Network and Systems administrators from 22 KENET-Member Institutions benefited from a Scalable Campus Network Training held on May 6-10, 2019. The training, an advanced course in improving Campus networks was organized by KENET as part of its Capacity Building initiatives. The participants drawn from public and private Universities, research institutions and Hospitals were equipped with necessary skills to administer a campus network.  

The intense non-residential five-day training was aimed at equipping the participants, who had background knowledge in general network concepts, with practical skills required for the configuration and operation of large-scale campus networks. The training conducted by five qualified KENET engineers imparted participants with knowledge in the areas of design, implementation and security of a large-scale campus wireless local area network (WLAN).

KENET Executive Director, Prof. Meoli Kashorda welcoming the participants at the training

“The training imparted hands on skills to the participants to enable them design a scalable network, implement VLANs and setup network monitoring tools. The participants were able to interact with switches for the lab exercises and setup the monitoring tools on the KENET Virtual Lab,” said Mrs. Maureen Musau, the lead KENET trainer.

Other key topics in network administration that were covered during the training included, Campus network design principles & best practices, Campus network physical cable infrastructure, Hierarchical network design, Cisco switch configuration basics, HP configuration essentials, and Campus network monitoring tools. At the end of the training, participants had to configure a campus lab network with VLANS and monitor the lab network. Thereafter they were awarded with a certificate of participation.

Participants of the Scalable Campus Network Training pose for a group picture

In the face of growing demand for increased connectivity to meet growing institutional needs, the Scalable Campus Network Training increases technical capacity of KENET members to efficiently utilize services they subscribe to such as bandwidth. The training which is conducted annually usually targets Network Administrators, ICT infrastructure managers and Systems Administrators with more than three years of experience from academic and research Institutions.