Attendees,
At present, we're aware of several issues affecting access to the
NANOG attendee network -- in short, they include:
-Apparent 'lumping' of iDevices, picking 11b/g channels of "1" and "6"
(while channel 11 AP's sid idly by); adjusting additional AP's power
and channel configuration to perturb this sub-optimal client selection
logic.
-AP's were permitting all frame bitrates (1 through 54 mbit
encodings); these have been adjusted to include 5.5 mbits (cck, b) and
12 mbits (ofdm, g) encodings or greater (this reduces transmission
duty cycles, frees up airtime, reduces contention, and hopefully
performs better).
-DHCP timer was set at 600 seconds; I'm informed that the lease time
was increased to 3600 seconds at ~10:30AM PST today.
Please relay any outstanding issues my way--I'll route to Verilan,
which is handling the network and wireless support for the meeting.
Best,
-Tk
If Verilan has the ability to limit client power settings, these should
also be reduced as far as possible. Some drivers ignore these hints,
because the software driver authors know that MOAR POWER means better
connectivity, right?. Verilan may find that completely disabling a tiny
number of badly-behaved clients can dramatically improve quality of service
for everyone else.
Nick
Nick, we actually do limit the client power settings, by default, for the
very reasons you mention.
Noah
More on network status:
We identified a link between 2 switches that was having intermittent
physical errors just a bit ago. The offending copper bits have been thrown
to the depths of hell. There were several access points in the center of
Millenium Hall that were fed via this link and, as such, most likely
contributed to some of the issues people were seeing this morning.
Should anyone need to speak with any of the network team for any reason at
all, we are located in Parlor 1 on the 3rd floor.
Cheers,
Noah
Suggestion: you (and everyone else who's ever in your position at a Large
Networking Conference) should *run a netops blog, and make sure it's well
publicized in the week leading up to the conference -- and at registration*.
Or, even, run a Twitter account to which people can subscribe from their
cellphones via SMS, on which you announce problems and fixes.
Communications, *way* ahead of the curve, ameliorates the impact of this
sort of problems remarkably.
Cheers,
-- jra