Federal GigaPOP
The Federal GigaPOP's purpose is to connect qualified National Research
Institutions to the CA*Net 4 network to facilitate research work carried
out by their respective organizations.
AUP
Federal entities who want access to CA*net 4 will have to first obtain approval
of the Ottawa GigaPOP operator. (See below for contacts)
Do not contact your local-loop supplier OR CANARIE until after you have
obtained our permission AND received the OK to go ahead. We must make
arrangements with the co-location provider (360 Networks) to get things
ready!! See the section entitled "Making the Connection" below
for further information.
Architecture
The architecture of the Federal GigaPOP is rather simple, and mimics that
of many Internet Exchanges in use today. (A discussion of Internet Exchange
architectures is beyond the scope of this document, but see EP.net for more information.)
The point behind the design is to keep it simple for everyone concerned
and to maintain a sane router configuration. The Route Server itself is
just a simple router, that acts to collect routing information from each
peer it sees, and in some cases enforces a policy, as required by an AUP,
for example. It hears BGP routes from each peer connected to the switch,
be it ATM, FDDI or ethernet. It is through this switch that traffic flows,
NOT the Route Server.
The Route Server
In the case of the Federal GigaPOP, the Route Server will have these
simple duties:
- To collect routes from each of its peers;
- To advertise the routes it has learned to each of its peers.
It should be noted that the Route Server is not involved in the actual
transmission and reception of traffic. It simply acts as a signpost.
What actually takes care of the traffic is the switch that the peers
connect to.
BGP peering is better illustrated thusly (with just the founding GigaPOP's
as an example):
As for the number of routes that are held by the Route Server (a.k.a.
the routing table), CA*Net 4 currently has about 8500, while Federal GigaPOP
clients only amount to a handful. So any router with 128MB of RAM would
more than suffice.
The Switch
The switch is the true workhorse of the Federal GigaPOP. All traffic
crosses the switch, so it is important to have as large a backplane
as possible. In spite of the fact that it is an important component of
the Federal GigaPOP, it's really the simplest part of the design.
Implementation
The equipment selected is the Cisco 6509 switch, which comes
with an MSFC 2 that acts as the route server. In this way, The
design is further simplified and optimized by having everything
connected to the same backplane.
Making the Connection
Please read this section carefully
Federal entities who believe that they qualify to connect to the Federal
GigaPOP should contact the Federal GigaPOP operator (See Contact Info)
first. Once permission has been obtained to connect, there are a number
of issues remaining to be sorted out.
The Federal entity must use a BGP-speaking router, regardless of which
site they chose to connect through. This is necessary due to the CANARIE
requirement that organizations are responsible for maintaining a separate
Internet connection in addition to any type of CA*Net 4 access. Assistance
will be provided to configure BGP on the client router. If the Federal entity
will not be multihomed, or will be using a default route for a sub-site
requiring CA*Net 4 access only, then this should be clearly stated to the
Federal GigaPOP operator.
The Federal entity is responsible for the local-loop
cost of bringing in their connection. They are also responsible for
obtaining routing equipment that is capable of holding a projected
15K routes, the vast majority of which are routes learned from
CA*Net 4's international peers.
The connection types may range from gigabit ethernet over fiber to an
RJ-45 jack, terminating on either 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s ports. ATM is
not supported.
See the Terms and Conditions for connecting further below.
The Federal GigaPOP is located in 360 Network's facility at:
264 Albert Street, Cage 18
Ottawa, Ontario
Despite this, the actual demarcation point for your local-loop is 270
Albert Street. You or your local-loop supplier must negotiate a fiber
interconnect to reach from your local-loop termination to 360 Network's
termination. The cost of this interconnect is a one-time charge of $2500
per fiber pair.
When the connection is made, an IP address will be assigned to the peer
for use on their router interface.
Terms and Conditions
Organisational Requirements
- Members must publish their contact information to whom requests for
peering at the Federal GigaPOP should be sent.
Technical Requirements
- All members must have a unique AS Number registered with ARIN.
- All members at the Federal GigaPOP must peer with to the Route Server.
- All routes must be registered with the Federal GigaPOP IRR at
whois.gigafed.net.
- All member routes must be properly tagged with the BGP community 6509:10
for CA*Net 4 access.
- Telecommunications equipment, eg. an NTU, may be housed at the Federal
GigaPOP with the prior agreement from the Federal GigaPOP operator and
must not exceed 2U in size.
- Any equipment and/or cabling installed by a member at the Federal
GigaPOP must be clearly labeled as belonging to that member.
Pricing
The price for connecting to the Federal GigaPOP directly is $10K per year.
The price for connecting behind CRC is $15K per year.
In each case, the peer is expected to pay their own way to the Federal
GigaPOP and required to provide whatever termination equipment is
necessary to make the connection. This could include, but is not
limited to, fiber optic cable, transceivers, etc.
The co-lo host, 360 Networks, charges an additional one-time cost of $2500
per fiber pair used in connection with the Federal GigaPOP. Make sure
that your local-loop supplier understands this and arranges with you to
either have them bill you back the cost, or have the supplier absorb it.
As a reminder, sites which are multihomed are required to use a unique AS
number for BGP peering. No private ASN's
Contact Info
For any questions, please contact peering -at- gigafed.net.
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