We've had a large number of reports of customers experiencing problems with ResNet Wireless and Eduroam.  The symptoms being that it your computer asks for your username and password.  Some times it will accept them, but it often takes multiple attempts to get anywhere.

We're actively investigating the issue, and we've been poring through mountains of log files trying to work out what's going on.

Workarounds:
The ResNet Wired service is not affected by this problem at all, so if you plug your laptop into the wall you'll have a nice fast stable connection that doesn't repeatedly ask for your password.

For Eduroam, we don't currently have a workaround other than "wait for 15 minutes then try again" as the problem appears to move to another location every so often and if you wait a bit then try again it may work better.

Update 2012-02-10 16:06:
We've managed to replicate the problem on a machine in the office, and we *seem* to have fixed the problem with that machine (it's a bit early to tell, but I've connected/disconnected several times with no problems)

We've released a new version of the setup wizard with a couple of tweaks, which should help.  You can re-run the wizard by connecting to the "ResNet-Setup" wireless network and then going to http://go.resnet.bris.ac.uk wizard in your web browser.

Update 2012-02-13 10:50:
OK, so the new wizard only appears to have fixed things for my laptop in the office and not anyone elses.  This rules out client side certificate issues.  We've got a few more leads that we're following up from deeper in the network infrastructure.  More news as we get it.

Update 2012-02-13 12:20:
The problem appears to be even more widespread than we thought, and is potentially affecting some eduroam clients as well.  We're currently working closely with the core networking team to identify a course of action.

Update 2012-02-13: 14:00:
We've hit a point with this problem where the next step is to escalate it to Cisco (the vendor that makes our wireless networking kit)  So we're in the process of raising a ticket with their support team.  Our best advice at this point is to use the ResNet Wired network instead where at all possible.

Update 2012-02-15:
Just a quick update to say we haven't forgotten about this problem and we are still pursuing it.  We are currently waiting for Cisco to get back to us.

Update 2012-02-16:
I think it's safe to say we've got enough detailed information to go on for now, so there's no need to email the service desk.  We'll update this blog post again when we have some news about a fix.

Update 2012-02-20:
We now think this is  a known bug in the firmware version our wireless controllers are running.  By all accounts it only surfaces if the controllers have been running for quite some time (as ours have) and a restart of the controllers should temporarily alleviate the problem.

Coincidentally there is a wireless maintenance slot scheduled for tomorrow morning, so we're planning to restart things during that slot.  Upgrading the firmware is a larger job though and needs some planning.  There's a meeting happening tomorrow which will determine when that upgrade can happen.  More news about that tomorrow.

Update 2012-02-21:
The upgrade to the new firmware has been scheduled for Tuesday 28th Feb and will be applied between 6am and 9am.  During this time all University wireless services will be unavailable.  See this news item for more details: http://www.bris.ac.uk/it-services/news/2012/wireless13feb.html

Update 2012-02-28:
We believe that the upgrades done this morning have fixed the problem.  If you continue to have problems with ResNet wireless, please contact the IT Service Desk and we'll investigate.

History of this outage is shown below.

As of 12:30 today (19th Jan) just under a third of ResNet has lost internet connectivity.

Early investigations seem to imply that there is a power problem affecting Priory Road possibly extending as far as The Triangle.  This means we've lost power to the core networking equipment which feeds most of the centrally located accommodation - this has knocked out both Wired ResNet and Wireless ResNet services in the affected halls.

Hopefully, ResNet will just spring back to life when the power comes back on, but we will be keeping a close eye on it just incase.

Update: The following buildings are without service

• Chantry Court
• 33 Colston Street
• Deans Court
• The Hawthorns
• Northwell House
• Osborne Villas
• 121 Redland Road
• 29 St Michaels Park
• 30 St Michaels Park
• 31 St Michaels Park
• 32 St Michaels Park
• 33 St Michaels Park
• Unite House
• Winkworth House
• 97 Woodland Road
• Woodland Court

We apologise for the inconvenience.

[Update 14:10 05/12/2011]

The connection to Deans Court North has been restored.

[Update 17:10 15/11/2011]

Our network team has arrived on site and have found that the fuse board that supplies our kit has tripped.  It's now up to the electrical maintenance guys to reinstate power.  Once this is done ResNet connections should be back automatically.

[Update 20:21 15/11/2011]

It looks as though power has been restored, and Hillside Woodside has come back up.

