connect communicate collaborate Supporting Pan-European advanced applications - GÉANT Project liaison and support Richard Hughes-Jones, Domenico Vicinanza, DANTE TERENA Networking Conference May, Prague, Czech Republic

connect communicate collaborate The background: what has changed in the past 15 years… Situation: Increasing international collaboration between researchers across the world Sharing experiences, resources and facilities = sustainability Science, research and education uses advanced applications to: model complex systems process and analyse experimental results and deliver them in real time in different locations around the globe

connect communicate collaborate Advanced applications needs advanced networking Research needs New demanding applications Distributed resources Real time requirements Network requirements Real time High bandwidth Low latency Low jitter No losses R&E Networking GÉANT backbone European NRENs Global connectivity

connect communicate collaborate The need for R&E Networks Response: Research and Education (R&E) Networks to provide access to unique resources: – supercomputing centres – large central databases to link and combine distributed resources into seamless ones: – grid computation – distributed databases  and respond to the requirements of the most demanding research applications

connect communicate collaborate GÉANT: the pan-European network for R&E communities GÉANT is the pan-European data network dedicated to the research and education community GÉANT (with the European NRENs) connects 40 million users at over 8,000 institutions across 40 countries. An ideal infrastructure for scientific and research applications with demanding network needs: High capacity (stable sustained bandwidth) Low latency (or one-way delay) Low jitter (latency or one-way delay variation) Complex applications are being built on top the network Collaborative tools, videoconferencing Distributed computing (Grids)

connect communicate collaborate GÉANT topology 15+ NRENs interconnected within the Dark Fibre (DF) “cloud” The others, via “lambda” and SDH circuits Hybrid architecture (routed IP traffic and switched special- purpose traffic)

connect communicate collaborate High Speed Global Network GÉANT global connectivity and projects

connect communicate collaborate Support: The GÉANT Project Liaison Team GÉANT project is supporting 30+ international projects To constantly improve the network experience of scientists and researchers Dedicated team in GÉANT to Projects Liaison and Support GÉANT Network Activity 4 (Liaison and Support) Task 3 (Project Liaison) Main point of contact for external organisations and projects wishing to use the GÉANT network

connect communicate collaborate What does the Project Liaison and Support do? Provide assistance and support to projects, initiatives and organisations Facilitating and encouraging a productive use of Research and Education Networks Presenting advance services GÉANT+NRENs provide Helping users to understand their network needs Matching user requirements with what is available Supporting projects having connectivity issues Face-to-Face meetings, regular videoconferences, phone calls with user projects

connect communicate collaborate Project support as an interface Users (researchers, scientists,…) Network operators GÉANT Project Liaison and Support Team

connect communicate collaborate Support to radio astronomy community (EXPReS/NEXPReS)

connect communicate collaborate Supporting User Advanced Applications: EXPReS 4 Gb/s Onsala - Jodrell Bank Radio astronomy has strict network requirements: Real-time data delivery – High throughput – Stable flow (low jitter) No losses 4 Gigabit circuit for EXPReS collaboration: Onsala, Sweden - Jodrell Bank, UK Crossing 5 domains Network path structure: 4 Gb/s Eth path over TSS NORDUnet 4 Gb/s TDM/SDH Lightpath over GÉANT+ 4 Gb/s on Eth Optical Transmission JANET & NNW

connect communicate collaborate Collaborating with Users and NRENs: Solving a packet loss issue UDP throughput tests between Stockholm and London Alcatel TSS – 10 GE – Alcatel MCC Max throughput: 3.78 Gb/s (Previously was 4.05 Gb/s) 10% Packet Loss detected At packet spaced for Gb/s with a 8129 Byte payload NO packet loss at Gb/s between Manchester and Stockholm

connect communicate collaborate Why did we get packet loss in Copenhagen? Inter-packet arrival time distribution: – Delays of ~130 µs then ~6 µs This confirmed packet bursts The Alcatel TSS delivers the packets over the 10GE link to the Alcatel MCC in bunches at line-speed (with suitable pauses to get 4Gb/s). The SDH circuit over GÉANT from the Alcatel MCC runs at 28 VC-4 (~4.2Gbit/s)  buffer required at MCC! The Alcatel MCC ingress buffering was only about 57 KB. These factors together caused buffer overflow and the packet loss. NORDUnet used SDH into the MCC to solve the problem  Feedback to vendor about small buffer problem  This removed other potential problems in the future Packets at ~10Gb/s

