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IRIS

Instructional & Research Information Systems

Derek Calderon

Intermittent Network Outage Redux, 2/21/18

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We are experiencing a repeat of last week’s network border issues. We are working with local system administrators to fully remove all problematic devices from the network.

The network will remain mostly stable during this time but there will be a few brief outages as we attempt to verify whether all interferers have been removed.
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EECS Network Border Malfunctioning, 2/15/18

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We are currently experiencing an issue at the EECS network border which is causing intermittent outages. The connection affected is between EECS and the outside world.

This means that communication within the EECS network should be unaffected, and connectivity to campus or the Internet is intermittently unavailable.

Impact to the research computing cluster in Soda Hall is currently undetermined.

Network staff are coming onsite to better diagnose the issue, and an update will be posted here when we have more detail or an ETA.

Update 11:54 AM:

We are troubleshooting an issue where OSPF control traffic is intermittently dropped between our core and edge router, causing all data traffic to stop.

Traffic is affected between:
* EECS network and campus/Internet
* EECS network and Soda research compute network

Traffic is not affected:
* within the EECS network
* between Soda research compute and campus/Internet (except during certain troubleshooting procedures)
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Soda Hall Power Shutdown, Wed. 11/29 2AM

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There will be a power shutdown for Soda Hall on the early morning of Wednesday, November 29th, scheduled for 2 to 6 AM. The shutdown and short notice are due to an urgent need for the campus high voltage team to complete repairs from line damage in June. It is also possible that the outage could be extended if difficult circumstances are encountered.

We have arranged with campus facilities to receive generator power for 288 and 290 Soda so that we can continue to provide IT services to the outside world while Soda is dark. As such, no interruptions to IRIS services outside Soda Hall are expected at this time. However, due to many electrical load variables it is possible that we may need to shut down some services without notice during the maintenance window.

Power to research server rooms 420A and 287 will be lost and the sysadmins of those rooms are coordinating a full system shutdown.

For sysadmins of machines in 340 Soda, you will also need to shut down your machines. We recommend doing so before midnight.
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Statement Regarding WPA KRACK Vulnerabilities

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Earlier this week, several large implementation flaws were found in the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol which is used for encryption of wi-fi networks. The vast majority of wi-fi devices in the world are affected.

For general information about the vulnerability, please see:
https://www.krackattacks.com/

10 Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) alerts were issued in response to this vulnerability. According to Cisco, 9 of these CVEs are exploited on the wi-fi client side and the remaining 1 is exploited on the infrastructure/AP side.

For the 9 client-side CVEs, users will need to update their client drivers and software to close the vulnerability. Many operating systems and hardware manufacturers have already made patches available. **Failure to patch your wireless devices may result in others being able to intercept and read any data you transmit over the wireless network.**

For the 1 infrastructure-side CVE, we currently expect Cisco to release a patch on Monday the 23rd. Previously the ETA was today, and we intended to patch over the weekend. Another IRIS News item will be posted once we have downloaded the patch file and scheduled a maintenance window.

EECS Server Room Power Backups Offline

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We have been without backup power in our main server room, 290 Soda, since Monday due to an issue with our UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply). All services are currently online, but in the event of a loss of power to 290 Soda all services would be offline for an extended period of time.

The UPS was due for preventative maintenance to have several capacitor banks replaced. This was conducted on Monday by a technician sent by the manufacturer, Schneider Electric. Unfortunately the technician made an error which resulted in failure of the UPS’ rectifier, preventing the UPS from being brought back online.

The vendor is working to locate a replacement rectifier, but the component is currently back ordered. When the replacement is received, a new technician will be dispatched with intent to restore the UPS as soon as possible.

This post will be updated if there are any major changes to the situation or when the repairs are completed.
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Wireless Network Frequency Issues, 10/20/17

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All wi-fi networks except those at BWRC are currently impaired due to a wireless controller issue. The repair would be more disruptive than the issue so we will not take action until tonight.

The problem is that the vast majority of our 5GHz wireless radios are currently using the same wi-fi channel, causing a large amount of co-channel interference which is greatly degrading wireless performance.

Last night we made changes to the configured bandwidth of the 5GHz channels in an attempt to increase general reliability. Unfortunately we did not notice until well after the fact that the wireless controller’s dynamic channel assignment (DCA) algorithm was malfunctioning; this resulted in all or most radios defaulting to channel 36 and being unable to change.

Correction of the issue will require a full outage of the wireless network, which is why with user feedback we have decided to wait until after the business day to make any changes.
[Read more…] about Wireless Network Frequency Issues, 10/20/17