Technical Support
Introduction
Technical support provided by eduroam Technical Specialists is available free of charge to any organisation participating in eduroam or considering joining. Enquiries can be e-mailed or telephoned in to the JANET Service Desk; e-mail JANET Service Desk stating eduroam and the nature of your enquiry. It is however worth checking on the Technology/FAQs page for an answer to a question before lodging a technical enquiry. Nb. technical support enquiries can only be accepted from customer technical contacts registered with the JANET Service Desk.
On this page:
Support for end-users
End-users (from organisations which have operational eduroam services) who plan to visit eduroam sites should consult their Home organisation IT Support depts regarding setup of laptops/mobile devices prior to travelling to sites offering eduroam Visited services. Instructions and documentation should be available on the Home organisations' web pages.
Users will also be verify the format of their eduroam username (of particular relevence if there is any sub-domain content of the realm name). Username usually follows the format; username@youruniversityrealmname.ac.uk - but not in all cases! Your password will be the same as you use on your home network. [Tip - if using Windows XP, the Windows Domain field should be blank]. By checking your Home organisation eduroam information page you should also be able to discover what remote access services your Home organisation offers to authenticated users from Visited sites (eg. e-mail, VPN).
End-users MUST also check the Participating Organisations Map to verify the SSID of the guest wireless networks at the organisations they intend to visit and the wireless network authentication/data encryption settings required on their laptops for basic connection to the Visited organisation network - which is the necessary first step before user authentication.
The Participating Organisations Maps also contain links to the Visited organisations' own eduroam information web pages on which can be found further configuration documentation to help with wireless/wired connection to their eduroam guest networks. You should also find details of the hotzones/locations at the Visited organisation where service is available
Nb. Connection to a eduroam wireless network is now a lot more straighforward than previously (following the ending of web redirect JRS1) as the choice is generally simply between WPA/TKIP and WPA2/AES with a single SSID 'eduroam' (lowercase).
Commonly experienced problems
Unable to associate with wireless eduroam network:
If you are at an advertised eduroam enabled hotspot at an eduroam site, with the 'eduroam' SSID clearly visible to your laptop/mobile device, but you are unable to connect at all to the wireless network, you should check your wireless settings and may need to consult the configuration settings information provided by the Visited site or contact the local IT Support team. If you cannot even detect an 'eduroam' wireless network you may be out of area and may need to contact the local IT Support team to identify if the problem is due to a local outage or lack of coverage.
Authentication failure:
Once connected to the wireless network, if unable to gain authentication you should consult your Home organisation's IT Support team for further help. Hint - has you been able to get the service working at your Home organisation? Hint - check username/password is correct. Eduroam username usually follows the format; username@yourorganisationrealmname.ac.uk - but not in all cases!
Can't access Home services:
Once connected to the wireless network, if you have problems connecting to your Home organisation's remote access services (eg. e-mail, VPN), you should contact your Home IT Support.
Disconnection problems:
Once connected and authenticated but you experience disconnection problems you should consult the Visited organisation's IT Support team for further help.
Associated to wireless network and authenticated, but cannot access Internet:
Does the Visited site use a web proxy for the eduroam guest network? Have you checked the eduroam sites map for information about the Visited site / the Visited site eduroam info page? If a web proxy has been implemented, the Visited site eduroam info page will detail how to configure your machine to work with this.
Support for Implementors
E-mail / phone support from JRS Technical Specialists
eduroam Technical Support is available in the following areas:
- General enquires about the service - features and benefits, service details
- Pre-deployment queries - deployment planning, selection of ORPS systems, guidance on implementation eduroam Technical Specification
- Support during implementation - OPRS setup, user machine configuration
- Post implementation technical issue resolution
After checking for an answer on Technology/FAQs page you can lodge an enquiry by e-mail or telephone with the JANET Service Desk; e-mail JANET Service Desk requesting eduroam and the stating the subject of your enquiry. Nb. technical support enquiries can only be accepted from customer technical contacts registered with the JANET Service Desk. A numbered JSD ticket will be created in the JANET CDF Help Desk system that can be used in any follow up query.
It is important that new tech support enquiries are ALWAYS sent to the JANET Service Desk; JANET Service Desk. They will be passed to JRS Support rapidly. By going through JSD, a ticket is opened so that we (JRS), JANET Service Desk (JSD) and yourselves can track and chase up the progress on enquiries. If enquiries are sent directly to the JRS mailbox I will forward to JSD, but rapid response is not assured. If you send enquiries directly to Loughborough you will be bypassing the process and there is risk that the query will be auto-routed into a holding mailbox where it will not receive a timely answer.
A chargeable consultancy service is also be available for more in-depth implementation support and technical issues investigation. The cost of on-site consultancy is @£580 + expenses ex-VAT / day.
The service can be utilised for such purposes as:
- eduroam installation and setup
- on-site problem solving
- FreeRADIUS and Radiator configuration tutorial
- post-deployment Q.A. auditing against Tech Spec and best practice
- on-site eduroam implementation training
The service is very useful in situations where an organisation's IT Support staff simply do not have the time or expert knowledge to effectively and efficiently carry out the work, or where perhaps the staff who originally set up the eduroam service have left the institution or changed job roles.
The service works as follows: the scope of the work and number of days required are agreed and a simple purchase order mechanism is used to enable the service to be booked. Mutually convenient days for the work are agreed, usually preceded by remote analysis of existing configuration. A written report of findings, recommendations and work carried out is usually requested to conclude the job.
Nb. A lead time of 2 weeks+ from receipt of purchase order should be allowed for consultancy work. This allows sufficient time for transport and overnight accommodation, where needed, to booked. Also these cannot be arranged without a purchase order being received.
A troubleshooting flowchart to help IT Support staff solve user connection and authentication problems has been produced. This is not a step-by-step guide to the setup of all available supplicants, instead it aims to point support staff towards common user-centred issues and to guide staff in troubleshooting their eduroam infrastructure to resolve difficulties for both own organisation users when roaming and visitors to the organisation. eduroam IT Support staff trouble shooting flowchart (best printed at A3 size) pdf)
JRS Support Server Test Facilities
We have also developed a range of test facilities built on the JRS Support server:
- Background service status probe test
- On-demand EAP test
- On-demand simulated visitor test
Click here for information on the test facilities
The eduroam Fundamentals course was introduced in July 2009. Courses are held regularly at a number of venues around the UK. The course provides delegates with an understanding of how eduroam operates at both basic technical and support level. It includes an overview of how to configure user equipment and solve some of the issues those users might face. The course also covers the configuration of wireless and wired clients for use on the eduroam service on JANET, logfile examination and methods of fault finding and reporting.
The course is intended for IT staff tasked with supporting an eduroam service within their organisations or wishing to gain a high level appreciation of what is involved in implementing the service. This might include support staff wanting to learn more about user equipment setup and secure wireless configuration and service managers examining what their support staff need to know.
For further details, please see: eduroam Fundamentals Course
eduroam Implementation. This course covers in depth the theory and practice of implementing an eduroam service. It includes installation and configuration of RADIUS servers to support a Visited eduroam service, together with guidance on access point configuration for 802.1X and hints on how to integrate RADIUS with the user database to set up a Home service. The extensive hands-on work is based on FreeRADIUS, but the concepts are of course applicable to all platforms. Some familiarity with unix/linux systems would be beneficial and it would be useful to brush up on using a text editor such as vi (for editing configuration files).
For further details, please see: eduroam Implementation
Any problems, comments or suggestions regarding this page, please e-mail the eduroam service manager.