connect communicate collaborate Collaborating with Users and NRENs: Measuring jitter for EXPReS Jitter was measured for the first time on the link Result: the link proved to be very stable, meeting radio astronomers expectations Jitter showed a narrow peak at 16 µs, 4 µs FWHM – Tail extends to ~70 µs but smaller

connect communicate collaborate Effect of SDH switchover protection on intercontinental links

connect communicate collaborate Part of acceptance testing for the European - India - Singapore links. The low level network layer will switch to an alternate data path when an error is detected e.g. a fibre cut. Test proved that TCP link remains up. Throughput recovers in ~20s. Reliable Infrastructure: Testing SDH Protection The link tested

connect communicate collaborate 24-h bandwidth tests from Mumbai to Singapore Mumbai  Singapore example (throughput as a function of time) Measure the effect of SDH switchover with a 24 hour user TCP flow Right: Detail of the data transmission over TCP during the SDH switchover Complete recovery of full throughput within 20 seconds. The session stayed alive, no connection drop. SDH swtichover

connect communicate collaborate TCP tests: IP re-routing effect Singapore  Madrid (bandwidth over time) The TCP session behaved well during the change of route. TCP congestion algorithm was Cubic The throughput went down to 660 Mb/s for ~10 seconds then up to the throughput associated to the new path (~20 seconds) Compatible with cubic algorithm behaviour  The network link met the requirements

connect communicate collaborate Multicast proof of concept

connect communicate collaborate Using multicast for data dissemination Proof of Concept Collaboration European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) delivers weather and climate-related satellite data – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Interested to learn more about using multicast for high bandwidth transfers on terrestrial networks. Collaborative Proof of Concept over GÉANT Upper-Air Station Satellite Images Aircraft Ocean Data Buoy Weather Ship Polar Orbiting Satellite Satellite Soundings Geostationary Satellite Weathe r Radar EUMETSAT Surface Station National Meteorological Services Users EUMETSAT DVB Uplink DVB Broadcast

connect communicate collaborate Proof of Concept for EUMETSAT High Bandwidth Multicast Collaborative project with the end user. Phase 1: Emulated the project data flows over the backbone using multicast. Phase 2: Using EUMETSAT data and application to move data across GÉANT At each site it was measured: Throughput Packet loss Inter-packet arrival times

connect communicate collaborate Proof of Concept Test: High Bandwidth Multicast  Collaboration with the end user worked really well  High BW, multiple flow multicast successful Throughput stable to 500 Mbit/s No packet loss once the multicast tree is formed. Multiple simultaneous flows work well Jitter 11 µs

connect communicate collaborate Intercontinental R&E link assessment for real time distributed art performance

connect communicate collaborate The collaboration GÉANT launch event in Stockholm, 1-2 December 2009 Distributed music and dance performance Result of an extensive collaboration: Music was performed at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm – connected with optical fibre to SUNET – captured, digitalized and sent through the network to Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Music data travelled: – from Stockholm to Copenhagen on the NORDUnet link – then to London on the GÉANT network – then to Singapore on the TEIN3 link – then to Kuala Lumpur via TEIN3 and MYREN Dance was performed at the Convention Center in Kuala Lumpur: – captured, digitalized and sent through the same path in reverse – then projected on stage in Stockholm

connect communicate collaborate The intercontinental link between London and Singapore GÉANT-TEIN3 network link: 2.5 Gbit/s optical connection Madrid - Singapore spanning almost 10,000 Km. Requirements: No packet loss Low latency, low jitter TEIN3: third generation of the Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TEIN)

connect communicate collaborate Network test results Collaboration (GÉANT + Involved NRENs) worked to check the network Bandwidth results: transmitting and receiving at line speed (1Gb/s) No packet loss! Simulating DVTS traffic from Malaysia to Sweden Comparing generated and received traffic: perfect matching! Available Throughput meeting requirements No packet loss

