Sunday, May 20, 2007

Uni of Nbi dorm LAN

I've been talking to a few Uni of Nbi guys lately ... and apparently they now have a dorm LAN going. With internet access too - they've tapped into some free ports into the universities' main network, and expanded it using switches - the usual model as the rest.
So far estimates of users is between 50 to 100. Mostly using it for internet applications ... not many local apps apart from LAN Talk for chatting. It needs to grow a lot ... if any of you is reading - skunkworks would love to talk through getting more content/apps hosted on the network.

Their estimates of number of PCs on campus checks out too - 70% of uni students have their own computers.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting!! at the UoN medical school in Kenyatta there is a full fledged LAN where students share lecture notes and discuss for exams between each other during the night

Riyaz said...

yeh - we've heard about the Medical school LAN - would be interested in talking to the ppl who set it up & manage it ...

Anonymous said...

ave noted the cables in this LAN in mamlaka hostel are too many.they crisscross every where.so whats the best solution.considering there will be change of rooms come the next academic year.something like a wireless connection that will not discriminate anyone within the hostel.still to avoid the problem of being cut from connection when one switch goes off,

karue ellis.
u.o.n.
mamlaka

ALOYCE said...

Riyaz sup...We met at the Uon barcamp n at that time I was still on the process of setting up the Mamlaka LAN...Success came too early n we got internet access days later.Its fully operational with over 80 guys having fast uplink speeds...wow!We are engineering students n tis fascinating how well we set it up in a few days...I am the moderator n we can talk more bout it...adios...

ALOYCE said...

Hi there...true the wires are many but at the moment Mamlaka is a secure place n we have no worries bout it...Secondly people actually did the wiring themselves n as such twas a skeleton thing done in a hurry nevertheless thats somethin for the next guys to think bout if they r to keep the net alive...Some of us like me ave numbered weeks here...

Riyaz said...

wow aloyce ... good stuff :)

It must have been quite a learning experience too - implementing your CCNA skills ;)

we'd love you to talk at skunkworks sometime about your experience ... we've been discussing campus LANs a little this week on the mailing list.

and us network ppl would love to butt in with our advice :) Kiania has also offered to bundle some asterisk, LDAP stuff ...

I think a lot of us are now interested in growing the models further - how to avoid loops, management strategies, develop & host content etc. And the issue of handover ... i'm hoping ppl get to realize the benefits of these networks, and put in effort/volunteer ?

cables are the way to go ... they just offer more bandwidth, and longevity. Maybe you could get your architecture pals to layout some nice cable-run plans & documentation etc.
karue - i agree on wireless being quick to setup etc ... but it runs into constraints pretty fast.

cheers ! good luck with projects/exams.