NAS: the NAIST user authorization management system for network accesses in consideration of system administration volunteers

  • Authors:

  • Motohiro Ichikawa;Yutaka Nakamura;Eiji Kawai;Kazutoshi Fujikawa;Hideki Sunahara

  • Affiliations:

  • Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara, Japan;Kyushu Institute of Technology Information Science Center Tobata, Kitakyushu-Shi Fukuoka, Japan;Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara, Japan;Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara, Japan;Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara, Japan

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 33rd annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

The Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) user Authorization management System for network accesses (NAS) was designed and developed as a campus-network management system for administrators who are not information and communications technology (ICT) experts. Student residents have successfully operated the system in the dormitory network since November 2002, in the staff accommodation network by residents since June 2003, and as the component of the Guesthouse Network Management System by office helpers since June 2004. In Japan, administration of the system is performed by volunteer instructors and students for various reasons, which includes inadequate budget allocation and human resource constraints, and insufficient provisions for the system maintenance. Designing a system for the system administration volunteers is not easy because of their wide-ranging technical levels and unstable joining period. In our development, we defined the following minimum requirements for the system design: 1. The system does not require a full understanding of the management logic for daily operation. 2. No special operations are required even after the base operating system is updated (i.e., application of security patches). 3. The control logic can be modified easily by the administrators when the network administration policy changes. 4. The system can be operated in an open-source UNIX-like environment.In this paper, we describe the development and deployment of our system in the campus and clarify the advantages and disadvantages of the system. We will also discuss various issues in system operation of the dormitory network by student residents, e.g., what has happened to this network in the two years operation.