SCLS Technology News

Outdoor Access Point Overview

The Meraki wireless migrations have been going very well.  50 libraries have Meraki equipment installed and the final 6 sites will be switched over as soon as possible.

Some libraries have asked for information about extending wireless coverage to outside the building.  The good news is that Meraki has outdoor access points that work with the same management system as the indoor access points.  McFarland's E.D. Locke Public Library has had an outdoor access point operational since December 2019.  McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids will be the next library to provide WiFi outside.

If you have interest in extending your WiFi coverage outside, please see the Outdoor Access Point Overview that has been posted on the SCLS website.

Wireless project update

The move to Meraki wireless has begun!

Progress

In June, we shared a little bit about the project and requested library floor plans to help with planning and documentation for the new system. We had a phenomenal response, receiving plans from almost all of our libraries! (for those that couldn't provide plans, we understand -- sometimes they just don't exist!)

At the July All Directors Meeting, Dan shared more information about the new system, including costs. Shortly after the All Directors meeting, we asked libraries to fill out a short survey about their wireless coverage, and since then we've been hard at work making recommendations for number and placement of wireless access points for libraries.

BIG THANKS to everyone who filled out the survey, provided feedback about current and desired coverage, and answered our follow-up questions with additional information!

Current status

As of this first week of September, 26 of our 53 library sites with SCLS-supported wireless have decided on the number of APs for their location. 10 of these libraries are actually live on the new Meraki system. Some of these libraries are working on having additional cabling installed, and some are just waiting for us to schedule their install dates. There are also a handful of libraries that are still waiting for AP recommendations from us based on wireless site surveys we've requested from a vendor --- we hope to have these for you later this month.

Documentation

Support and report documentation for the new system can be found here:

• Support: https://www.scls.info/enterprise-wireless-support-meraki
• Reports: https://www.scls.info/wireless-reports-meraki

Questions

If you have any questions about the project or the recommendations for your library, please contact the Help Desk!

All I want for Christmas is... wireless printing

Wireless

Bandwidth upgrade

Patrons bringing in smart phones, tablets, laptops and other devices to use with the library's wireless

Now what about printing from all these wireless devices?

In August 2013, SCLS tech staff presented a proposal for wireless printing using the PrinterOn service. You can read minutes from the August 14, 2013 meeting here. 

PrinterOn was selected as SCLS' recommendation for many reasons:

• PrinterOn is the industry leader when it comes to wireless printing
• PrinterOn works with libraries' existing printers (no need to buy new printers!)
• PrinterOn offers both a web interface and a variety of apps (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Kindle, and Nook)
• For busier libraries, there are also self-service payment options available

Enterprise Wireless Upgrade

Overview

Enterprise Wireless just got better!
Over the course of the last few months, we worked very hard on a major update to Enterprise Wireless. The update consisted of replacing the software that controls the system with an entirely new product and updating the software on the Enterprise Wireless hardware. The result is a slew of new features that will solve some lingering problems and open the door for things that were not possible just a few months ago!

Update benefits

Bandwidth Hogs
One user will no longer be able to slow down the entire network. Using new capabilities we will be able to limit the usage of the public wireless signal to ensure that wireless users cannot slow down the entire library.

Libraries on Badgernet will have bandwidth changes implemented by the end of November. We will send out a notification to scls-announce and the scls-ew email list once the Badgernet libraries' changes are completed.

Libraries on VPN through Charter will have the bandwidth changes implemented as they are cut over to Charter.

The Wireless System Has Been "Future Proofed"
The wireless technology update enables our current system to accommodate the next generation of access points. The most common version of wireless technology is "N", but a new version called "AC" will be taking over very soon. This feature is up and running. 

More Efficient Use Of Your Network
For those of you who are on our VPN, we are now able to send wireless internet traffic directly to the internet instead of making it come back to SCLS and then go out to the internet. This may seem like a small change, but trust me, it's awesome! This feature is up and running.

The Wired/Wireless Divide for SCLS-Supported Laptops Is Gone
We are now able to treat wireless laptops the same as wired computers. The trick was to make sure that the laptop wireless card connects to the wireless signal when it turns on, not when someone signs on to Windows. The new update gave us this possibility and we are really excited about it! This feature is up and running. 

SCLS-ew email list

If your library has Enterprise Wireless and you're not already on the scls-ew email list, please take a moment and sign up. This will be the best way to keep up with upcoming changes (or outage information) for the Enterprise Wireless service.

Assessing the status of your technology needs

At the All Director's meeting last week, I was asked by several directors when are you going to do such and such at my library. While I cannot answer your specific questions just yet, everything the technology staff has been doing in the last year has brought us to the point where we can bring you some answers very soon.

We have many libraries using SCLS technology services.  SCLS offers many services. Each library is in various states and stages when it comes to each of the SCLS technology services.  For example, some libraries do not have enough bandwidth.  Some libraries are not yet using Enterprise wireless. Some libraries still have PCs that are too old which will become problematic when Windows XP support expires in April 2014.  Some libraries still have PCs that need to be moved to the SCLS network.  In some cases, SCLS needs to take action to meet these needs (see bandwidth).  In others, the library needs to do something.  If you read the linked blog posts above as a refresher, you will have a better idea what are some of the library responsibilities.

The SCLS technology team will be conducting a series of planning meetings over the next month.  The goal of these meetings will be to create a profile for each library and assess its status in each of these areas.  When we are done, we will be able to inform each library as to how we will get it to where it needs to be.  In some cases, that might mean you will be getting more bandwidth in others we may remind you that you will need to purchase PCs to replace your old ones. 