connect communicate collaborate On stage, from Stockholm GÉANT Launch performance from Stockholm. Epigonion+Barbiton reconstructed on EGI, played by the first musician on the left Malaysian dancers choreography projected in the upper right corner, behind the musicians Video available on Epigonion and Barbiton Reconstructed on EGI Dancers real-time video from Kuala-Lumpur via GÉANT-TEIN3 networks

connect communicate collaborate Conclusions Increasing cross-border collaboration between researchers across the world Science, research and education require special tools and applications Advanced applications require dedicated, high quality networking GÉANT and the European NRENs work in synergy to meet the needed network requirement GÉANT Project Liaison and Support Team (NA4 T3): Acts as a interface between users and network operators Liaises with 30+ international projects Helps user projects to meet their network expectations

connect communicate collaborate Thanks! Sustainable, Collaborative Research Advanced applications NRENs GÉANT GÉANT Project Liaison and Technical Customer Support

connect communicate collaborate Extra slides for questions

connect communicate collaborate UDPMon Developed by Richard Hughes-Jones (DANTE & Univ. of Manchester) UDPmon works recording The time to send and the time to receive the frames. The number of packets received, the number of packets lost, and the number of packets out of order. The distribution of the lost packets. CPU load and number of interrupts for both transmitting and receiving system. Local and remote interface counts and net snmp statistics n bytes Number of packets time  Transmit Spacing Network view of the spaced UDP frames transmitted from the source host to the destination host.

connect communicate collaborate UDPMon Extra UDPMon variant, developed for this link test Based on UDPMon code but allowing periodic snapshots recording: timestamp number of packets received, packets lost, and packets arrived in bad order % of packet lost Bytes Received and Bytes/frame rate Elapsed time (microseconds) and Time per received packet Receiver data rate and wire rate (Mb/s) Local CPU(s) usage Local and remote interface counts and net snmp statistics It allows to spot: Whether the packets are received or not by the application Whether the packets are discarded because no free CPU cycles UDP datagrams actually received, the number of discarded ones and the amount of errors

connect communicate collaborate CONNECTIVITY SERVICESNECTIVITY SERVICES

connect communicate collaborate Dedicated connectivity services 1/2 Demanding projects require dedicated, specialised network connectivity services GÉANT offers three connectivity solutions: Routed IP – GÉANT IP Point-to-Point Circuits: – GÉANT Plus – GÉANT Lambda

connect communicate collaborate Dedicated connectivity services 2/2 GÉANT IP – high bandwidth connectivity for millions of academic users through NRENs via the shared GÉANT IP backbone network. GÉANT Plus and GÉANT Lambda – point-to-point circuit services – dedicated bandwidth and guaranteed QoS. GÉANT Plus – flexible allocation (155Mb/s to 10Gb/s) – user-dedicated point-to-point connections GÉANT Lambda – full 10 Gbps wavelengths – to support projects with particularly demanding network requirements

connect communicate collaborate Multi-domain Monitoring for GEANT service area

connect communicate collaborate The new perfSONAR (1/2) Since past eight months perfSONAR is undergoing a major restructuring What’s new: Use-case driven design – User-centric rather then technology-centric Improved testing (  improved quality) – New, open, shared testing policies and results Agile/Scrum based software development – Fast release cycles (3 months) Product management function – To act as an user advocate and make sure to correctly steer the development New website being designed First (new) perfSONAR release foreseen for Spring 2011

connect communicate collaborate The new perfSONAR (2/2) Interoperability with US and Canada network monitoring New perfSONAR designed around interoperability principles, enabling: – intercontinental network troubleshooting in multi-domain environment, – Dynamic circuit monitoring and – SLA verification Closer interaction with the user community User panel to provide feedback and input to continuously improve the produce

connect communicate collaborate Two special instruments on stage Two very special musical instruments on stage: the Epigonion and the Barbiton Ancient Greek instruments reconstructed by the ASTRA project using physical modelling Computer virtual models based on archaeological findings Sound reconstruction and 3-D modelling on EGI Infrastructure The Epigonion (a) and the Barbiton (b) Photo courtesy of F. Baghino and F. Ugozzoli, VisArc Studio, Parma, Italy for ASTRA