Campus Backbone Network

To facilitate speedy information exchange and resources sharing, University Campus Backbone Network was first established in late 1992. The backbone is now built on a Ethernet based infrastructure using a STAR and Ring topology. The whole campus, including classrooms, student hostels, teaching blocks, academic and administrative buildings, are connected to the University Campus Backbone Network via high speed 10 Gigabit or Gigabit Ethernet (GE) links.

Available to

Staff & students

Service Charge and Application

Free; no application required

Service Availability

24 X 7; except maintenance period

1. Research & Education (R&E) Networking

The campus backbone network extensively links to the following Research & Education networks:

Hong Kong Academic and Research Network (HARNET),
China Education and Research Network (CERNET) ,
Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TEIN3) ,
Chinese Science and Technology Network (CSTNET) ,
China Next Generation Internet (CNGI),
Academia Sinica Computing Center (ASCC),
Academia Sinica Grid Computing (ASGC),
Korea Research Environment Open NETwork (KREONET2) and
Asia-pacific Advanced Network (APAN-JP).

The high-speed connections with global R&E networks allow lectures, seminars, and conferences to be remotely recorded and even online broadcasted, regardless locations and distance. More importantly, advanced research projects can be conducted smoothly in virtue of computing power and networking capacity. Check out Feature: Connection to International Research & Education Networks.

2. Types of Campus Network Connections

Departmental Network
We assist departments to plan and set up their Local Area Network (LAN). With 10GE inter-building links introduced, departments/units on main campus can also request for 10GE connections.
ResNet (Residence / Hostel Network)
We assist College/Postgraduate/Department Student Hostel Management to plan for their network connection. Each student hostel connects to Campus Backbone Network via 1 x 1GE or 2 x 10GE links.
ClassNet (Classroom Network)
Each classroom connects to Campus Backbone Network over a Gigabit Ethernet link and employs Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology to assure the security.
CUHK On Campus WiFi
It allows WiFi connections through 802.11a/ b/ g/ n / ac wireless LAN access points within CUHK campus.
CUHK Off Campus WiFi (CUHK Wi-Fi Hotspot Partnership Programme)
It allows WiFi connections at different hotspots out of CUHK campus.
Remote Departmental Network
This includes Prince of Wales Hospital, Taipo Hospital, Lek Yuen Health Centre, Eye Hospital, School of Continuous Studies, School of Law and MBA Programme are connected to the Campus Network through Metro Ethernet link, and remote routers.
CUHK Virtual Private Network (VPN)
It allows campus network connections over a non-CUHK network (e.g. home broadband service) to access CUHK restricted sites.

Check out a summary of Ways for CUHK Staff & Students to Connect Campus Network and the Internet.

3. Security

Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology has been adopted to secure the access to Campus Backbone Network.
To further enhance campus network security, the following incoming connection requests originated from off campus have been blocked. Eligible users should enable a CUHK VPN / SSL VPN when accessing campus computers over these protocols.

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol)
SMB (Server Message Block)

4. IPv6 Development in CUHK

The ITSC has been connected to the regional IPv6 networks which allow our websites to be listed with a longer six-byte number. It is different from the IPv4 networks which only support four-byte IP addresses. Check out Feature: IPv6 Development in CUHK