Category: Working Group

Quo vadis Gigabit?

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In Geislingen, Sigmaringen, and Albstadt, we have installed Gigabit switches for quite some time. It was more of a coincidence that these places were equipped with Gigabit internet before Tübingen and Hohenheim.

We have just checked how many residents of the dormitories actually use the offered Gigabit internet.

The results are somewhat sobering: In Albstadt, 53% of the residents use the Gigabit internet, in Sigmaringen it’s 33%, and in Geislingen only 25%.

This raises the question of whether we have not informed well enough that Gigabit can be used with the right router, or whether the residents simply do not need such high internet speed.

Workload Admissions Winter Semester 2023/24

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Since we have some time, we would like to provide a brief review of the admissions wave for the winter semester of 2023/2024.
The wave of admissions can also be clearly seen in the volume of emails.
All emails were answered manually and in the shortest possible time.
I will write a separate article about the most notable routers of this admissions wave.

WS2023-24 Mails
WS2023-24 Mails by time
WS2023-24 Mails by day
WS2023-24 Mails by month

Network restructuring on the weekend of November 25th and 26th, 2023.

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

Next Saturday and Sunday, we finally have the long-awaited network restructuring happening.

These changes are necessary to improve the performance and reliability of our network.

To minimise the impact on you, we’ve planned to carry out the restructuring early in the day. During these times, there are usually fewer users online, which should reduce any inconvenience.

The scheduled offline periods will each last about an hour. We understand that this may be a bit inconvenient temporarily, but we are confident that the long-term benefits will outweigh any short-term inconveniences.

We appreciate your understanding in advance.

Update Nov 25th 2023 4:15 PM:

Yesterday, Malte worked until 11:30 PM, and Lucas until 1:00 AM, preparing and configuring.

The implementation of network changes started this morning at 10:00 AM and resulted in a longer network interruption across the entire network (student housing and dormitories) at 10:30 AM.

The interruption lasted from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM and then from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM. The work was completed by 3:30 PM, and the last device came back online at 4:00 PM.

During the cleanup following the work, no further outages are expected.

Whether work will be needed again on Sunday depends on whether disruptions are reported to us or if we discover issues that are not functioning as desired.

Water damage Pestalozzistrasse 41

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

The water is running through our electrical cabinet, some ports have already failed. Our hardware is now off the grid and will be scrapped.

We will set up new hardware later this evening and place it next to the cabinet in the dry.

Schimpf-Eck (Am Lustnauer Tor 1) July2023

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

Surprisingly, construction work for Schimpf started last week. Each room, as usual in our dormitories, will have its own network connection with a double network socket, and one connection will be active.

We don’t consider a comprehensive alternative like WLAN networking, which is often desired, to be practical here. Those who have dealt with connecting hundreds of devices to Eduroam will understand why we are avoiding it.

In each room, you can set up your own secure and easy-to-configure WLAN with a simple router for around €35, allowing you to connect everything from a printer to a PlayStation.

The connection of the WG units in Schimpf Eck depends on the work at Pfleghof, whose starting date is still unknown to us. As surprises are possible, we prefer not to estimate when it will be ready. Getting new DSL contracts doesn’t seem sensible to us. We hope that the WG units will find a fair solution to redistribute the internet access costs or find a way to get rid of these contracts once the dormitory is stably connected to our network.

The final connection via fiber optic to our network is planned but not yet confirmed.

Hohenheim Uplink Upgrade 11:30 am till 4 pm

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

Good morning dear Hohenheim residents!

Today, the Uplink upgrade will be fully implemented. If everything goes well, you will be running on 10G afterwards, and the outages will come to an end.

To transport the Uplink technology from the temporary location at Schwerzstraße 2 to the new location at Egilolfstraße 57, we will need some time. Unfortunately, during this time, the Hohenheim dormitories will be offline.

Since we have to unplug the device and then reconnect it in a different building, it cannot be avoided. However, we will hurry as much as possible.

Hohenheim 26 of May Upgrade

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

It’s time!

Last night, we were given the task to carry out the upgrade.

As mentioned before, we had already prepared a new location for the uplink, which will enable all Hohenheim residences to go online.

To transport the uplink technology from the temporary location at Schwerzstraße 2 to the new location at Egilolfstraße 57, we will need some time. During this time, the residences in Hohenheim will unfortunately be offline.

Since we need to disconnect the device and then reconnect it in a different building, it cannot be avoided. However, we will do our best to expedite the process.

The estimated duration will probably be around one to two hours this afternoon, with several short outages as we make the necessary adjustments throughout the day, starting in the morning.

We will update this post once we have more information.

Hohenheim 16th of May

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We were able to accomplish almost everything we had planned yesterday.

We dismantled and disconnected the three generations of network technology that were stacked on top of each other.

We managed to clean the room to some extent with a broom we found. Once we speak to the janitor, we will find a place for all the electronic waste (see picture).

One of the switches currently in use didn’t look promising during the removal, so we will replace it this Tuesday evening (starting from 6 PM, depending on traffic).

This means that we will need to unplug the cables of the residents of Egilolfstraße 51 to 59 again, and they won’t have internet during this time. Some rooms will be offline for about an hour, while others will experience shorter outages.

Afterward, the room should be prepared for the installation of the main network connection for the entire Hohenheim area.

The relocation and upgrade of this connection still depend on the IT department of the student services.

We hope that with this cleanup operation, we have eliminated any obstacles that could potentially further delay the final resolution of the network issues in Hohenheim.

Hohenheim 15th May 2023

Avatar photoHeinrich Griesenbach on

In preparation for a solution to the persistent problem, we are cleaning up Egilolfstraße 57 and bringing it up to the standard required by the working group. Unfortunately, the room looks like in the pictures, so we expect it to take 2 to 4 hours. During this time, there may be intermittent network outages for certain parts of our network in Hohenheim.

We are working quickly, but you are welcome to visit us.