Network Maintenance Support

CITES' areas of network responsibility

As noted in paragraph 8 in the Interim Policy of Appropriate Network Use of Computers and Network Systems, the UIUC campus has entrusted the Network Design Office (NDO) with the responsibility to design or approve any network device that connects to the UIUC campus network. For a list of the current guidelines, please see the Clarification of Section 8 workding about LAN equipment. Every building that has a connection to the UIUC network should contact the NDO to ensure that the design of the LAN is optimized to perform as expected. It is the NDO's responsibility to perform required site surveys, network documentation, and recommend equipment to fulfill the needs for the building. It is also the responsibility of the NDO to stay abreast of changes to the backbone network, in addition to new technologies, to proactively plan for the future needs for the building's network and to leverage the network in a direction that is compatible with the campus.

The services listed above are to provide UIUC campus units a free service that is effective in maintaining the reliability and high performance of the UIUC campus network. In addition to the services, approved network designs receive free network support from CITES Network Maintenance.

Free network support available from CITES Network Maintenance

The Network Maintenance staff is available to perform troubleshooting on any portion of the LAN, and to resolve problems ranging from protocol level to physical media. Network Maintenance maintains a large inventory of spare equipment to restore network services in the event of hardware failures. Repairs of approved equipment are also part of the free service. Faulty equipment will either be repaired or replaced at no cost. The maintenance staff also maintains working relationships with reputable vendors to resolve hardware problems as quickly as possible, and to identify and replace equipment that is not performing as expected. The maintenance staff stays abreast of the software requirements to proactively correct problems before they become a problem. The maintenance staff is equipped with a variety of specialized tests and troubleshooting equipment to aid in resolving network issues as quickly as possible.

Conditions which forfeit your free network support

When you operate unapproved equipment on your network, you lose your free network support. Loss of your free Network Support means that while your network is unapproved, if you require assistance to troubleshoot or repair your network, you will be billed at an hourly per-person rate for all work performed. These charges will be levied for all onsite work, research and test time, in addition to any hardware repair or software upgrades associated with the repair. Hardware repairs are defined as any equipment or media (building fiber or copper) failure that either has a repair or replacement cost. This includes (but is not limited to) replacement of data jacks, network cabling, repeater, switch, media converter, or other network equipment used for the purpose of providing network connectivity.

In addition to the loss of free support, if an unapproved network is found to be adversely affecting network connectivity, the affected segment (or entire building) will be disconnected from the campus backbone until such time as the problem can be resolved and verified by a member of the Network Maintenance Staff. Verification will be done on a charge-back basis. We encourage units to work with CITES in order to provide a more efficient and effective service.