1.
Tech 2 Tech
My Network Refresh
18 November 2022
Online
Tim Chown (Jisc) – tim.chown@jisc.ac.uk

2.
Agenda
• Introduction - a few thoughts
• Jisc frameworks – a basic guide (Steve Kelly, Jisc)
• STFC RAL Data Centre (Jonathan Churchill)
• University of Southampton (Simon Lane)
• Q&A, discussion
• Future T2T events

3.
Introduction
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Typical considerations for a network refresh
• The tender process, bundles – core, edge, WiFi, firewall, …
• Technical features and capabilities – mandatory or otherwise
• Resilience, mean time between failures, support models
• Performance, coverage (WiFi), security, management, (minimising) complexity
• Network architecture – high-capacity backbone, connectivity to Janet
• Integration with an off-site DC? Connectivity to (complementary) cloud?
• Power usage and efficiency – towards Net Zero, minimising costs

4.
Other considerations?
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Some areas from my recent interests…
• Monitoring the network, and its performance
• IPv6
• Handling large scale science data transfers
• And…

5.
Janet backbone and regional access
infrastructure
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Janet backbone
Scotland
North East
North West
Midlands
East
South West
Thames
South
London
Public sector networks
Yorkshire
Northern Ireland

6.
Our refresh – Janet Access Programme
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Latest News
• Rebuilding all regional aggregation networks with the same architecture
• Around 9,000km of fibre, contract to 2028, ~1,000 customers, ~1,500 connections
• Ciena L2 (8700/5171, with 39xx for CPE), Juniper routing equipment (2 per region)
• Managed Router Service, 430 customers subscribed, ~700 devices managed by Janet NOC
• Main issue - equipment lead times, esp. Ciena due to chip shortages, ~1 year
• See https://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/shaping-the-future-of-janet
• But be aware the timelines need updating!
• SIG-NOC talk this week by David Richardson:
• https://wiki.geant.org/display/SIGNOC/17th+SIG-NOC+meeting+-+Paris,+France
• GÉANT backbone network refresh presentation also at SIG-NOC this week:
• https://geant.app.box.com/s/ru8ifn4kcri3vogkwqeww5smqj6eqnt7 - see slide 8

7.
Power matters
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What might you include in a tender?
• Important both for Net Zero targets and to rediuce energy costs
• GÉANT also presented on this topic at SIG-NOC:
• https://geant.app.box.com/s/budgt80vyjzlchxk16hs5v6b876r9iuf
• Asking about sustainability in tenders:
• CSR – social responsibility policy
• Carbon offsetting
• Power draw figures
• Power draw measurement
• Allowing for inline devices
• All with increased weighting in the tender process
• Might also consider areas like heat re-use on campus

8.
Monitoring your network
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Various approaches to consider
• Network device / service status
• Typically through Nagios / Icinga
• Usually using SNMP
• Traffic volumes to/from Janet
• Netsight3 - https://netsight3.ja.net/
• Log in to see your site traffic utilisation
• Persistent network characteristic monitoring
• perfSONAR – https://www.perfsonar.net/i
• Measures throughput, latency, loss, path and more
• Allows you to see historical trends and changes

9.
IPv6
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Is it finally time?
• Around 40% of user traffic on the Internet is IPv6
• Similar level in the UK, but only at 10% on Janet
• Rationale for IPv6 is growing
• Robustness, scalability, security, supporting teaching and research
• As a minimum, include in tenders and enable public-facing services
• See https://www.jisc.ac.uk/ipv6 for more information
• Excellent example: 100G of IPv6 CERN traffic into Imperial:
• https://shapingthefutureofjanet.jiscinvolve.org/wp/uncategorized/100gbps-of-cern-data-over-
ipv6-on-the-janet-network/
• A new Jisc IPv6 Programme is running
• Key focus is ensuring support in new services and projects

10.
Science DMZ
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Handling science and business traffic
• ESnet documented “Science DMZ” principles ~10 years ago
• https://fasterdata.es.net/science-dmz/
• Key design elements:
• Local network architecture to differentiate large science flows
• Well-tuned data transfer nodes (DTNs)
• Performant data transfer tools (Globus, etc)
• Persistent monitoring of network characteristics (perfSONAR)
• Avoid the large flows traversing the main campus firewall
• Apply security policy efficiently, save costs on the stateful DPI firewall capacity
• See https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/supporting-large-scale-data-transfers-on-janet

11.
Over to Steve, Jonathan and Simon…

12.
Tech 2 Tech: My Network Refresh
Future
• Janet Blog - https://shapingthefutureofjanet.jiscinvolve.org/wp
• Tech 2 Tech videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbKeiLya4JyBCnzdE6T1fJdZSfuFXeD_4
• Slack - https://join.slack.com/t/networkshop-community/shared_invite/zt-
1f60iyr7n-yJL031QZFpK85wMMRrMjLw (Link will be in slides!)
• Networkshop 51 -- TBD
• T2T - https://www.jisc.ac.uk/get-involved/tech-2-tech
•7th December – “What (network) time is it?”
•Plus dates in 2023 to be confirmed
•Let us know what topics you’d like to see covered
Contact: Tim.Chown@jisc.ac.uk or Rob.Evans@jisc.ac.uk
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13.
customerservices@jisc.ac.uk
jisc.ac.uk
Questions?
Answers?
Discussion!
Jisc/Janet Service Desk
T 0300 300 2212 / help@jisc.ac.uk