Overview of the network

The campus network consists of a central core of high speed routers linked using Gigabit Ethernet. The core routers connect to high powered switches in each of the buildings on campus over fibre optic connections. The building switches connect over backbone networks to local switches and hubs that feed individual offices over twisted-pair cabling.

Campus Services

Across campus there are a number of computer clusters which have their own optical fibre connections to the core routers. The wireless service provides wireless access to many lecture theatres, open areas and common work areas such as the Robinson Library and the Student Union. There are docking points available in most bedrooms in Halls of Residence as well as several locations on campus. There are also network points in most lecture theatres across campus for presentations. Redundant networking is used to connect central file servers and other key services from our distributed machine rooms.

University Sites

There are other University sites around the region that are connected to the main campus network. There are connections for academic departments at the Dove Marine Laboratory and International Center for Life, also optical fibre links to Newcastle General Hospital, RVI and Freeman Hospital. All University halls or residence have network connections in all rooms.

Regional Links & The Internet

Newcastle University is a major connection site on the SuperJANET IV network. One of the core routers acts as the external link connecting Newcastle University and other regional universities and educational organisations in the NorMAN network to the outside world. External network links are via the JANET backbone service to the rest of the UK academic network. Links to other UK networks and the rest of the Internet are via the JIPS NOSC at ULCC (London).

Ways to Connect

There are several ways to connect your computer to the campus network, a fixed connection from staff offices, docking from a docking point or a wireless connection.

You can also connect to the network using a Virtual Private Network connection or run Common Desktop applications with the Remote Application Service once connected.

Let's look at a few examples...

Diagram showing docking and wireless infrastructure
  • Alice plugs her computer into the docking point in her student bedroom (docking). Her computer is assigned a network address automatically but Alice needs to start a VPN connection before she can access the campus network. The assigned network address is a private address which means network traffic from Alice will use the transparent proxy to connect to machines off campus, some applications may however require the use of the proxy servers before they will connect correctly.
  • Bob takes his laptop to the Robinson Library to work on an assignment. He plugs his computer into one of the docking points and connects in exactly the same way as Alice. The same configuration can be used for docking points in a student bedroom or around campus.
  • Doris is a member of staff and has a computer connected directly to the campus network (fixed connection). Doris needs to get her computer registered before she can use it on the network, but once registered she is assigned a public network address (128.240.x.x) which can be used on the Internet. Using a public address can be a security risk so Doris needs a good reason for requesting such an address.
  • Emily is a member of staff and she has a computer connected directly to the campus network, her computer is registered but she has opted to use a private network address (10.x.x.x) for the added security. Network traffic from Emily will use the transparent proxy to connect to machines off campus.
  • Frank is at a conference and wants to check his email and lookup some information on a restricted web page. He connects to the Internet using access provided at the conference, he then makes a VPN connection to the University so he can access restricted campus servers.

Network Addressing

A unique range of IP addresses, both public and private, are assigned to each building on the campus network. Connections to the network using the docking and wireless services are assigned temporary IP addresses. Fixed IP addresses are assigned when computers are registered for the campus network, since IP addresses are generally not portable between buildings the roving scheme can be used to assign you a temporary IP address if needed.

Rules of Use

When using any campus networking resources you are subject to the Computer User's Agreement and the Rules of Use for computing facilities. In particular bear in mind the rule about not disturbing other users. Docking users sometimes make voice/video connections: this must not disturb other users, or in any way affect their use of ISS facilities.