Local Area Networks

The CTNET currently has a total of over 60 staff LANs. These LANs have standard setup for both academic and administrative departments. They support around 4,300 staff machines, over 334 network printers, and provide access to more than 400 software applications running under the Microsoft Windows environment. A single Windows 2003 Active Directory domain has been set up to host all staff and student LAN accounts. Several domain controllers are in place to serve logon requests of around 35000 users all over the campus. A central NAS with SAN storage is deployed to provide a fault-tolerant, ever-lasting file service. Another MS Windows 2003 Enterprise server cluster is configured to offer central print services for all departments. Most of the printers are inter-connected via the network print server devices which are capable of handling print jobs from PCs, Macs, and UNIX workstations at the same time.

Student Windows Environment

CTNET at present has over 40 student computer rooms, offering more than 350 software applications to around 1,500 workstations. About 50% of student LANs and workstations are located in the Terminal Areas of Computing Services Centre (CSC) and the rest are distributed in different academic departments. Most student LANs are managed by the CSC and CSC is currently holding over 35,000 user accounts.

PC LANs
About 750 Pentium 4 PCs are set up in the CSC teaching studios. These PCs are served by advanced servers running the Windows 2003 Server operating system at 1Gbps network bandwidth. Each PC has at least 512MB memory,  a local hard disk of 80GB, CD-RW drive, LCD display, and enjoys a 100Mbps network bandwidth. Network printing to laser printers is provided.

All PCs in the CSC Student Terminal Area support Microsoft Windows XP environment. When a PC is booted up, the OS menu will be displayed. After the Windows XP is selected, the PC will bring up the OS and the University homepage will be shown. From the homepage, users can then login to e-Portal/Blackboard and navigate to the information they need.

Software for accessing various host computers and Internet are also included as part of the application software repertoire. For details on the use of the CSC Student LAN, please refer to the Student Guide published by the CSC.

To start the support of Linux, Redhat Linux is run on the virtual machine environment in one of the teaching studios having 40 PCs as a pilot. The environment will provide basic software such as Web browser, X, Open Office, compilers and other GNU utilities. We will review the demand to enhance the support.

LANs for Lecture Theatres, Classrooms and Express Terminals

These LANs belong to the lecture theatre network. PCs are installed in all lecture theatres and will be equipped in 150 classrooms by 2003 for teaching use. These classrooms will also be furnished with equipment to support multimedia applications.

Express Terminals are located all over the campus, which allow access to network services on the CTNET. For security purpose, lecturers and students are required to enter their usernames and passwords for logging into the network.