About Network Registration

Using the Main Page
Selecting a User or Group
Viewing Machines
Viewing Outlets
Signing Off

Registering a Machine
Selecting the Location
Selecting a Building Subnet
Entering Machine Info
Setting Protections
Submit the Registration

Registering an Outlet
Selecting the Location
Selecting Outlets by Room
Outlet Information
Setting Protections
Submit the Registration

Editing a Machine
Editing Basic Information
Setting Protections
Adding DNS Resources
Adding DHCP Options
Deleting a Machine

Editing an Outlet
Viewing Information
Editing the Affiliation
Setting Protections
Deactivating an Outlet

Setting Protections
Identifying Machine and
Outlet Users
Editing User/Group Rights
Adding a User
Adding a Group
Deleting a User or Group

Searching Machines

Searching Outlets

Managing Building Information
Viewing Information
Searching for Building
Editing Building
Information
Permitting a Subnet in a
Building

Activation Queues
Selecting a Queue
Viewing Activations in a
Queue
Managing Queues
Editing/Deleting Queues

Glossary

Glossary of Terms

access level - The protection level of a user/group determines some aspects of what can be done to a machine/outlet. At present only network administrators can set access levels higher than 1.

affiliation - The department or center to which the machine or outlet belongs. Undergraduate students in residence halls should use the Undergraduate Students affiliation. All other users should select the organizational unit responsible for the machine or outlet.

attributes (outlet) - Attributes are transient states that indicate that an outlet/cable is waiting for an action (either an ACTIVATION or DEACTIVATION) to occur. For residence hall users, this is handled automatically by a script that runs several times a day, so attributes are fleeting. Academic/administrative connections require individual attention, because they must be connected to specific equipment per the "type" required for that location. Once the action has occured, the attribute is removed from the outlet. Attributes are most useful to determine what actions are waiting to occur, not to determine if an outlet is currently activated.

building - Self-explanatory building names.

building abbreviation - The building abbreviation is a short name for the building.

building name - The name is usually the actual name of the building.

building number - The building number is a number assigned to identify a building. This number is different from the number used to identify the building in the address of a building.

cable - Cable (outlet) - The data outlet that users connect their machines to are actually one end of a single cable run, that terminates in a room of network equipment. The "Outlet Number" actually identifies the cable by indicating the physical locations of each end using a labelling scheme appropriate for the type of cable installation. So what is often referred to as an outlet number is actually a cable designation. The "from" and "to" vernacular that is used in some documentation is really just another way of expressing "that cable that runs FROM here TO there." Cables/Outlets are not a network connection until they are attached to a device/port that will supply network connectivity to that cable. For an outlet that users would plug their computers into, the bottom line ('To') is the end of the cable in their office or residence. The Top line ('from') is the end that will be connected to the network equipment. Therefore, the two pieces are unique identifiers that work together to identify a single cable run. This means that if any part of the outlet label is obliterated, it may be possible to figure out the rest from what is readable. Pattern counts, so a typical label would look something like this:

    13@01-342-E7  
    13@01-@E032

Additionally, the Cable ID is a unique number that is assigned to an outlet/cable for internal use within the registration system. It's function is primarily for use within the registration system itself, as a unique database identifier.

cable from - This "number," which is the top number on your data outlet, uniquely identifies the other end of the cable running to your outlet. The number will look something like "13@01-342-E7."

cable to - This "number," which is the bottom number on your data outlet, uniquely identifies this end of the cable running to your outlet. The number will look something like "13@01-@E032."

CNAME Record - a CNAME record is dns entry that defines an alternate fully qualified hostname that can be used to refer to the primary host.

ddns authorization - This is the DDNS authorization information. If blank, the zone will be assumed NOT-DDNS. Can contain 'key:XXX', where XXX is a TSIG key, and/or a list a IP addresses that can update the zone. The IP addresses can be written as a list of IP addresses or as a range.

device - the network equipment that supplies the connection to the data outlet. Each activated outlet will be associated to a specific port on a specific device, usually either a hub or a switch. Devices are referred to by name (ie: cyert-test.hb.net.cmu.edu) and, when searching, any portion of the name (eg: cyert or hb or test) may be queried for a match.

dns configuration name - the dns configuration name indicates what type of dns configuration is set up.

dns resource type name - The name of a dns resource type

dns server control - dns server control is either internal or external. Internal control indicates that the dns server is controlled within the campus network. External control indicates that the dns server is controlled by another organization.

dns software version - This is the version of the software on the DNS server.

dns zone name - This is the e-mail address of the host master of the dns zone.

dns zone soa minimum - This is the default time to live for all records in the dns zone.

dns zone soa refresh - This is the number of seconds that the nameservers will cache SOA information. Thus, secondary nameservers will, on average, notice zone changes after this period of time.

dns zone soa retry - If a nameserver is unreachable, hosts will attempt to re-connect after this number of seconds.

dns zone soa serial - This is the current serial number of this zone.

dns zone type - This indicates the type of this zone. Some values are fw-permissible, rv-toplevel and fw-toplevel

dns _zone soa host- This is the hostname of the master server for the dns zone

domain - The domain identifies a machine as a part of some related group of machines. For example, machines in the "res.cmu.edu" domain are residence hall machines while machines in the "cs.cmu.edu" domain are School of Computer Science machines. The domain, when used with the short name for a machine, forms the fully-qualified hostname for that machine.

filename DHCP Option - The filename DHCP option provides the host with the location of an additional configuration file. This file is usually obtained by use of the tftp protocol from the DHCP server unless directed otherwise with the next-server DHCP option.

flags - Flags are administrative bits that can be set to denote something special about a particular outlet or machine.

