On July 3rd, a DOS attack occurred that brought the MKO networks to a halt. The problem started around 9:00 am and was contained at about 11:00 am. The attack was launched from within our networks through a server that has been compromised. Pui Hin is setting up to monitor traffic from each observatory using SNMP.
On August 29th, we experienced intermittent connection problems to I2 sites from 7:00 am to 9:45 pm. This was caused by a misconfiguration in a UH router causing instability in its BGP peering with the Abilene I2 networks.
In preparation for the many upgrades of the UH networks and their connections to the Internet and Internet2, UH networking was in a rush to have all the router software upgrades done in the summer. In many instances, newer IOS fixed some problems and caused other problems resulting in many downtimes with short or no prior announcements.
Connection to I2, currently over the DREN DS3, will be upgraded to an independent OC3, peering directly with Abilene.
Connection to Internet sites other than I2 will be upgraded and shared with DREN over an OC3. Peering services will be provided by DREN. The current bandwidth is a DS3 through Verizon Genuity.
Miranda will email everyone her email address and pager number.
The reasoning behind the second question is that our bandwidth usage in the last year and a half has been very low. The five minute average is around 4 Mbps, with a maximum of about 12 Mbps. The duration of the max is narrow; that means lowering the bandwith of the link will probably not affect our operations. Also, if the Hilo OC3 does come through, we could use the Verizon link as a backup if paying for lower bandwidth will satisfy our contract obligation. Two years ago, a 10 Mbps pipe was $6k a month.
Network managers were asked to talk about their bandwidth requirements within their organizations.
On cost sharing, the cost of the two DS3s are $11,250 for the Inter-island link, and $3,000 for the Hilo/summit link. Pui Hin suggested that the costs should be shared equally among organizations except for Gemini (and maybe CSO). Currently, Gemini has a dedicated 10 Mbps PVC and would pay 1/4 of the total cost if the same arrangement is kept. CSO seems to have a particularly low bandwidth requirement. On top of the cost of the two DS3s, we also have to pay UH Networking for Internet access. Pui Hin will try to work out some numbers with UH before the next meeting.
Network managers were again asked to talk to their bosses about this.
On the technical side, fibers have been pulled between UH Hilo campus and the IfA building. However the fibers are not terminated on either end. On the UHH end, fibers still need to be extended to the campus center where the microwave equipment will be terminated. UH Hilo has paid for the fibers. Bob McLaren has suggested we pay for the termination and equipment with infrastructure funds.
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