News Editor
A recent update to CSU Bakersfield’s wireless internet service left many iOS and Mac OS users without internet access for an estimated 15 hours over the evening of Sept. 23 and the morning of Sept. 24.
“Apple had sent out an alert saying that their iOS 9 as well as their latest version of the Mac OS was going to support a certain level of encryption that our environment at that moment didn’t support,” said Director of Infrastructure and Support Services Chis Diniz.
Hoping to prevent any issues, IT put an emergency update into place under Apple’s recommendation.
“Unfortunately, we went ahead and did what they suggested and their documentation was actually incorrect,” said Diniz.
When they realized the error, they attempted to revert back to the original Wi-Fi system, but that caused even more trouble as it prevented any iOS and Mac OS user from accessing it.
By noon the next day, it was running as it was previously with Wi-Fi working for all but iOS 9 users. Diniz said the iOS 9 issues will be resolved shortly, as they are currently working in a test environment to make sure things work and are secure before they roll out a new system.
“We have figured out what the fix is and we’re ready to deploy,” said Diniz. “However, right before we deploy we’re going to make certain that we have a roll back plan in case we run into the same problem we had before.”
Despite the current iOS 9 issue, IT is proud of the current standards allowing hundreds of faculty and students to access the internet daily.
“This summer we actually increased our capacity, our ability to handle multiple connections at any given point,” said Diniz. “Within our buildings we are operating above the standard.”
However, outside Wi-Fi connection is still an issue. Currently, the signal comes from whatever is leaking from nearby buildings.
“It’s just not strong,” he said. “Ideally if you were anywhere on the campus you’d have wireless. So we are working on that, that’s where our growth is heading towards.
“We just don’t have the funding to cover that, so we try to provide what we can.”
Though funding currently isn’t available to cover all of the wiring and installation costs for campus-wide Wi-Fi, a few popular spots may see coverage sooner than later, including the quad area between the cafeteria and Student Union.
“We’re just trying to get something to increase the coverage out there, because we know a lot of students congregate there, so [the IT department] has took it upon themselves to provide that.”
Installation for that area is estimated for some time this year.
