1. Connecting to an active network jack
Last revision September 16, 2011
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The first step in connecting your computer, printer, or other device to the Earth Sciences computer network is to verify that you have an active network jack available. Although wireless network service is also available in all Earth Sciences buildings, it is recommended for only portable or occasional use. The wired network jacks provide dramatically higher speed connections with better security.
The network self-registration system will register all your network interfaces whether you start from wired or wireless. However, if you register over wireless, it will not assign a static IP address to your wired interface. You have to register from the wired network itself to get a static IP address.
The School of Earth Sciences provides gigabit (1000 Megabits/second) connections at "Telecommunications Service Outlets" (TSOs) in every room in Braun Hall (Geology Corner), Mitchell Earth Sciences, and Green Earth Sciences, free of charge.
The Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) TSOs also have gigabit connections that are separately managed by the School of Engineering, but this page provides basic information for that building as well. Branner Earth Sciences Library, although housed on the second floor of Mitchell, is part of the separately managed Library network.
Mitchell, Green, and Geology Corner TSOs contain white analog telephone jacks that are no longer used (except in special cases such as fax machines), and orange network jacks that are used for both computers and Cisco VoIP telephones. Starting in January 2014, newly installed network jacks will be colored green. The School's network administrator controls the network jacks.
In Y2E2, all jacks are the same blue color: the leftmost two in the top row are reserved for VoIP telephones only; others are for computer network connections only. Although the Y2E2 network is managed by the School of Engineering, the Earth Sciences network administrator can help Earth Sciences people in that building with networking issues.
You must supply your own ethernet cables as needed within the room. The Earth Sciences network administrator has many spare cables (lengths 5 to 10 feet) that he can give out upon request. For longer cables, be sure to purchase ethernet patch cables that meet "Category 5" (or higher) standards in order to support gigabit ethernet speeds. These are available at the Stanford Bookstore or Fry's Electronics, as well as many mail-order retailers, such as CDW.
Active jack locations
The School's standard in its three main buildings (Mitchell, Green, and Geology Corner) is to activate network jacks in every office and lab as needed to support devices. Maps and lists show which jacks are active. In addition, active jacks in these three buildings should have a small green dot next to an upper outside corner.
Every Cisco VoIP telephone in Mitchell, Green, and Geology Corner uses a network jack in the TSO, but the telphone also "passes through" computer data connections to a second jack on the bottom of the phone (with a small embossed "PC" label). The phone uses less than 0.5% of the network bandwidth for voice communications.
If you need to connect a new computer (or other data device) in Mitchell, Green, or Geology Corner, first see if you have a Cisco VoIP telephone with an empty "pass-through" jack and use that. If the telephone pass-through jack is already used, look for an open network (orange or green) jack in the wall with a green dot.
In Y2E2, on four-jack TSOs, the bottom two jacks are generally active for computer network connections. On six or eight jack TSOs, the second and third pairs (on the left side) are generally active.
If there are no free active jacks on the nearest TSO, or a labeled jack does not appear to work, contact the network administrator.
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