We will all work together to get your basic needs met.  This will then free us up to think about the really cool stuff we may be able to do in the future.

Power outages and other chaos

Ever wonder what's going on behind the scenes (besides some elevated heart rates) when SCLS is having problems?

Tuesday, around 1:30, our building lost power due to a transmission line outage. Luckily, our server room equipment and many of our PCs and phones are on backup power units called UPSes. Unfortunately, these battery backups can't power us forever.

So what happened?

• We updated the SCLS Status Wiki -- it's a super-quick way for us to get the information out there about what's going on. In this case where the network was also down, it wouldn't help from libraries' SCLS network PCs, but it still could be accessed from smart phones or other non-SCLS devices.
• We called our power provider to see if they had information.
• We divided up a phone list and everybody with access to a phone started calling libraries.
• We started shutting down the server room equipment in a controlled fashion. Doing this ensures that when the UPSes run out of juice the servers and other equipment don't come crashing to a halt in a very unfriendly, bad-for-recovery sort of way.

Because the server room equipment was running on backup, libraries didn't even realize we were having issues right away. Often as we were calling to let them know we had problems, they were telling us they "just went down."

After the power was restored (around 1:56), we started bringing the equipment back up. This is a tricky process, as there's a definite protocol to follow in order to make sure everything works. A very simplified version looks something like this-- 

1. Start up device A. Wait for it to finish booting up. Confirm it is working correctly.
2. Start up devices B and C (which depend on being able to talk to device A). Wait for them to finish booting up. Confirm they are working correctly.
3. ...and so on, and so on until everything is back up and working.

As soon as everything was powered up and we had confirmation that all the services were working again, we called the libraries to let them know that we were officially back up, everything should be working, and they should call the Help Desk if they ran into any services that weren't working.

A power outage is a bigger-than-usual service disruption, but other types of service outages are similar. Usually some folks are working on trying to troubleshoot and address the problem, while others are doing their best to communicate the problem to the libraries.

Whew! So glad these sorts of things don't happen every day!

Feedback? Please let us know!

Enterprise Wireless: One year in and going strong!

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the SCLS Enterprise Wireless service.  There are 31 libraries now using the service, with over 53 Access points installed.

I'm also happy to report that with the exception of an unplanned power outage, the system itself has yet to go down over the past 12 months, significant up-time for a system as large as this.

If you're still one of the libraries without EW, I recommend you read through the documentation, and then place a call to Dan as soon as possible.

Enterprise Wireless Fix update

Earlier last week, a firmware update was applied to both of the Enterprise Wireless servers on the advice of Cisco engineers.  In both cases, the firmware upgrades proceeded without any noticeable problems.

After the update was applied, SCLS Tech team members tested for disconnects here at SCLS headquarters and at one of the Madison area branch libraries, So far, we haven't experienced the disconnects that had been happening prior to last week.

However, testing was fairly limited, so here's what we need from participating Enterprise Wireless libraries:
Please check with your patrons and staff this week.  Are they still experiencing unexpected disconnects?

• If so, please let us know:  Date, Time, Staff/Patron, type of device

• If not, please let us know that things seem to be better!

    Thanks for your help with this!

Enterprise Wireless disconnects

So, Enterprise Wireless is officially 6 months old! What have we learned?

It's complicated behind the scenes!
Enterprise Wireless is just that--- an Enterprise class service (centrally managed, requiring minimal configuration or troubleshooting of access points at the libraries). The back end was set up by a Cisco consultant who works with wireless deployments all the time. There are TONS of technical settings! 

As with many new services, there are some bugs still to be worked out.
From July to September, there was a single participating library. At the end of September, we added 4 sites. Each month after that brought a handful more.

Beginning in mid-Oct, we got a few reports from one of the libraries of periodic disconnects. At that point it wasn't clear if it was something about the patrons' devices, something about wireless at that site, or something about wireless at ALL sites. Since October, we've had a few additional sites report the disconnects. We've also done some testing to try to narrow the scope of the problem.

This week we contacted a Cisco engineer who's going to look into it. He'll escalate it to a Cisco Wireless Engineer if he can't find a solution to this intermittent and very pesky problem. Thanks to all the libraries that gathered information from patrons and passed it along to us for troubleshooting!

The service may still be changing.
Some of you may have noticed a change in your wireless reports in December. Session durations suddenly became VERY long around the middle of the month. This was due to a setting change we made as we tried to fix the wireless disconnect problem.

As we're working out the final bugs, we may be changing settings that affect how the system and reports work. Hopefully, these changes will be for the better. Occasionally, like in the case of the December change, they may have unintended consequences.

Please hang in there with us while we get it all worked out! As much as we want every new service rolled out to be completely perfect, it's likely that there will be the occasional issue. And remember:

• Don't assume we know already know about an issue. If you're seeing something strange, let us know!
• The more information you can provide, the easier it may be to troubleshoot and fix a problem!

Enterprise Wireless Update: Reports coming in December

Earlier this week, the SCLS Technology Team met in order to research and create the statistical reports Enterprise Wireless users will be getting, starting December 1st.

On the first day of each month, the Library Director and selected staff members will receive, via e-mail, an Excel spreadsheet containing a record of wireless usage from the previous month.  Data includes everything from time of day, MAC address (helpful in determining repeat patrons), type of device used (including some e-book models!), session duration, and many more data points.

We're very happy with the stats that our new system can produce and look forward to hearing feedback from our Enterprise Wireless users.