UoM Data Billing Environment Legacy and Refresh Systems Cameron Shepherdley Information Technology Services

Data Billing Business Case To on-charge internet data (off-net) usage charges (AARNET) in an equitable form to associated organisations –This includes “faculties”, non-academic departments and also educationally affiliated organisations (external organisations) Equitable –Equal fee charging is unfair, Student number basis is unfair, Volume basis is best Service Model –Part of an IT service-based model whereby services are charged on a per-usage basis where possible Associated Services –“Billing” ties in with quotoring, monitoring, traffic control etc

UoM Current Policy Environment Off-Net Subscription Fee subject to direct recovery from Organisations –On-net to be kept free to encourage research –Not all organisations are billed Students are not charged for internet access –Quotas are applied however Organisations are free to on-charge to sub departments Best to charge billed organisations for their proportional usage –ie their ‘slice’ of the AARNET charge pie

Legacy Internet Access Environment Billing: –AARNET Netflow logs sourced from AARNET border routers –Custom UoM script based system to accumulate usage by sub-nets –Integrates with IP Address Management System for subnet data –Integrates with existing proxy in order to identify source IPs –High maintenance and high risk. Unsupported. –Invoicing process is highly manual –Can’t do real time monitoring / analysis

Legacy Internet Access Environment Quotoring (students) –Uses a proxy (squid) –Proxy requires re-authentication of users when accessing the internet –Users must be forced through proxy via computer settings or network controls –Proxy creates problems for a wide variety of client software –Proxy complicates the connection of user-owned devices i.e on the wireless network Removal of the proxy is a wider program goal

Legacy Internet Access Environment Legacy Border Environment

Billing System Context

System Replacement Requirements Operate transparently for users and applications Monitor usage from all source IPs Identify individuals as well as owners of IPs Calculate or assist in calculating proportionate bills Manage quotoring including self-service information access for individuals Dynamically absorb changes in IPs and users Be changeable as AARNET->UoM and UoM->Faculty charging models change Be close to real-time Provide information to customer organisations as well as IT Ability to integrate with finance systems Produce a range of reports

System Replacement Procera PacketLogic devices in new internet gateway –Log all traffic flows –Can dynamically control traffic flows in real-time Obsidian JET billing software –Software totally manages the Procera devices –Integrates with authentication systems and identity stores –Flexible –Can implement traffic control via the Procera – ie quotoring, shaping and bandwidth management. The new system will shape users who expend their quota Same technology also used by Griffith. Implementation will be different however.

System Replacement Replacement Border Environment Rebuild is incorporating numerous new services in addition to billing

Replacement System Project 3 Stages of implementation scheduled –1. Replace functionality of current system (IP billing only) –2. Implement quotoring for students (and remove network proxy) –3. Review all policies in light of new environment capabilities and the information it is capturing Stage 1 & 2 to be delivered this year Production is dependant on build of new internet border –Part of a wider program of work

Business Decisions / Problems Differences between AARNET -> UoM and UoM -> Faculty charging –ie faculties prefer quarterly charging, post pay etc Differences between UoM -> Faculty charging and student quotoring –IT would like to quota 24/7 (ignore peak/off peak) to encourage ‘educational’ network use Many existing policies have developed as a result of limitations in the legacy system –Policies can now be reviewed (project phase 3)

Business Decisions / Problems Customer organisations want increasingly detailed information –To potentially on-charge sub departments, projects or even individuals Research groups want to bypass as much network equipment as possible –Procera PacketLogic will not see research traffic –Jet to incorporate internal netflow analysis for specific subnets

Technical Decisions / Problems Exploitation of technological capability –Depends on quality of IP address ownership data & identity information. –ie charging for guest and conference usage –ie billing wireless network usage via ‘home’ organisations or central cost centre (“Melbourne Model”) Future: charging cloud users (VMs) –Linking temporary assignment of IPs to a virtual machine to the VM’s owner (who may not exist in identity systems) –Example: National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources –Also single VIPs from Load Balancers

Summary Billing service is affected by several factors For this reason each University is likely to be different Data available is a major factor There are challenges to solve that are probably applicable to all universities

Q & A Thank you for listening Questions are welcome

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