Network Changes 2011
NET made many changes to the Residence Hall and Wireless networks over the 2010-2011 Winter Break. Most of them should have been transparent to the users. Some of them were not.
IP Address Change
Mason had been using the 42.x.x.x IP space for the Protect and Exempt space in the Residence Halls and for General Wireless. Starting early in the Fall Semester, the 42.x.x.x IP space was released for use and some of these networks were in use and conflicting with our internal use.
General Wireless was moved from multiple 42.x.x.x blocks to the 10.166.x.x space. One advantage of this is that there should now be 'seamless' connectivity across the campus: when users 'sign-on' to the wireless network in one building, they should not have to re-login when they move to another building.
The Residence Hall wired Protect and Exempt IP groups were in the 42.176.x.x-42.191.x.x IP space. These were all changed to the 10.176.x.x-1.191.x.x IP space.
SSID Change
In addition to this, NET has added the SSID 'Mason' in addition to the old 'gmu' SSID. The University's 'branding' policy is now to use 'Mason' instead of 'GMU' so this change is consistent with this policy.
ON JULY 1st, 2011 NET WILL DISCONTINUE THE ADVERTISEMENT AND USE OF THE 'gmu' SSID.
Network Changes
There were multiple changes made in the Residence Hall networks. In the past, the Residence Hall Wireless (MasonResNet) was just an extension of the Residence Hall wired network, local to each section. In order to provide the same 'seamless' wireless as in the General wireless network, the MasonResNet wireless networks (Protect and Exempt classes) were moved from multiple 42.x.x.x networks to one network across all buildings (10.142.x.x). The wireless GameSystemGaming was moved to the 129.174.142.0/23 IP space and a new SSID, 'MasonResNetGSG', was created for use by Game Systems in the GameSystemGaming class. The 'Unprotected' class, used mostly for 'servers', is no longer available from the wireless network. Devices with MACs in the 'Unprotected' class will get unprotected 129.174.x.x IPs when wired and 'Protected' IPs when wireless.
The Residence Hall wired Protect and Exempt IP groups were in the 42.176.x.x-42.191.x.x IP space. These were all changed to the 10.176.x.x-1.191.x.x IP space. These changes should be transparent to most users. General Wireless users should be encouraged to use the new SSID 'Mason' and all documentation should be changed from 'gmu' to 'Mason' by June 30th, 2011. The biggest change is for those devices that require the GameSystemGaming network via wireless. They will need to use the new SSID 'MasonResNetGSG'.
Other Information
Mason Wireless Network Guidelines (PDF)
University Policy Number 1302 on Wireless Networking
Questions, Problems
If you have any questions or need help with your wireless card, please contact ITU Support Center at 703 993-8870 or support@gmu.edu.
