Current policy -- created 12/15/97 | -- revised 11/17/05
This document is maintained by Networking Services.
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| 1.0 |
The purpose of standards on the FSU Network is to improve the durability and efficiency of the network. This document will mention network facts at FSU , and things that you 'should' or 'should not' do on the network here. This document is subject to change as the network continues to evolve. Please also see the document about campus naming standards for computers.
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| 1.1 |
In order to facilitate network trouble shooting and maintenance you should inform OTC whenever you add anything to the network at FSU. Contact hostmaster@acns.fsu.edu to get an IP number for each workstation. You will need to furnish the location and a contact person and phone number. Contact Rick Zeisler at OTC (zeisler@acns.fsu.edu) whenever you add any hub, switch, or router to the network. Campus network maps and copies of DNS files are available from OTC to people who support the campus network.
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| 2.0 |
The FSU network has multiple computer communications protocols on its campus network. TCP/IP is the only protocol that is capable of communication across The Internet and the only one that is supported by all computers today. Two other major protocols on the network are IPX (Novell) and Appletalk (Macintosh). The Office of Telecommunications(OTC) department supports its own campus network.
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| 2.1 |
Routers are placed strategically on the network to partition the traffic into sections (Local Area networks or LANs) and to direct traffic between the LANs as needed. Traffic that is between two computers that are located on the same LAN does not move beyond the router. This routing phenomenon contains unnecessary traffic locally and makes for more efficient use of the network. |
| 2.2 |
Without routing on the network, every workstation would send its packets to every other work station. The extra traffic requires larger pipes. Also each packet on a network interrupts each computer on the network whether it is intended for that computer or not and thereby degrades the computing power of every computer on the net. Note that switches also help to contain traffic within physical domains.
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| 2.3 |
Another phenomenon about various network protocols is that the systems chat between themselves to inform each other of their network reachability in addition to any application level traffic that passes between the computers. Some protocols are more chatty than others. As a result, cisco recommends that a LAN can have up to 500 TCP/IP workstations, but only 300 IPX workstations and only 200 Appletalk stations.
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| 3.0 |
Use of the OTC WINS server is recommended to minimize broadcast traffic. To determine your setup, right-click <Network Neighborhood> then select <Properties> <TCP/IP> <Properties> <WINS Configuration> <Enable WINS Resolution>These WINS servers are wins1.acns.fsu.edu (128.186.8.9) and wins.acns.fsu.edu (128.186.6.18).
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| 4.0 |
With any application that automatically polls the network, limit the frequency of polling. For SNMP do not poll any device more than once per minute. For e-mail clients like Eudora do not check mail more often than once every 5 minutes.
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