[Update 26-10-2011, 14:00]  Looks like a fibre cable connecting the ResNet switches in the West block to the local distribution switch was broken.  We have now switched to an alternative pair of cables and we're now back up and running.  Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

The major symptom seems to be that if you've got a Mac, running the latest version of Safari (5.1.1), and the latest version of Lion (10.7.2) then you can't access the activation system to set up your connection.  The page appears to load, but is blank.  The last couple of computers I've looked at which have the problem can't open the Keychain App either.  This may or may not be related!

We're actively investigating this problem, and trying to work out what's going on so that we can fix it.  To be honest, we're not making a whole lot of progress at this stage.  Safari appears to make the initial connection to go.resnet, but then stops talking to the server halfway through.  It's all rather baffling!

Workaround:
We do however have a workaround for the problem.  It seems alternative browsers (eg Firefox,Opera or Chrome) can load the activation system fine.  So, if you've got an alternative browser, use that to activate your connection then go back to using safari once your connection is active.

If you don't already have an alternative browser on your computer, use a friends computer to download one and then transfer it to your computer by USB stick.

Update 2011-10-26:
I think I've fixed this.  Lion users should now be able to activate their ResNet connections with Safari.  As a bonus, some customers who were finding the activation system slow may find it to be a bit quicker now.

If you're still experiencing problems activating your ResNet connection, please get in touch with the IT Service Desk.

We're not sure what's causing the fault yet (although some signs are pointing towards a faulty power supply) and we don't have anyone available to get up there today to look at it.

We'll get someone up there as soon as we can, but until then we suggest using the ResNet Wired service instead as that's not affected by the fault.

We will update this post when we've got more info.

[Update 26-10-2011, 12:30]  The vast majority of access points are working in Churchill but one WAP on the ground floor of A block and another on the top floor of H block are still down.  We have instructed our cabling contractor to troubleshoot and repair these two connections as soon as possible.  Wired ResNet is still working fine.

Common symptoms of these problems may include:

• Intermittent slowness
• Connection attempts time out
• It may take several attempts to connect
• Your computer forgets the saved network password

The problem appears to exist with some of the new wireless hardware that was installed during August 2011. We are currently talking to our hardware supplier to diagnose and resolve these problems, although progress is frustratingly slow.

We at ResNet are very sorry that these issues are causing inconvenience for our users. If you are affected by any of the symptoms described above, the best workaround is to use your ResNet connection via the cable. There are no known problems with the wired network.

We will post an update on this blog when the issue with ResNet Wireless has been resolved, so you might like to bookmark it.

Update 2011-Oct-18 18:11
As described in this IT Services News Item emergency work will be taking place, and ResNet Wireless will be unavailable:

• Wednesday, 19 October, 06:00-08:45
• Thursday, 20 October, 06:00-08:45

Telephone Services have now repaired the phones but currently the room number to phone number mappings are wrong.  This will be fully corrected in September.  If you need to know your internal number now, please dial 'zero' and ask the operator what your number is.  For any telephone related problems please contact Telephone Services directly <telephone-services@bristol.ac.uk>

Update 15:15 29-06-2011

ResNet is now back up and running.  Again, sorry for any inconvenience caused.  For any telephone related problems please contact Telephone Services directly <telephone-services@bristol.ac.uk>

Update 09:30 29-06-2011

Engineers are on site to fix cabinet back to wall and splice the fibre optic cable.  Assuming this all goes well and there are no additional breaks in the fibre optic cable then ResNet connections at Manor House should be back by this evening.

Telephone services will be re-terminating the phones but I don't yet have a date for this.  If this is causing you any serious problems then please contact Telephone Services directly <telephone-services@bristol.ac.uk>

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During routine maintenance of the switches in the data cabinet that feeds Manor House the cabinet became detached from the wall.  What's amazing is that this has not happen years ago as it was fixed to a plasterboard wall without any structural load-bearing noggins.

To make the cabinet safe we have had to cut the fibre optic cable and all phone connections - this means that you are without data (ResNet) and phones until we can do the following:

1) Get Estates to correctly fix the cabinet to the wall
A call has been made and they are expected to do this on Wednesday morning.

2) Splice the fibre optic cable that was cut
We are talking to our fibre contractor, who happen to be in the area, for a date and time to do this.

3) Get telephone services to reconnect the phones
Telephone Services are aware of the problem but we don't yet have a timeframe for this to be done.  They will need to see the severity of the problem first.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this will be causing but hope to have your ResNet connections fully functional before the weekend.  I can't comment yet on the phones though.

This post will be updated when we have further information.

Regards,

Mark Elley
Residential & Mobile IT Manager

ResNet should automatically return to service when the power comes back on. For more information, please refer to this IS News article.