As reported in the Wireless Density Project Update in the latest edition of What the Tech is Going On? the demand for wireless services on campus is taxing the supply of available IP addresses that are allocated for our WiFi network. Users in some areas of the college are experiencing slow connections or are unable to access the WiFi network at all. IT staff are taking steps to implement both short-term and long-term solutions to increase IP address capacity to meet user demands.
Short Term Solution – Adding Additional IP Addresses
Over the past weekend, IT staff identified an additional 1500 IP addresses that can be added to our WiFi pool to help meet user demand. Beginning tonight, Monday, September 16, work will be undertaken to rebalance the allocation of IP addresses on our wireless network. Work will commence at approximately 11 p.m. and there will be brief service outages as the team redeploys IP addresses across our network. These actions should help to alleviate connectivity issues that some users are experiencing in the short term.
Long-Term Solution – Implementing Network Address Translation
To address this issue long-term, IT staff are re-architecting the network to implement a protocol called Network Address Translation (NAT). NAT translates the private IP addresses of computers in a local network to a single public IP address—computers outside Sheridan’s network will communicate with the public IP address, while devices within the Sheridan network will communicate directly with the device’s unique private IP address. Consequently, a much larger pool of IP addresses will be available for wireless devices to use. Groundwork is currently being laid so that we can implement the NAT solution.
Increasing Access Points in Administrative Areas
Plans are also underway to deploy additional WiFi access points in administrative areas that are currently underserviced and other areas where there are large gatherings and high demand for wireless services. Administrative areas may experience continued connectivity issues until this is addressed. This work will take place over the coming weeks.
Use a Wired Connection When Possible
It’s important to note that a wireless connection is not as fast or secure as a wired connection. Also, since wireless connections are shared, the number of users accessing the signal at a given hotspot affects access speeds – the more users there are, the slower the connection will be. Students and instructors working in classrooms, and Sheridan staff members working in administrative areas are strongly encouraged to connect their computers to a data port whenever possible. Speed, reliability and security with a wired connection are unmatched by WiFi.
Turn Off Wifi on Devices that are Not in Use
All users are encouraged to turn off WiFi on any device that they are not using. Further, faculty should encourage students to disable WiFi on devices they are not using when they are in class doing academic work—this will go a long way in helping to manage our wireless resources.
Stay tuned to the IT website for further updates.