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Network Planning & Consulting

Network Planning & Security

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NACS Network Planning & Security Group (NetPlanSec) responds to faculty requests for atypical network requirements, and oversees “big picture” coordination of the campus network and wide-area network initiatives. Additionally, NetPlanSec ensures that the campus network as a whole supports campus research and education, both in terms of the reliability and functionality of the network, and in terms of the security of computers on the network.

NetPlanSec includes:

  • Garrett Hildebrand (Manager)
  • Mike Iglesias (Computer and Network Security Coordinator)
  • John Lenning (Network Consultant)

Network Engineering

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NACS Network Engineering plans, implements, maintains, and supports the UCI campus voice and data network infrastructure.

This includes the fiber optic data backbone, copper telephone cable, Ericsson telephone system, building routers, and repeaters/hubs.

They also maintain UCI’s off-campus network connection to the Internet, and UCI’s off-campus phone connection via SBC (formerly Pacific Bell) and long distance service providers.

The group includes:

  • Clyde Higashida (Network Engineer)
  • Jon Iliescu (Junior Network Engineer)
  • John Schaefer (Telephone System Network Administrator)
  • Michael Scott (Senior Network Engineer)

It is managed by Brian Buckler, Assistant Director of Network Operations.

UCI Network Plans

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In previous issues of this newsletter we presented an overview of UCInet and discussed performance considerations (see http://www.nacs.uci.edu/news/97.9.html and 97.10.html). Continuing in the UCInet series, we examine current network plans below. These plans take into account the many conversations NACS has had with UCI faculty, outside networking professionals, and network managers from UC campuses and other universities.

NETWORK EDGES – Departmental Local Area Networks (LANs):
Departmental LANs are UCI’s highest network priority over the next two years. In addition to the shared 10 Mbps (Megabits per second) Ethernet already in widespread use on campus, switched 10 Mbps and shared or switched 100 Mbps will be provided as needed. TCP/IP will continue to be the protocol of choice for UCI networks. User requirements, cost and network management issues will be the determining factors in the deployment of various Ethernet technologies. Higher speeds will be provided in special cases.

THE CAMPUS BACKBONE:
OAC believes that modest upgrades to the backbone will suffice for the next two years as the edges of the network continue to be upgraded. A major campus investment in the backbone will then be required, in order to support the deployment of higher speeds in the network edges, increased use of multimedia and WWW applications, and increased collaborative activities between groups of researchers having large data sets. Various alternatives are being considered at this time.

WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN) CONNECTIONS:
To achieve better connectivity to other universities, UCI is participating in the “NSF Connections” program. The “CENIC” consortium has been formed to manage California’s participation in the program. The program will allow the creation of “CalREN-2”, a regional California network that will operate at at least OC12 speeds (622 Mbps). CalREN-2 will in turn be connected to the national “vBNS” OC12 network. This will give UCI high-speed network connectivity to 100 Universities nation-wide, all of the UC system, USC, Cal-Tech and Stanford. UCI initially plans to connect to CalREN-2 via IP routing at least at the speed of the UCInet backbone (100 Mbps).

INTERNET CONNECTION:
Unfortunately, we still have to contend with commercial service to the rest of the Internet. However, universities connected to vBNS or CalREN-2 will be accessible directly, and will no longer be reached via the Internet.

NETWORK SERVICES:
OAC plans to invest in the tools, systems and personnel to manage a more complex network as the changes discussed here are implemented. Additionally, plans are underway for increased reliability of network services such as: DNS (Domain Name System — host name resolution) servers; Mail Transport Agents (MTAs, or mail handling systems); security and authentication.

REMOTE ACCESS (modems):
The long-term future of UCI’s “free” modem pool is uncertain, and vendor hardware support for the terminal servers that run the modem pool will cease as of October 1998. No campus decision has been made to either phase out the modem pool or improve it. However, the preferred remote access option is via commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Work is being done to resolve various issues related to ISP-based remote-access.

CONCLUSION
The network is clearly an essential part of the campus, and rapidly changing technologies and applications have created a climate requiring network issues to be re-evaluated every three to four years. Someday technology will allow voice and data networks to be combined as a single network; a long-term goal is to be prepared for this. We must also ensure universal connectivity, consistent availability, and reliability, while supporting increasing collaboration among UCI faculty. Groups collaborate both on and off campus, and see the network as an important aspect of achieving their goals.

If you have questions or concerns about UCI’s network plans, please contact Garrett Hildebrand, NACS’ lead network planner. Garrett may be reached via e-mail at GDH@UCI.EDU, or via telephone at 824-8913.

From the Director: Keeping up with campus network capacity demands

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Keeping up with campus demands for electronic communication capacity remains a major challenge for the Network & Academic Computing Services. In six years, UCInet has grown from less than 300 registered hosts (computers with a registered IP address) to more than 9,000 registered hosts today. This is greater than the number of telephones on the campus! The number of students with an Educational Access (EA) computer account has grown from less than 500 in 1989 to nearly every student at UCI as of the end of Spring 1996 (over 14,000). Faculty and staff with an e-mail account with NACS has grown from less than 100 to more than 3,000 in only three years. All of these and other users of UCInet generate a lot of network traffic!

Last year, NACS invested approximately $400,000 to upgrade the optical fiber UCInet backbone to accommodate future communication technologies such as ATM. This year, NACS will invest another $150,000 to upgrade some of the older electronics on UCInet. Future investments during the next few years will likely exceed $1 million as capacity is expanded to meet demand for more bits/second.

Access to the Internet is also becoming more expensive. In one year, UCI’s cost of Internet access has increased from $17,000 to approximately $140,000. There are two reasons; user demand for more bandwidth, and the “privatization” of the national network. Transfer of large data sets among researchers, desktop video communication, and thousands of UCI faculty, staff and students downloading graphic, audio and video files from the World Wide Web will most likely require annual increases in the bandwidth of our access to the Internet.

In an attempt to constrain the growth of the cost of Internet access, all nine campuses are discussing a common strategy for obtaining reliable access at low cost. The combined buying power of the University of California hopefully will reduce costs for each campus.

This summer, NACS has been updating its long range electronic communication plan (now know as UCInet 2001). Important components of this plan will be shared through future editions of this newsletter.

William Parker
Director, Network & Academic Computing Services
WHParker@uci.edu