Inside Tufts University Information Technology

Network Engineering

New DHCP Client Class: "tufts-asset"

On Monday, October 2nd, NOC enabled a new class to spare you all from the tedium of checking the DHCP Expirations page: "tufts-asset" class machines will only expire after seven years -or- when they haven't been active on the network for four months (clients that have gone inactive will not be listed on the expirations page, they will simply quietly drop off).

The new dynamic class can be selected by FSP's during the self-registration process (Pelican) or by using Cardinal. The choice about how and where to use the new class designation is strictly yours. We recommend converting any shared, long-term computing assets (lab machines, public kiosks, etc) simply for your own convenience. The expiration date will automatically be reset to today's date plus seven years, so you needn't bother with selecting anything in the "Renew in" menu.

DHCP Class Changes, June 26, 2006

We're begining to convert "staff" and "student" class dhcp clients to the "tuftsuser" class. Every evening this week we'll convert roughly 1500 "staff" clients. The change should be invisible - there are over a thousand "tuftsuser" clients moving smoothly around all three campuses at this time and we don't anticipate that any end-users will notice a thing. We're letting everyone know so that you won't be surprised next time you check dhcp expirations or look up a client in cardinal.

DHCP Service Changes, June 2006

During the month of June, Network Engineering will be making changes to the DHCP system with the goal of simplifying support and laying the foundation for expanded guest access. The current system was designed to meet requirements that no longer exist and these changes will result in a less complex and restrictive service for end-users and support staff.

All changes will be made during weekend evenings, should be completely transparent to end-users, and will require no intervention by support staff. The exact date of implementation will be announced in a future notice, what follows is a list of the changes being planned to give everyone a chance to absorb the information.

  1. The "student" and "staff" DHCP classes have been providing identical access levels to all tufts subnets for at least two years. Thus the distinction is adding complexity but no value. All Tufts users will now be registered as class "tuftsuser". All existing "staff" and "student" registrations will be automatically converted to "tuftsuser" during the cutover. The DHCP self-registration system (Pelican) will be modified to register all clients as "tuftsuser". The pull-down menu to select a client's class during a proxy registration will be removed. Cardinal will also be updated with the new client class information.
  2. Though all clients will be members of the "tuftsuser" class, not all clients will have a default one-year expiration interval. Clients registered by students will now expire after six months instead, to roughly coincide with semester migration. In order to eliminate any undue stress, ALL expiration activity will be suspended during the last two weeks of each semester when much of the community is preoccupied with final exams and end-of-semester wrap-up. Expirations will resume the week following the last day of finals.
  3. The "public" class offers no substantive value and is a common cause of confusion. It will be retired and all existing "public" class registrations will be automatically converted to class "tuftsuser". In addition to making the support experience a little less cumbersome, these changes will help position the NOC to provide self-registration services for un-authenticated guests, one of our higher priorities.