Brandeis University
Network Registration
Joshua West
03/15/2011
LTS Staff Meeting
What is Network Registration?
 The
process of registering your device
with the network it wishes to use.
 Simple way for organization to manage
who is using the network.
 We prefer to allow only those affiliated with
the University to use our network – people
who have a Brandeis account.
A brief history
 Once
used a system called NORM.
 Managed our network for 10 years!
 Homegrown by previous employees.
 Was great, but technology had advanced
quite a bit in 10 years.
 Determined time for a replacement.
Evaluation
 Examined
commercial and open-source
solutions.
 Determined didn’t meet our needs, way
too expensive, or didn’t work as
advertised.
 Decided to write our own NORM
replacement.
So… what is “Netreg”?
 Wrote
something new, called “Netreg”.
 Wouldn’t have been possible without all
that we had learned from NORM.
 Everybody must use it to register their
device when they first enter the network.
 Handles all IP address assignment for the
entire campus – both wired and wireless.
 Uses lots of free/open-source software.
Why is network registration
important?
 Helps
administrators keep track of what is
on our network and who is using it:


Helpdesk and troubleshooting.
Security – who owns this device?
– what type of devices are on
our network?
 Acceptable Use Policy / Terms of Service.
 Statistics
Implementation
 Beta
tested Feldberg in September 2010.
 Cutover campus November 2010.
 Didn’t notice? That was the point!

Transitioned all existing registrations to the
new system, so users didn’t have to reregister.
 Approximately
20,000 registrations were
migrated from NORM to Netreg.
Netreg User Features

Simple, clean, and efficient registration process.
Login

Device
Information
Security
Agreement
Congratulations!
Users can now manage their own devices with a
web page. Just visit https://netreg.brandeis.edu
 Nicknames! You can nickname all of your
devices (“iphone”, “laptop”, etc) so you can keep
track of which registration is which device…
Netreg Administration
 Biggest
users of Netreg is not the end
users themselves; they use it once and
move on with their lives 
 Instead, it’s the Helpdesk and
Administrators/Engineers across campus
who use Netreg the most.
 Was important to develop a fully featured
administrative console.
Major Administration Features





Server health/status – everything OK??
Registrations browser – what’s registered?
Network configuration – lets us add and define
characteristics of different networks for buildings
across campus.
Stats ‘n graphs – everybody likes pretty pictures!
Subnet layout – we can view the current state of
a network and all of its devices, on one screen.
High Availability Infrastructure
Goldfarb
Netreg
Feldberg
Secreg
A
DHCP1
DHCP2
B
DDNS
How does Netreg help Brandeis?

End-user experience is good.



Average of 40-70 seconds for a user to register their
device on our network.
Opposed to, on occasion, hours! to get on the
network with the previous system.
Helps to keep authorized users in and unwanted
visitors out; safer for Brandeis computer users.
 Helpdesk/Admins/Engineers can troubleshoot
issues with more efficiency.
 We have a much better understanding of who
and what is on our network.
What’s next for Netreg?
 Next
version being planned & developed.
 Bug fixes 
 Improvements and new features for the
administration interface.
 Updates to components “under the hood”.
 Sharing with other Universities.
Questions?