said he was only aware of one internet outage on campus this semester which was not power-related. It was planned for an upgrade to hardware and software to support the wireless network.
Miller said the planned outage took place early on Sept. 13, and students had been notified in advance via SpiderBytes. The maintenance involved an upgrade to the software on the wireless controllers and access points and was intended to correct a number of defects in the software supplied by Richmond's wireless network vendor, Cisco Systems. The RADIUS software that processes authentication requests was also upgraded.
"We know that the software bugs that were corrected by the upgrade were a significant source of instability [in the internet network] at the beginning of the semester," Miller said. "We have received no reports of wireless problems since the upgrades."
Miller also said: "The number one issue that we have had in the past is with outdated client drivers. Making sure that your wireless drivers are up to date can make a big difference."
During the summer, the Richmond wireless controller and access point software was upgraded as part of the university's normal maintenance. This upgrade required a portion of students to upgrade their wireless drivers for some of the older wireless cards. Miller explained that the campus wireless network was based on the WPA standard and authentication and encryption were required to connect. Students had to upgrade because some client devices will exhibit interoperability problems if they are not running the latest driver software from the vendor.
Miller said students experiencing wireless problems should contact the Information Services Help Desk.
Contact reporter Sarah Craig at sarah.craig@richmond.edu
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