Changing network/internet access from having no requirements to CA can 
be frustrating to the students. Telling them that implementing it will 
make their machine more secure and the network happy sometimes isn't 
enough.  It helped that we had numbers to back up our decision to 
implement CA: Last year alone, we had over 1200 virus tickets that 
resulted in a loss of over $100k in man-hours and downtime.  Those are 
good numbers to give budget/funding too, if you have it.

I would also suggest increasing your temporary access time to at least 2 
hours, which is what we did, to facilitate some of the longer 
downloads(sp2). Increasing your session timeout might be a good thing 
too; we actually don't have a timeout set for our users.  Since CA will 
make you log in after the mac-address to ip-address combo is void(dhcp 
lease time has expired and the user receives a new ip, user moves to 
another subnet, etc), it will make the user sign-on again. If your dhcp 
lease times are set higher, the user will keep their ip address longer, 
and have to sign-on less.  Plus, we plan on forcing re-certification 
after every year or semester is over.

--Homer Manila
Network Security Administrator
Office of Information Technology
American University


Sean Ward wrote:
> We (Bowling Green State University) recently performed a very small test 
> of Clean Access/Perfigo in a residence hall where we have about 20 
> students living because of conferences and the like.  Of the 20, about 
> 14 had computers that connected, of which 10 filled out a survey on our 
> website.
> 
> Included below are the responses we received.  For those of you who have 
> been testing or have finished testing Clean Access, what type of 
> response did you get from the students?  Were they similar to ours?  In 
> what ways did you convince those in charge of the budget/funding that it 
> was worth the cost?
> 
> In an occurrence that could only be defined as "awesome", the 
> instructions document is corrupted, so I cannot attach, include, or link 
> to it until I take time to recreate it.
> 
> Any and all responses would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sean
> 
> Did you have any issues with the documentation? If so, what were they?
> 
>    * When trying to download clean access it kept comping up with a
>      message that said you must open excutiable file something,
>      something, something?? and I had no clue what it was talking
>      about, so I played around and finally figured it out. That was
>      confusing at first and somewhat frustrating
>    * I guess my default settings were making it difficult to configure
>      the software
>    * Some of the windows that popped up, such as the temporary
>      connection to the network, were not in the manual so I had to
>      click on what I thought was right.
>    * I tried to get it to loadfor 3 hours with no luck. Finally RCC had
>      to come and install a new web browser. Now it works just fine.
>    * The documentation was fine.
>    * I had no problem installing the software and getting back on the
>      network. The instructions were thorough and I appreciated the
>      screen shots that were included.
>    * It made me update fifty million times when I first got on.
> 
> Have you had any issues connecting to the network or Internet since 
> having the software installed? If so, how many times did this happen, 
> what type of issues were you having, and what were you doing at the time:
> 
>    * Every so many days it would kick me off the network and I'd have
>      to restart my computer to be able to connect to the internet. This
>      is very frustrating and annoying, especially since it happened
>      again this morning telling me I had to download the new version. I
>      thought this test was over??
>    * Every time I attempt to connnect to the internet I am stopped
>      because Norton Antivirus is blocking the Clean Access site becuase
>      it is unknown. If you already have anti-virus software it makes
>      this process extremely difficult, and you have to disable the
>      previous software in order to run the new software, and I have
>      paid a large amount of money to have my computer protected by my
>      other services.
>    * I had had a problem once. Everytime I tried to connect it would go
>      to the main screen and then my mouse cursor would start going
>      crazy....clicking very fast all on its own. No website would even
>      appear. It would continue doing the same thing even after I tried
>      restarting my computer several times. I decided to leave alone for
>      the next and the next day...everything was fine and I was able to
>      complete the process without any problems.
>    * At first, I only had a temporary connection for 20 minutes. During
>      that 20 minutes, I had to download a bunch of different things but
>      after 20 minutes, I would have to stop because I was no longer
>      connected. It took 9 hours just to get everything set up. Once I
>      did, my entire computer was running extremely slow. Every three
>      days I had to redo everything and that was a big inconvenience.
>    * It's working well.
>    * why do i have to re-login every few days....that kicks me off
>      IM...I don't like it!
>    * McAfee really slowed down my computer. I took Norton off of my PC
>      and it runs just fine now.
>    * I am very frustrated that I have been randomly kicked off line
>      (while I've been using the internet and instant messenger) only to
>      reaccept the clean access agent agreement and return to my work. I
>      knew that this was going to happen (since it was stated on the
>      instruction sheet-thanks for that info!), but I find this
>      frustrating and unnecessary. I'd really rather not have the
>      program on my computer. Plus, I don't know what it does and why I
>      need it, other than I can't get on the internet and it's suppose
>      to help prevent viruses. I had to work when Sean came to our
>      meeting, and I read what was given to me but I still don't
>      completely understand the need.
>    * No problems after setup
> 
> What could BGSU have done to make this test easier?
> 
>    *
> 
>      I guess there really isn't anything to make it easier. It's just
>      going to be frustrating to you, if you impliment it to the whole
>      campus, because you will be getting a lot of calls.
> 
>    * It would have been nice if we were asked to volunteer to do this
>      instead of having no say.
>    * I think it woudl be easier for the RCC staff to come configure the
>      software on students' computers themselves
>    * I wish that we would have had advanced notice that this was going
>      to happen.
>    * Had people working later to help with the set up because I didn't
>      have internet for almost 2 days.
>    * Tell people it takes a while to load.
>    * The test itself is fine. The instructions were complete and I was
>      informed that I would be kicked off the network every 3 days or
>      so. However the fact that the system does boots me off the network
>      randomly every few days is very inconvenient, especially since
>      I've been working while it has happened.
>    * Made the setup easier. You should only have to update once.
> 
> Is there anything else you wish to add that was not mentioned?
> 
>    * Once I finally was able to download the Clean Access software, it
>      told me that my login name was unknown and would not let me proceed.
>    * After making my complaint via email and phone, RCC was able to fix
>      everything on my computer so that it runs even better before.
>    * The test itself is fine. The instructions were complete and I was
>      informed that I would be kicked off the network every 3 days or
>      so. However the fact that the system does boots me off the network
>      randomly every few days is very inconvenient, especially since
>      I've been working while it has happened.
>    * It's annoying to have to update every three days. Once a week
>      would be better.
> 
>