UCI Housing Network and Cable TV Issues

I came to know about an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit that UCI Resnet started.
Apparently, Resnet wanted to keep this low-key.
But then, somebody there asked about my blog, and I saw the blog hits, and went to check it out ;) Obviously, the Resnet people hadn't expected me to show up, so they got rather defensive when I nailed them about their braindead instructions to misconfigure routers.
It seems their definition of "anything" doesn't extend to this stuff...
We'll see if this was just a lame attempt at PR which backfired, or if they are really going to grow up and do proper network administration. I won't hold my breath, but I invite them to surprise me ;)

Update: Now these guys are backpedaling, claiming that they were just some students who work for Resnet. If they didn't have approval from Resnet management to do this AMA, Resnet is managed even worse than I thought. Some undergrads who obviously have no clue about network administration trying to speak for Resnet... How f*ed up must UCI Resnet be that such stuff is even possible???
If these guys really did this without management approval, they should get fired first thing in the morning. If they don't get fired, it is just another data point showing that they lied in the AMA.

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It seems that Microsoft has updated their "Security Essentials" tool, and the Cisco Clean Access (nowadays called NAC) POS that Resnet forces on everybody in UCI Housing does not recognize it.
This is of course not a surprise to anybody who knows how CCA/NAC works and who knows what a bunch of crap this stuff is.
Resnet of course makes it worse by telling people to use another Anti-Virus package (bloatware like McAfee) or to revert to the previous version of Security Essentials.
UCI Resnet seems to be so incompetent that they can't even create a custom rule as work-around.
Network administrators at other universities can do that just fine, to keep their students online...

So, to nobody's surprise, UCI Resnet once again seems determined to show their incompetence to everybody. :roll:

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It has been 3 1/2 years since the last update to the Perl script to log into CCA.
A kind soul recently fixed it to work with the current CCA installation at UCI Resnet.
Grab it here.
As always, know what you are doing and use at your own risk.

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Way back in 2005, I wrote about UCI Resnet's completely brain-dead instructions to "set up" a router (actually, it would result in a complete screw up of the router.)

Obviously, they haven't learned from that episode. They are now requiring the same brain-dead setup again.
Like 6 years ago, this will be a complete failure, and will only result in lots and lots of problems, including rogue DHCP servers, each time such a misconfigured router is reset.
I see that in 6 years, UCI Resnet has not changed one bit. They are still bloody amateurs who should never be let near a network.
He who doesn't learn from history is damned to repeat it...

What makes this even more baffling is that in 2005, Ted Roberge of Resnet himself stated in a White Paper that this kind of router misconfiguration doesn't work...

Rogue DHCP servers. Although Resnet originally prohibited routers, this became an “unenforceable” policy with the popularity of small home wireless routers. A combination of events caused many routers to be set up incorrectly, resulting in them becoming Rogue DHCP Servers. In an attempt to help residents set up their routers and still be able to register their computers, Resnet published guidelines on how to set them up as Access Points. This became a double edged sword. When configured correctly, they worked great. However, any reset, power failure, or disconnect resulted in the device defaulting back to its original configuration and then became a DHCP server. We removed all guidelines for configuring wireless routers and simply state that they must be set up in accordance with manufacturer instructions. We further went on to state that we would not support any routers, and removed all policies relating to the prohibition of routers on the network. We will not respond to any trouble call relating to home routers or wireless.

To sum it up: Never ever connect a LAN port to the wall plug. Always connect the WAN port to the wall plug. It is that simple.

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Apparently, UCI Resnet doesn't understand their own network...
They seem to have some network performance issues, and instead of actually getting people who understand networks, they decided to just cap the bandwidth for everybody...
Needless to say, that didn't go well with a lot of people, and they got flooded with complaints.
Their standard answer was this boilerplate stuff:

Due to the connection instability experienced by various housing complexes, we have decided to focus first on providing a reliable and consistent connection speed on the internet, then secondly about providing higher speeds on a stable connection. We are currently working on the stability and reliability portion. As a result, the speed cap has been set at 2Mbp/s, and will likely remain in place for the foreseeable future.

But it seems the pressure from the complaints got too big. So, today they emailed this out:

Due to the numerous concerns for bandwidth restrictions, we have decided to go ahead and release the cap temporarily to see its effect on our network. If you notice any degradation in network stability, please let us know.