Internet2 at Northeastern University

Stephen Reucroft, Larry Finklestein, and Glenn Pierce (NU) Overview Internet2 is being implemented at Northeastern University. The University’s Internet2 plan is divided into two phases. Phase 1 is concerned with connecting Northeastern University to Internet2 via NoX-AP (Northern Crossroads roads aggregation point formally the Boston gigaPOP). Phase 2 is concerned with the distribution of Internet2 services on the Northeastern campus. Below each of these plans is outlined and progress along with expected/achieved completion dates for project activities is detailed. The Office of Information Services and the College of Computer Science have created a working group which serves as the management team for the project. Phase 1: Internet2 to Northeastern University Access to Internet2 for Northeastern University will be achieved through connection to Boston’s NoX-AP. The Boston NoX-AP is located within a telecommunications carrier hotel at 230 Congress Street in downtown Boston. Qwest Communications owns and operates the space where the Boston Abilene NoX-AP will reside. During 1999, a consortium, the Northern Crossroads (NoX) was created to manage and support the initiatives related to the NoX-AP. The Northern Crossroads is an informal affiliation of several institutions with a common interest in facilitating high performance networking (HPN) in New England. Participating institutions include Boston University, Brown University, Dartmouth, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts University, University of Maine, University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, and Yale University. For more information on the NoX, please refer to www.nox.org The Boston NoX-AP circuit to the Abilene’s New York City NoX-AP was completed in October. Internet2 connectivity from Northeastern University to the Boston Abilene NoX-AP will be provided with a 155MB ATM tail circuit. We have completed negotiations with a local telecommunications provider, Bell Atlantic, to provide Northeastern ATM cloud access to Boston’s NoX-AP through their ATM cloud service. Phase 1 activities and timeline are itemized below: Step 1 – Internet2 connectivity in Boston – October 1999 (complete). The NoX-AP is now connected (by the Abilene engineering and telecommunication vendors) to Abilene via a high-speed connection from Abilene’s nearest NoX-AP located in New York City (NYC). Step 2 – Tail Circuit Connection to Abilene NoX-AP – January 2000. As described above, Bell Atlantic has been selected to provide ATM network connectivity and network support services to Northeastern University. The connection contract is signed and is planned for implementation in 6-12 weeks. This work involves installation of the appropriate fiber optic cabling and ATM circuit provisioning throughout the ATM cloud. Step 3 – Internet2 and UCAID Activation – January 2000 Northeastern University is a member in good standing of the Internet2 initiative and is presently finalizing contracts with the appropriate Internet2 organizations UCAID, NoX-AP, Northern Crossroads and Qwest Communications. Completion of the above mentioned steps will result in cabling and service from 230 Congress Street to Northeastern University. Phase 2: Distributing Internet2 Services within the University The second phase of the project is designed to distribute Internet2 services within Northeastern University Once the connection to the University has been activated, we will connect Internet2 networking services to the campus network infrastructure. We will then work with the NoX-AP network operations center to establish connectivity beyond the physical network layer. Network services will be then be delivered across the circuit to selected researchers, desktops. Initially, Northeastern University’s Internet2 implementation will be configured as a “pilot” network, separate from the university’s production network environment. Convergence with Northeastern University’s production network is planned

at a later date, once the implications of managing Internet2 services are understood and appropriate management procedures have been implemented. The on campus pilot Internet2 network infrastructure will connect to the NoX-AP via an OC-3c connection to an ATM switch. The ATM switch will also connect to the campus network infrastructure via gigabit ethernet connection (labeled GE in Figure 1) to a Cisco Router (Cisco Router Figure 1). From the Cisco router Internet2 services will be distributed to major research facilities on campus via gigabit ethernet. Within each facility, Internet2 services will be delivered via 10/100MB connectivity researchers’ desktops.

Figure 1

Phase 2 activities are itemized below: Step 1 –Acquisition of Network Components – January 2000 The Office of Information Services and the College of Computer Science and, working together have met with Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks to identify the appropriate network component list. The final list of network componentry and associated costs are nearly complete. Once this step is completed in the next week we will proceed with the process of purchasing and receiving the various network components and initiate the network configuration and installation process. Acquisition and receipt should be complete in December, leaving the month of January to configure the network components. Step 2 – Network Installation – February 2000 As noted above, there are 5 locations on campus which will have the initial installation of the new network components. Thorough testing for connectivity and high speed throughput will be performed and documentation completed. Step 3 – Connection to Internet2 Production Network – February 2000 We will connect the campus network to the Internet2 network, establish peering and build complex, high-speed network configurations. Working with the NoX-AP NOC and the Internet2 NOC, we will begin investigation of Internet2 networking services and work out routing and service issues in order to build a standardized set of services for Northeastern’s research community. Step 4 – Build Internet2 Campus Support Services– February 2000 Parallel with the Northeastern’s deployment of Internet2 services the university will also provide additional training for its team of network engineers in the management, utilization analysis of high-speed networking services and equipment. In addition, a suitable Internet2 operations center has been identified and construction/remodeling are planned to convert the space into a network operations center. Step 5 – Internet2 Days – March 2000 Working with the Internet2 staff, we will organize a program to aggressively advertise Internet2 activities on campus. The research community will be motivated to begin planning to access the Internet2 network for collaborative communication and research with their colleagues at both local institutions and distant facilities, now made available across the network. Step 6 – Conversion and Activation – April 2000 The university’s spring semester starts in late March. Activation of the Internet2 services on campus is planned for April. The effort will be to complete the connection to each desktop, train the researcher in the utilization of the new network and service and foster new grant based research.

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In each of the facilities network distribution closets, there is aCisco 10/100 ethernet switch which supplies desktopconnectivity to the network. The desktop selection will be atthe discretion of the researcher in consultation with the PI.These switches, are located in each of 5 buildings, initially(Snell, Dana, Richards, Egan and Cullinane), will be connectedvia gigabit ethernet to Cisco layer2 ethernet switch centrallylocated in the Snell closet (the point of campus convergencefor these buildings). This gigabit switch will connect to ourCisco Router which will perform layer3 network service to thebuildings and researchers, but will also serve the externalconnectivity and routing protocols, e.g. BGP. As noted, theNoX-AP, Northern Crossroads aggregation point will deliverATM service from Abilene to our campus.The pilot networkdiagram is presented in Figure 1: