Upgrades are in the works for the Laboratory's unclassified and classified internal computing backbone network and routers, managed and maintained by Computing, Communications and Networking (CCN) Division.
A "backbone network" carries data to smaller lines of transmission signals, just as the human spine carries signals to many smaller nerves in the body.
The "routers" "decide" on which path - or circuit- collections, or packets, of data should be sent on the network. When updated and interconnected with 10 Gigabit/s (10 GigE) circuits, Laboratory backbone routers can transfer data 10 times faster than current equipment, boosting transmittal to 10 billion bits per second over optical fiber.
Dale Land of Networking Engineering (CCN-5) said the Lab is an "early adopter" of 10 GigE, in line with other advanced research institutions where computing is critical. "This technology is well-tested and we have been using it on some of our high-performance computing network links for a year. We are now moving it into the mainstream network," said Land.
A lot of planning and work is going on to ensure minimum customer outages, but there will be small network interruptions, generally scheduled between 6 and 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday, as needed.
"The design is for the outage to last only as long as it takes to unplug a fiber from one router and plug a new one into the new router," said Land. "The outages will be limited to individual subnets. No overall network outage is needed, and those users affected by these interruptions will be notified."
In addition to the aggregate network performance increase, the upgrade will improve the reliability and maintainability of Laboratory networks, multicast (IPTV) quality, and enable CCN to provide future capabilities, such as Gigabit to the Desktop, Voice over IP (VoIP), and the next generation of the Internet protocol (IPv6) routing. Land notes that, for now, there will be only limited 10 GigE to the desktop, because the network interface cards (NICs) for computers are still very expensive (about $5,000). "We can provide this bandwidth for extreme users, but it is currently not economical for mass deployment to the desktop," said Land.
According to Land, CCN also recently upgraded the Laboratory's external network connectivity. On the unclassified networks, the Lab's primary carrier is ESnet, which has been upgraded to 1 Gb/s in recent months. CCN-5 also has installed a 1 GB/s connection to the Internet2 network, which provides the Laboratory with a more direct path into many university and research sites. In support of high-performance computing, the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program has dedicated connections to Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, known as the DisCom (distance communication) project. The DisCom bandwidth also is being upgraded to a 10 GigE connection to both Livermore and Sandia. This upgrade is scheduled to be completed in April.
Supporting the Laboratory backbone upgrade project are CCN-5 staff Alex Montano (lead), Kyle Wingate, Wayne Davidson, Gary Ferrero, Jason Hagan, James Chavez and Rick Romero. Tim Merrigan (lead), Bill Ebanks, and Gary Ferrero are supporting external network upgrade project.
These upgrades provide the capacity to meet the Laboratory's ever-growing networking requirements. Next on the horizon is planning for 100 GigE, expected within the next decade.
