14 GN2 Project

The ongoing development of the European infrastructure connecting national research networks such as CESNET2 is of strategic importance for the European Union. It has been supported through the EU framework programmes since 1996. In September 2004, the four-year Géant project was successfully completed, and on September 9, 2004, a consortium of 32 organisations started building a new generation of the European backbone network. The project is called Multi-Gigabit European Academic Network and generally known as GN2. The project is coordinated by DANTE Ltd. and includes organisations that operate research and educational high-speed networks. At the end of the project, in 2008, the resulting communication environment for research, development, and educational purposes should be able to meet the demanding requirements of the research community, from ensuring mobility in the European Research Area (ERA) to providing dedicated high-capacity connections between specific end points. The total planned budget of the GN2 project is about EUR 180 million, of which EUR 93 million will be contributed by the EU.

14.1 GÉANT2 Network

The above-mentioned communication environment will be based on a backbone network called GÉANT2 (its initial planned topology is shown in Figure 14.1). This network has been designed from the onset as a hybrid network, i.e., apart from the core IP connectivity, it will also support the creation of temporary special-purpose infrastructures (grids) or point-to-point connections, both on the basis of virtual private networks and dedicated wavelengths (lambda services). Experience has shown that the optimum basis for building hybrid networks are so called CEF (Customer Empowered Fibre) networks where the operator only leases optical fibres and equips them with its own technologies as needed. The objective of the GN2 project consortium is to apply the CEF concept in the maximum possible extent to the new network. The network should be launched in the first quarter of 2006. Since CESNET is one of the pioneers of the CEF concept, our specialists have been among the few who designed the GÉANT2 network topology and selected the suitable optical fibre routes and transfer technologies.

Figure 14.1: GÉANT2 network topology planned in 2006

The portfolio of services provided by GÉANT2 can be divided into the following areas:

Services for the "common" user: This group mainly includes services already provided in the GÉANT network, i.e., dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6 IP transport with high bandwidth, nearly zero packet loss rate and minimum delay. Specific QoS parameters can be guaranteed to applications requiring them with minimum impact on other traffic. The Premium IP and Less Than Best Effort services will be available as in GÉANT. For Grid applications, GÉANT2 will be able to provide virtual private networks. The objective of GN2 in this area is to replace central setup, configuration and management of these services with distributed tools that will enable end users to perform these activities on their own. Frequently travelling scholars may expect greater comfort through the implementation of roaming in academic networks, so that the user will be able to use host organisation's services upon authenticating with the home organisation. A great emphasis is also placed on ensuring a quality connection to NRENs outside Europe.
Sophisticated services: As well as the national research networks, even the network that interconnects them must meet another requirement, namely provide enough resources to accommodate the needs of a fairly small number of users, who nonetheless need to transfer large amounts of data, preferably in real time. These users typically exchange data among a limited number of locations but their traffic many times exceeds the traffic generated by the remaining users. Current technologies make it possible to establish dedicated point-to-point connections for these users via a leased fibre infrastructure, or even as private networks using dedicated wavelengths and optical circuit switching. These services, usually called lambda services, will be provided depending on the progress of the infrastructure and results of research projects that focus on finding mechanisms for the routine creation, configuration, and operation of such sub-systems. In other words, these services will not be provided right away since the launch of GÉANT2.

Three general service models are planned:

For long-term projects with high bandwidth requirements that do not require frequent reconfiguration, the network operator will set up the necessary optical links. This service is planned to be launched in the second year of the project.
The use of reconfigurable add-drop multiplexers will allow for greater flexibility and speed of lambda service setup and administration. It will thus be possible to create and configure optical connections for different projects, provided their participants are located in essentially the same locations.
Optical circuit switching will be practical for users who need a short-term allocation of a variable network topology for their projects, including the option to reconfigure dynamically their communication infrastructure. Technologies that will allow this are still under development, their routine operation is expected within two years.

