Going Optical with Movaz - Building and Maintaining BiSON Scot Colburn - NCAR WESTNET 2006

6/14/2006WestNet Three lessons: Layer 3 is math, Layer 1 is Physics. –Layer 3 uses math, statistical tricks to share a pipe –WDM uses physics tricks to share a fiber Movaz – Relatively young company, recently acquired by Adva, sells “Heathkit” WDM nodes BiSON – Bi-State Optical Network connecting Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming. –Phases: GBICs, CWDM, DWDM, 10G –Motivation: BRIN, Lariat, TeraGrid, BPOP, FRGP.

6/14/2006WestNet Networking moves down the stack “There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” -Douglas Adams ( )

6/14/2006WestNet Remember 10Base5?

6/14/2006WestNet Base5/2 begot Bridges, Routers Broken or miscrimped connectors could break network, failures very difficult to locate Had to put station taps precisely between nodes Then, bridges divided L1 domains, increased manageability. L3 divided bridges. 10BaseT fixed some of these multidrop issues by being point-to-point.

6/14/2006WestNet WDM – “Physic”-al networking Incredibly clear glass for optical fibers Physical magic of EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) –But EDFA’s generate ASE noise (Amplified Spontaneous Emission) Inexpensive, high quality lasers –But jitter, modulation prevent high bit-rates Single mode reduces dispersion –But bit-rates limited by CD and PMD All rather unrelated to layer 3 experience –All engineering tricks to cope with physical realities

6/14/2006WestNet New physical concepts, new terminology. And Telco terms, too Electrical/Optical Engineering: –dBs, power, SNR, attenuation, EDFAs, ASE Telco: –Tribs, Grooming, PMs, Alarms, BITS –In service upgrade?

6/14/2006WestNet Aren’t ROADMs kinda bridges? Are MEMs cross connects kinda routers? ROADMs (Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers) will make optical simple, right? –Filter bands, equalize power, connect rings MEMS cross-connects will let GMPLS really work, provision waves/paths almost the way PNNI provisioned SVCs, right? –WSS – Wavelength Selectable Switch

6/14/2006WestNet Movaz

6/14/2006WestNet Movaz OLD (Optical Line Driver)

6/14/2006WestNet BLDR-MOVAZ-1> sh pm po 13-1 opt Port Optical PMs Card Type: OLDUEV Time: 1991/01/01 04:31:56 MDS PM OOR Value Low Threshold High Threshold Unit OPR OSC dBm OPT OSC dBm LBC OSC mA EDFA IP dBm EDFA GAIN dB EDFA OP dBm EDFA LPA mW EDFA LBCA mA EDFA LTA degC EDFA LPB mW EDFA LBCB mA EDFA LTB degC OPR dBm OPT dBm VOA ATTEN dB Movaz OLD PM (Performance Monitoring)

6/14/2006WestNet MOVAZ XCVR (Transceiver)

6/14/2006WestNet Movaz UDS SIM

6/14/2006WestNet Movaz Shelf

6/14/2006WestNet BiSON – Bi State Optical Network

6/14/2006WestNet BiSON history Our Quest for fiber (chronological order) –Denver-Boulder from ICG for NCAR –Boulder-Fort Collins from ICG, PRPA for CSU –Laramie-Denver from Level3 for Uwyo –Laramie-Fort Collins to close Bison Ring Bought McCleod fiber outright, CSU repairs it

6/14/2006WestNet BiSON just kinda grew up No WDM in first path – Cisco CWDM (powerful) GBIC Movaz CWDM in second path (Bldr-CSU) Movaz DWDM in third path (UWyo-Dnvr) In fourth path, Movaz DWDM but the OSC doesn’t reach –No APE (Automatic Power Equalization) –VGA OLD or Raman OLD in our future?

6/14/2006WestNet BiSON diagram

6/14/2006WestNet BiSON ring design UWyo proposed classic DWDM redundant wave per site. Very expensive. –Remember that CWDM bit? Would need upgrade Instead, designed Layer 2 ring: –2 GigEs connect each site to the next. –"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.“ - Abraham Maslow In retrospect, UWyo’s design would’ve been nice –We have potential for L2 packet loops. –Bridged VLAN ring passes through four nodes with three different network administrators.

6/14/2006WestNet Bison L3/L2

6/14/2006WestNet BiSON evolution Layer 2 instability –Observed ~5000 arps/sec – switch console was quite sluggish. –FRGP’s connected M20 router was distressed –Ultimately, found unidirectional path on Movaz GigE Solutions considered: –Rate-limit broadcasts? Not a good Layer2 solution –Rapid spanning tree? Now on by default –MAC level filters? Looping packets likely allowed –Wait for NLR’s L2 network to figure it out? –Eliminate L2 loops

6/14/2006WestNet Next BiSON steps? Wyoming adding spur to Cheyenne CU renting 1GE for NLR access Probably put 10G around ring for something –Must replace CWDM segment with DWDM –Bridged? No - Probably non-stop 10G waves Or deploy dedicated 2.5 G (2xGE) waves –Like 10BaseT is point-to-point, maybe L3 GE links should also not be multi-drop? Keep existing shared bridged vlans as inter- BiSON links?

6/14/2006WestNet FRGP UWyo CSU BPOP Everybody gets their own 2.5 Gbps wave

6/14/2006WestNet To make a Lambda redundant network Must replace CWDM segment with DWDM –$107K estimated “Replacement” BiSON waves cost $51K –Assuming SIMS are reused at Level3 New waves cost $61.6K (= $51K + $10.6K) –UDC SIMs cost $5.3K – need two per wave

6/14/2006WestNet G wave add Denver-Boulder next 10G is ~$40K cheap, because existing TeraGrid 10G blazed the trail Rest of ring? –Need $107K for CWDM conversion –~$45K for VGA amps for Laramie-Fort Collins –Need to ask Movaz for quote?