Presentation 2C: Re-evaluating ResNet: Tools and Concepts

1. Presentation 2C: Re-evaluating ResNet:Tools and Concepts • Presenters: • Todd Thomas • Justin Wilbers

2. About UNI • Cedar Falls, Iowa • One of three State Universities in Iowa • 11,000 undergrads • 4,500 live on-campus • 1,600 postgraduates • Primary focus as a liberal arts college, teaching, and business school

3. ResNet structure - UNI • Primary duty- Internet access • 1 FTE (ResNet Specialist) • Support from central IT and Housing staff • Student support: • 2 Lead students • 3 RCCs for each side (North and South) • 8 Assistant RCCs (temporary help)

4. About Missouri State • Springfield, MO • Originally Southwest Missouri State • Second largest university in Missouri • 17,425 undergrads • 4,000 live on-campus • 2,700 postgraduates

5. ResNet Structure - MSU • Primary Duty – Technology Support • 1 FTE (ResNet Administrator) • Part of Residence Life (Housing) • Student Support • 2 Graduate Assistants • 10 ResCons (ResNet Consultants)

6. Responsibilities and Services • Provide technology support for residence hall students • Includes hardware/software installation and troubleshooting • Virus and spyware detection and removal • Not in charge of the network, but help students with getting and staying connected • Manage residence hall computer labs • Support residence hall staff

7. Concept: Understanding student needs/perceptions • We understand students, right? • Perceptions = reality

8. A survey • Collaboration with student class project • UNI survey tool • UNI stats analysis offered

9. Survey Questions • Demographics already available • Background: • How many and what types of devices do you have registered? • What type of Internet connection did you have before coming to UNI?

10. Survey Questions (continued) • Perceptions: • How would you rate ResNet’s speed? • How satisfied were you with ease and speed of registering? • List any limitations you’ve encountered while trying to use your network connection

11. Survey Questions (continued) • Support • Have you visited our website? • How would you like to be contacted (UNI e-mail, UNI phone, cell phone, other)? • Have you contacted ResNet for help before? If so, how many times and how was that experience? • Rank the importance of the following: Customer Service, Ease of Use, Speed, and Reliability

12. Interpreting the results • Overall positive results • Baseline established for next year • Freshman were less satisfied • Wireless demand • Preferred contact method- e-mail • Non-traditional students are more support-intensive • Network performance is #1

13. Concept: Increasing Communication • Situation: ResNet not well known • Nearly 50% of Residence Hall students are new—many of whom do not know of us • They don’t know about our services • With changing demographics, it’s hard to tell what they need and want • Resolution: Get the word out • Articles in the student newspaper • Campus events • Facebook group

14. Methods of Contact • ResNet Website • Mailings and brochures • Flyers • Campus Computing Newsletter • Newspaper articles • Speaking at group meetings • Facebook group

15. Results • In regard to soliciting feedback, the response rate was much lower than expected. • Most communication has been in one direction • Students mainly contact us when they have a problem or complaint. • In regard to overall contact, however, our number of calls went down. • Students began to use the website and provided information to resolve their own issues. • A lot of communication is informal, transferred from person to person.

16. Concept: Business Process Re-engineering • What is BPR? • BPR aims to elevate efficiency and effectiveness of the processes in an organization • The key is to view the business processes from a “clean slate” to determine how to improve them • Calls for dramatic improvements, often an increase of 70 percent or more • A bit drastic for some, but it points us in the right direction

17. BPR Importance • What’s the ultimate organization goal? • ex: Best customer service, quickest response rate, lowest cost, diversity of services, etc... • Allows us to reverse design the process and work backwards to create it • For instance: If Customer Service is your goal, envision an ideal scenario and figure out how to work backwards to achieve it • Makes you think about your processes • Are there needless steps or multiple handoffs?

18. Practical Application:Network Port Repair Old Network Port Repair Process • Student contacts ResNet • Troubleshooting over phone • ResNet technician tests port with tablet • Case is submitted to Networking Services • Networking Services tests the port • Case is submitted to Telecommunications • Network port is repaired

19. Analysis • That’s an average of six business days to resolution, three visits, two hand-offs, and one frustrated student that keeps calling us. • So, why do it this way? • Because, that was “the way it’s always been done.”

20. Network Port Repair New Network Port Repair Process • Student contacts ResNet • Troubleshooting over phone • ResNet technician tests port with tablet • Case is submitted to Telecommunications • Network port is repaired

21. Results • Average resolution time was cut by over 50 percent. • Fewer handoffs meant less confusion for the student and better status updates. • Future plans? • Further integration of individual systems. • More training for ResNet employees and Fluke testers to eliminate the need for Networking Services intervention.

22. Concept: How is our network doing? • Baseline needed • Identify network structure and services • Identify tools for meeting these needs

23. Tool #1: The Dude • From MikroTik (www.mikrotik.com) • Features: • Free • Configurable • Good reporting features • Easy to install and setup

24. Dude Demo Submap Maps

25. Device overview Inside Outside

26. Graph preview of DNS Services monitored

27. Device details Service(s) status Monitoring agent

28. Outage information Outage details

29. Services monitored Services and status

30. Graph by time Services and status

31. Charts used Charts

32. Graphing customization Adding a service

33. DNS chart with export Exporting graphs

34. What has The Dude told us? • Baselines • Outages • DNS problems • Usage patterns

35. The future for The Dude • Full rollout this Fall • Incorporating other services to monitor • Use of the boxes for other purposes

36. Tool: NPT • Network Performance Toolkit • Primary use is Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT) • http://e2epi.internet2.edu/network-performance-toolkit.html • Available as a linux kernel module (Web100) • Bootable Knoppix distro for network testing • How it works

37. NDT start page

38. Results of test

39. Detailed test info

40. How will we use NPT? • Allow users to test themselves • Internal testing • Stats over time

41. Tool: Cacti • http://www.cacti.net • Free and Open Source • MRTG replacement • Generally used for trending, comparisons, and forensics

42. Screenshots and demo of Cacti

43. CPU usage for the past 2 hours

44. CPU for the past year

45. Selectable time frame

46. Zoomed in

47. List mode and templates

48. Graphs

49. Results of graph comparisons

50. What has Cacti told us? • Baselines, again • Memory usage • Demand