14.2 Research Activities of GN2

The GN2 project objectives cannot be achieved just by designing the network topology, buying services or equipment and managing such a network. The foreseen requirements for a new generation research, development and educational network necessarily involve a great deal of innovative approach. Therefore, in contrast to the previous projects for building the European academic infrastructure, the GN2 project also includes research activities. CESNET is involved in the following areas of research:

14.2.1 JRA1 - Network Performance Measurement and Control

The goal of this activity is to develop a general system for performing various types of performance tests in computer networks and for presenting their results. The system is based on a combination of multiple independently running services and has been called perfSONAR. The system architecture is illustrated in Figure 14.2.

Figure 14.2: perfSONAR

In 2005, within the JRA1 activity, CESNET was responsible for specifying requirements for the monitoring system and for implementing passive monitoring in perfSONAR. We proposed a concept of several passive monitoring applications, their interfaces with perfSONAR, and now are working on their implementation. Furthermore, we installed two monitoring stations inside the CESNET network for passive monitoring of traffic between GÉANT and CESNET2, and one active monitoring station for measuring the delay and packet loss rate between CESNET2 and other European NRENs.

Since CESNET is the only member of the GN2 project consortium that participates in both the JRA1 activity and the LOBSTER project, we were asked by the LOBSTER project consortium to lead the task force for integrating the LOBSTER infrastructure in the perfSONAR system.

14.2.2 JRA2 - Security

Activities relating to security within the GN2 project primarily focus on securing the active elements and services of GÉANT2, including the preparation of a proactive system of incident detection and handling (monitoring and detecting anomalies and attacks, an incident database, alarm system,...). Another goal is to design an infrastructure for a coordinated reaction on security incidents and to launch its pilot implementation. Here, CESNET used its experience with programmable hardware and developed an autonomous NetFlow probe based on the COMBO cards - refer to Section 4.2.

14.2.3 JRA3 - New Services Development

This activity aims at preparing conditions for providing dedicated switched connections and lambda services in particular. We will look for, design, and test technologies suitable for automated setup and control of optical connections based on user requests. In 2005, we were mainly involved in defining the requirements and selecting suitable technologies for implementing the sophisticated services described above.

14.2.4 JRA4 - Service and Technology Testing

The GN2 project also includes the design and implementation of a separate infrastructure intended for testing new transfer technologies and network applications. This testbed is to be formed by combining national dark fibre testbeds, which will be fitted with necessary equipment depending on the experiment type. CESNET specialists participated in designing a suitable testbed topology and in selecting experiments in the area of optical transfer technologies. In 2005, a new sub-activity was established under this main activity dealing with interconnections of neighbouring NRENs via dark fibres (Cross Border Fibre, CBF). CESNET is involved in this sub-activity through a pilot CBF connection between CESNET2 and the PIONIER national research network in Poland. Following the pilot phase, this connection should become part of GÉANT2.

14.2.5 JRA5 - Mobility and Roaming

One of the main goals of the GN2 project is to provide transparent and easy access to network resources from any site within the European Research Area (ERA) to users. This requires the roaming issue to be resolved. CESNET researchers contributed to this activity by implementing roaming procedures within the eduroam initiative, and also participated in defining the principles of a common authentication and authorisation infrastructure.

14.2.6 SA3 - End-to-End Quality of Service

Apart from the above-mentioned research activities, CESNET is also involved in an activity that aims to provide end-to-end services with guaranteed transfer parameters. This sub-activity also has common goals with PERT (Performance Response and Enhancement Team), namely to establish and support routine operation of a distributed workgroup of specialists handling performance issues in network communication.

CESNET and other NRENs involved in PERT thus provide a regular service. The monitoring duties pass cyclically from one NREN to another with weekly intervals. To facilitate this service, we organised a training for the CESNET Network Operation Centre staff, whose task is to to receive reports on performance-related problems. Specific issues are then solved by appropriate specialists.

14.3 User Support

The GN2 project approaches the issues of high-speed data communication in the research and education environment in a very comprehensive way. Apart from activities aimed at establishing and operating the relevant infrastructure or at IT and communication research, great emphasis is also placed on supporting end users as well as the development of specific NRENs. These activities involve technical, organisational, and financial aspects of implementing state-of-the-art information and communication technologies. Their goal is mainly to eliminate the existing differences in the technological levels of individual NRENs and thus facilitate the development of a homogeneous environment for research information exchange.

For more detailed information about the GN2 project, see project's official website.

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