lpret's Journal: 802.1x and Universities

Wow. So we just rolled out our 802.1x stuff at Baylor effective July 1st. And imagine my surprise when the next day I hear about some guy from some university who just rolled out 802.1x and was having issues. I want to be able to say that I knew it couldn't be us because we didn't have any issues, but I'd be lying...

802.1x is not ready and does not work yet. That's all I have to say. We have 4 distinct problems that each could make us scrap this whole thing:

1. Many wireless cards, including Intel, do not work. Intel's Centrino chip, which was supposed to make all of our wireless headaches go away, does not work with 802.1x before driver version 1.1.7. However, no manufacturer has anything newer than 1.1.6. Add to that all the D-Link crap we'll get, and the issues there...
2. Microsoft released a patch for XP that screws up WEP. So, if everyone follows our directions, and makes sure to keep their computers updated, it won't work. Also, Microsoft has another issue with Windows 2000 and a non-broadcasted network name which won't let it work.
3. Our access points don't work. Well, only half of them do. The other half can't get the 802.1x stuff happy. And these are supposed to be good ones...
4. If you have any other language for XP, it won't work. For instance, if you have a Chinese XP, SP1 won't install, and thus 802.1x won't work without a 40 dollar client. This may sound trivial, but we have a large foreign student population who are very tech-savvy. Considering one of those foreign students is the Prince of Saudi Arabia, you don't really want to piss them off.

So as you can see, there are some major hurdles that need to be considered. We have had to touch every machine to get it to work, and when this gets to the fall (we have over 7,000 unique users of our wireless network), we will be crying. So, we thought it would be bad, but not this bad, and now we have to figure out what to do. The worst part is that we're not in a position to make decisions, we can only support whatever decision is made. Sic 'Em Bears.

Totally OT

[Rudy Rodarte]

But I wanted to say hello to a fellow Baylor Bear. I'm guessing you still go or are on staff. Either way, hello!