Internet2 Network Infrastructure: Abilene Current Status and Future Plans

1. Internet2 Network Infrastructure: Abilene Current Status and Future Plans Rick Summerhill Associate Director, Backbone Network Infrastructure, Internet2 GNEW 2004 Meeting CERN, Geneva, Switzerland March 15, 2004

2. Outline • Abilene Status • NLR Status • The Regional Optical Initiatives • Internet2 GLIF Activities – MAN LAN • Brief Introduction to HOPI • The Transatlantic Lightpath Experiment

3. Abilene Status

4. Abilene Status • Participation • University participation continues to be strong! • Decrease in number of connectors • Connector upgrades of bandwidth • Increase in aggregation • Evolution of GigaPoPs to RONs (Regional Optical Networks) • Peering • Peering between Abilene and other International networks has continues to grow – Abilene ITN • Upgrade of peering with ESnet to OC-48 minimum • Increase in the number of experiments looking to the future - to alternative architectures and means of connectivity

5. Abilene Status • Performance • 5.6 gbps flow across Abilene – CalTech to CERN during Indianapolis Internet2 Member Meeting • 6.25 gbps streams during March – CalTech to CERN • Consistent 9 gbps traffic flows to/from Abilene during SC2003 in Phoenix • The Performance is Good, but we need to look to the future • Timeframe • Current agreement with Qwest runs till October 2006 • Roughly one and half years to determine what is next.

6. Abilene Status • Experimentation • MPLS is a convenient tool for now • Use of MPLS tunnels to emulate circuits for TeraGrid participants • PSC – was a L3 MPLS tunnel • Texas – to be a L2 MPLS tunnel, to be determined • MPLS tunnel to support experiments between our ITECs and the Abilene NOC • Research • Abilene Observatory – approximately 20 research projects using observatory data

7. Problems Today • Given the current technology, Abilene is a productive and viable shared packet Infrastructure. However, … • Some discipline specific networks have enormous bandwidth requirements, e.g., • High Energy Physics Community • The Radio Astronomy Community • Problems with packet infrastructures • Perceived problems with shared packet infrastructures? • Will we have 40 gbps or 100 gbps in near future? • Increasing demands by some for deterministic paths? • Demand on future networks for more dynamic control of bandwidth and topology? • Service oriented networks?

8. NLR Summary • US higher-ed owned and managed optical networking & research facility • ~10,000 route-miles of dark fiber • Four 10-Gbps ’s provisioned at outset • One allocated to Internet2 – HOPI project • One an experimental IP network • One a national scale Ethernet • One a spare • Connectivity between the experimental IP network and Abilene will be on a limited basis – much like the TeraGrid and Darpa experimental connections. • An experimental platform for network research • Research committee integral in NLR governance • Experimental support center • Waves to be in place by late August – in particular, the Internet2 wave for the HOPI project

9. 15808 Terminal 15808 OADM 15808 Regen Fiber route Leased waves NLR footprint and physical layer topology – Phase 1 SEA 1/04 POR BOI 4/04 11/03 CHI OGD 3/04 7/04 CLE 8/04 DEN SVL PIT 2/04 WDC KAN RAL LAX 6/04 8/04 ATL SAN JAC Note: California (SAN-LAX-SVL) routes shown are part of CalREN; NLR is adding waves to CalREN systems. Also the CENIC SVL- Sacramento (SAC) ELH route will become part of NLR SVL-SEA in exchange for a SVL-SAC LH route NLR is building (not shown here).

10. Internet2 GLIF Participation • Global Lambda Integration Facility • Internet2 Participation • MAN LAN Experimental Facility • TYCO/IEEAF Circuit shared between Internet2 and SURFNET – 10 Gig wave between NYC and Amsterdam • MAN LAN Exchange Point • MANLAN Proper is an Ethernet Exchange Point for R&E Networks • Addition of Cisco 15454 to support experimental projects such as the GLIF. Current connectors: • CA*net • Abilene • Surfnet • Some near term tests: Lightpath consisting of a variety of technologies crossing multiple administrative domains – will discuss more fully later

11. Leading & Emerging Regional Optical Initiatives • California (CALREN) • Colorado (FRGP/BRAN) • Connecticut (Connecticut Education Network) • Florida (Florida LambdaRail) • Indiana (I-LIGHT) • Illinois (I-WIRE) • Maryland, D.C. & northern Virginia (MAX) • Michigan • Minnesota • New York + New England region (NEREN) • North Carolina (NC LambdaRail) • Ohio (Third Frontier Network) • Oregon • Rhode Island (OSHEAN) • SURA Crossroads (southeastern U.S.) • Texas • Utah • Wisconsin

12. Looking to the Future • Problems to understand • Future architectures • Temporal degree of dynamic provisioning • Topological extent of deterministic provisioning • Examine backbone, RON, campus hierarchy – how will a RON interface with the core network? • Understand connectivity to other infrastructures – for example, international or federal networks? • Network operations, management and measurement across administrative domains? • Resources – Abilene, NLR Wave, MAN LAN, RONs • HOPI Project – Linda Winkler will talk on this later

13. Transatlantic Lightpath Experiment • Grew out of a meeting in December with CANARIE, GEANT and Internet2 • Decided to setup a basic 1 Gig Lightpath to demonstrate technologies and requirements • Followed KIDS, not KISS – that is, keep it difficult stupid! - • Uses a variety of layer 1, 2, and 3 technologies • Crosses administrative domains using different layers • Goal - examine the problems, and how one might make this dynamic (in some way)! • Control Plane • 8 hours of conference calls • Approximately 300 pieces of email

14. Lightpaths • A lightpath is a virtual private or dedicated unidirectional path with a given service level guarantee (i.e., deterministic behavior) • Extremely low jitter • Close to light speed latency behavior in glass • Guaranteed bandwidth • Extremely low packet loss • Examples • WDM • TDM • MPLS based techniques (including L2VPN and use of CCC) • Premium IP Service • ATM CBR PVC • Any concatenation of two lightpaths should be a lightpath – lightpaths can be joined end-to-end!

16. Los Angeles to Chicago • MPLS L2VPN across Abilene with preference through the lightpath • Setup of vlans, MTUs, IP addressing • Testing of preference in the lab

17. Chicago to New York • Layer1 TDM path across CANARIE • No layer2, layer 3 configuration across CANARIE

18. New York to Amsterdam • Layer1 TDM path across CANARIE, Internet2, and SURFnet • Layer1 configuration problems encountered on TYCO/IEEAF circuit

19. Amsterdam to CERN • Layer3 Premium IP Service across GEANT • Setup of vlans, IP addressing

20. Measurement • Measurement will be discussed more fully later in Eric Boyd’s talk • 3 paths – Normal IP, Special IP, Lightpath

21. Conclusions • More Information • http://abilene.internet2.edu • http://abilene.internet2.edu/observatory • http://www.nationallambdarail.org • http://www.fiberco.org • A HOPI site to be announced in the near future • abilene@internet2.edu