Networking – Page 2

Data Center Firewall Update to Impact Campus Services in January

TTo start off the new year, the OIT Infrastructure Team will be working on the third and final phase of the 100G Firewall Project. This phase includes replacing the Data Center firewalls on campus. Unfortunately, this maintenance will include a network outage impacting all IT services housed in the Data Center, as the firewalls are the primary gateway for network traffic within the Data Center, and when offline, will cause services in the Data Center to be unreachable.

Continue reading Data Center Firewall Update to Impact Campus Services in January

Scheduled Maintenance This Weekend Impacts Campus Internet

Starting at 10 p.m. on Saturday, November 4, 2023, OIT will replace the campus Internet border firewalls with new hardware. In order to minimize the impact on campus, the work is scheduled during a low-usage period. Unfortunately, this upgrade is expected to result in the loss of internet access for the campus for up to 30 minutes while the upgrade is being performed. While the work is expected to be completed quickly, the entire maintenance window is reserved until 2 a.m. We apologize for any inconvenience. Continue reading Scheduled Maintenance This Weekend Impacts Campus Internet

Network Maintenance and Scheduled Service Outage for Summer 2023

OIT will perform the required maintenance on the networking infrastructure in the University Data Center. There will be three maintenance windows to upgrade the network switches to the most current version. During each maintenance window, access to all servers and services will be intermittent. In order to minimize the impact to campus, the work is scheduled during low usage periods on each of the following dates: Continue reading Network Maintenance and Scheduled Service Outage for Summer 2023

GlobalProtect VPN Service to End on March 20

In March 2020, in preparation for remote work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, GlobalProtect VPN was introduced to help handle the significantly larger need for secure connections to campus resources. GlobalProtect and our Cisco AnyConnect VPN played a significant role in streamlining campus operations’ sudden and unexpected closure. As we begin 2023, VPN service usage has gradually decreased to near pre-pandemic levels. Because of this, and to simplify the management of VPN platforms, GlobalProtect service will be discontinued on March 20, 2023, and Cisco AnyConnect will once again be our sole VPN client. Continue reading GlobalProtect VPN Service to End on March 20

New Fiber Connections Speed Up East Campus

As SMU began developing the East Campus east of North Central Expressway, wireless mesh connections were frequently used to quickly provide SMU network services to buildings. While these connections have been functional, the speed and reliability were not always equal to the wired connections on the west side of US 75. Now, projects have taken place to replace these wireless connections with direct fiber optic connections to the rest of the SMU network!

The buildings that have currently been moved to fiber connections include: Continue reading New Fiber Connections Speed Up East Campus