• Abuse: the abuse flags prevents the outlet/machine from being modified by anyone except network administrators.
• Suspend: similar to abuse, except the outlet/machine actually gets suspended. Outlets will get deactivated at the device they are connected to. Machines will no longer propagate to DNS and DHCP servers.
• Permanent: some cables are permanently attached to specific network devices, and the specific ports are enabled/disabled as needed. Redidence connections are all permanent, and many lecture halls and classrooms have permanent connections.
• Activated: a user has registered the outlet for use, either by paying for an academic/administrative activation, or by registering a machine to a permanant connection.

group - A group is way to refer to a collection of people, and to provide all of those people with the same access rights to an object in the database. At present, only administrative users can create and modify groups.

group id - The group id has the format -- (prefix:name). The prefix is always dept and the name is the name of the group.

group name - The group name is generally the name of the department that the group describes.

hardware address - (sometimes called MAC address or ethernet address) All ethernet cards, whether wired or wireless, have a 12-digit hexidecimal number (which means it can contain the letters A through F in addition to numerals) that uniquely identifies it. When you connect your machine to the network, the network uses this number to verify that your machine is registered. For information on how to find your card's hardware address, see Finding Your Hardware Address. An example of a hardware address is 00E02938A48C.

hostname - A hostname identifies a machine by a short name and a domain. For example, if the short name for a machine is "mymachine" and it is in the res.cmu.edu domain, your fully-qualified hostname will be "mymachine.res.cmu.edu"

identity - For protections, this is either a user ID/email address (such as: ju33@andrew.cmu.edu or a group id (such as: dept:biology.

IP address - An IP address is assigned to your machine when it is connected to the network. This address uniquely identifies your machine from all others on the internet and is used by other computers and network devices to communicate with your machine. IP addresses are comprised of four numbers between 0 and 255, each separated by dots (###.###.###.###). Most Carnegie Mellon IP addresses begin with 128.2.

IP address zone - Included on the Search Machines page, this field is provided for Computing Services' use. Simply leave it blank.

machine - A network-capable device, such as a computer, printer, or other equipment, that is, or is to be, connected to the network.

mode (IP address) - An IP address can be either static or dynamic. If you have a static IP address, your machine will be given the same IP address every time it connects to the network. If you have a dynamic address, your machine will most likely have a different IP address every time it connects to the network or its DHCP lease is renewed.

MX Record - an MX record is dns entry that defines the fully qualified hostname of the host that mail sent to the current host will be handled by.

network - As used in the machine registration system, one of the non-building-specific networks such as Wireless Andrew, or one of the DSL options.

next-server DHCP Option - The next-server DHCP option tells the host which server to retrieve an additional configuration file from. The specific file retrieved can selected using the filename DHCP option.

outlet - A receptacle to which you connect your machine to gain network access. Outlets need to be registered (and activated) before they can be used to connect to the network.

outlet status - the network equipment that is used to connect machines to the campus network infrastructure has the ability to enable and disable individual ports upon need or command. The status will indicate what state the appropriate device/port has been set to.

outlet type - The type indicates the data transport speed of the outlet and whether it is switched or shared. The higher the number, the faster data will be transmitted to and from your machine. A shared outlet is one that shares the connection with other outlets, and so your connection may be impacted by the network activity of other users who are also sharing the connection. A switched outlet is one that retains the full capacity of the connection for itself. A NetBar outlet is a special connection that exists in public spaces around campus that is designed for temporary use, and doesn't require the computer using it to be pre-registered with Computing Services.

port - on the network device that serves a specific outlet. Ports are uniquely numbered across the device, and each outlet will be connected to one, and only one, of these ports. One device might serve different connection types, but each port will be connected as a specific connection type.

READ rights - Checking READ rights for a user or group on the protections page for a machine or outlet gives them the authorization to view information about a machine or outlet.

resource format - The resource format indicates which zones have access to what

rights - The rights that a user or group is given for a machine or outlet (READ, WRITE determines what the user or group may do with the record.

room number - The number assigned to a room in order to identify it within a building.

short name - A short name is the first part of a machine's hostname. The short name is usually created by the user when a machine is registered (although the system generates one if the user doesn't specify one). The short name, when used with the domain, forms a fully-qualified hostname.

subnet - A subnet is a way to refer to a logical block of IP addresses. For example, the Network Development subnet contains addresses from 128.2.6.0 through 128.2.6.255. Ultimately, the subnet determines what IP address the machine receives. What subnet a particular machine should be in depends on several factors, such as the physical location of the machine, the physical connection of the machine, and sometimes even the department affiliation of the machine, or even the specific purpose of the machine, in the case of servers and network hardware. When registering a machine, or changing its subnet, the system allows you to choose the new subnet directly, or to receive help in determining the subnet based on the Building or Network the machine is connected to.

subnet abbreviation - A shorter name to identify the subnet.

subnet base address - The base address of a network is the IP address that identifies the subnet. Generally, the last byte (the rightmost number) of the IP address will be a 0 as such -- x.x.x.0

Subnet name - A subnet name identifies a subnet. Usually this name is indicative of which department or building the subnet belongs to.

subnet network mask - The network mask is usually 255.0.0.0 for a class A network, 255.255.0.0 for a class B network and 255.255.255.0 for a class C network. The network mask controls how many addresses the subnet contains. For a class C network, all IP addresses are available for use except for x.x.x.0 and x.x.x.255.

user - Usually an Andrew user ID that identifies an individual who will be using and outlet or machine or who will have access to the outlet or machine data in the Network Registration System.

user name - The user name is generally the real name of the user.

userid - The userid of a user is assigned by the network and is unique for each individual user of the network.

WRITE rights - Checking WRITE rights for a user or group on the protections page for a machine or outlet gives them the authorization to change information about a machine or outlet.