Network Services

The primary goal of Resnet is to provide network access to residents and staff. Our network architecture consists of over 200 switches and wireless access points connected to the campus network. We divide the buildings and functional areas into separate Virtual LANs to control broadcast traffic and visibility, and utilize VQP to control network access. We run 3 firewalls to protect students and Resnet equipment. The resident traffic is routed through a Packetshaper to limit P2P file sharing activity and to ensure the HTTP and other "approved" traffic has the highest priority to the Internet. Our internet connections consist of a 135Mbps commodity link in addition to the campus Internet2 link. The Packetshaper has seen a peak throughput approaching 300Mbps, although typical load fluctuates between 30Mbps average during classes to 150-200Mbps peaks during the night.

Resnet provides network access control, tracking, and remediation through an in-house written application known as "RNM". By utilizing VQP on all of our edge switches, we can identify unknown machines and direct them to a registration page where they must enter their authentication credentials and agree to the network usage policy before gaining access to the network. We track IP addresses through a registration entry which serves as an association between a MAC address, a resident, and DHCP lease information. Given any IP address and time, we can resolve it back to the resident who was using that lease at that time.

We provide remediation services through our Policy Violation Framework. Any user found to be in violation of network policy can be redirected, using VQP, to a remediation page where they are provided instructions on how to resolve their issue. For example, if a computer is suspected of having a virus, we can create a virus violation and the user is switched to the remediation VLAN, forcing their traffic to be redirected to our policy violation page. They can download our cleaning tools and reactivate themselves by completing an online policy acknowledgement form, or they can bring their computer into the Resnet office and have one of our technicians clean their computer.