The Internet2 Observatory: Proposal Process

The Internet2 Observatory is a program that supports the collection and dissemination of network data associated with the Internet2 Network. The Observatory serves network engineers by providing a view of the operational data associated with a large-scale network, and also the research community by providing data associated with the fundamental properties of basic network protocols.

The Internet2 Network is a national network operated by Internet2 and in coordination with university members and corporate partners . The physical network utilizes equipment from Juniper Networks, Ciena, and Infinera primarily located in facilities operated by Level3 Communications. Indiana University provides NOC services.

The Internet2 Network's physical implementation is made up of several robust, logically different, but related networks, each on its own overlaid infrastructure. These networks include:

  • Advanced IP network (provided by Juniper routers)
  • Dynamic Circuit network (provided by the the multiservice switching capabilities of the Ciena CoreDirectors)
  • Core optical network (provided by the Infinera platform)

The network is comprised of nodes located across the United States. Each node consists of one or more telecommunications racks that may house routers, optical equipment, and other communications equipment depending on the site.

The Internet2 Observatory consists of two components: 1) Data collected by Internet2 engineers using equipment located in the router nodes and operated by the Inetnet2 NOC, and 2) Data collected by separate research projects using equipment collocated in the Internet2 racks. Data collected by internet2 engineers as part of the first component is open to all research projects and is available either online or through special arrangements. Participation in the second component, that of collocating equipment in Internet2 nodes, is open to all members (university, corporate, or affiliates) of the Internet2 project and is based on competitive proposals described below. The purpose of this component is to provide the research community with a vehicle for basic network research and all results from that research are expected to be open to the public through the process of peer review.

An ad hoc committee established to oversee programmatic direction and technical issues guides the program. The committee under the guidance of the Research Advisory Council provides recommendations on the types of data to be collected by Internet2 engineers and evaluates the proposals submitted to the Observatory Program. 

Almost all of the data collected by the Internet2 engineers is available online and can be used without submitting a proposal or making special arrangements. Some of the data, however, is not easily distributed and a request must be submitted. An example is the raw Netflow data collected at each router node. Furthermore, Netflow data normally contains IP addresses and therefore exhibits sensitivities related to privacy. All IP addresses stored as part of our Netflow measurements have their low-order 11 bits set to zero.

In addition to requesting and using existing data, researchers are encouraged to suggest alternative data sets that might be of use to the research community. The data collected by Internet2 engineers will be described on the Internet2 Observatory web page: http://www.internet2.edu/observatory/. While most of the Internet2 measurement data is available online, we do ask that researchers contact Internet2 to indicate the types of projects using the data. The following information would be useful to the Internet2 Observatory Program, and is necessary in the case of obtaining Netflow data. Please submit a request to dataaccess@internet2.edu:

  1. Give a brief description of the research project, including a title
  2. List the project leads and participants
  3. Include URLs if appropriate and available
  4. Indicate any potential issues with data resulting from the project, including any potential privacy issues.
  5. Should the project be listed as a participant on the Internet2 Observatory web page?
  6. Submit an id and password to be used with rsync
  7. Submit a range or a set of individual ip addresses that will be used to access the data (range can be e.g., /28, /30, /32, etc.)
  8. Indicate any recommendations for additional data sets.
In addition, please indicate your agreement with the following conditions:
  1. Please ensure that the data remains inaccessible to anyone outside the given project
  2. Please employ the data only for the project/analysis for which it was provided
  3. If it is desired to employ the data for another task, please submit a request to dataaccess@internet2.edu
  4. Researchers are encouraged to cite the use of this data in papers and articles. If so used, please give Internet2 attribution for the data. An example citation might be as follows: "This project has benefited from the use of measurement data collected on the Internet2 network as part of the Internet2 Observatory Project."
  5. Please return pointers to research results and any papers generated
  6. If Internet2 data is used in research papers or articles, please send future citations to be included with the above information.

Collocation Projects

In cases where research projects wish to collocate equipment in the Internet2 racks or require special network facilities, additional information is necessary. Space in the Internet2 racks is limited and decreases as additional projects participate. Moreover, collocating equipment in the Internet2 racks has certain limitations. In some cases, only 48V DC power is available in the racks and physical access to the equipment is only through the Internet2 NOC. Installation of the equipment must be done by the Internet2 NOC and there are costs associated with travel to the sites. Access to console ports is limited to a terminal server connected through serial ports. Mounting must be to single post 23-inch or 19-inch racks (rack size is site dependent) and units should not be top or bottom cooled. Projects should provide their own IP address blocks whenever possible and DNS and registration of those address blocks should point back to the research project and not to Internet2.

Research groups are encouraged to work actively with the Internet2 Observatory Team in the planning stages, prior to submission of proposals. We are willing to help projects in coordinating funding activities and in submitting proposals to the various granting agencies.

To participate in the collocation component of the Internet2 Observatory, please include the following information to be submitted to network@internet2.edu:

  • Research Project
    1. Give a brief description of the research project
    2. List the project leads and participants
    3. Include URLs if appropriate and available
    4. Describe the expected duration of the project.
    5. Describe any awards of funding associated with the project
    6. Describe how the results of the research project will be made public.
    7. Indicate any potential issues with data resulting from the project, including any possible privacy issues
    8. Should the project be listed as a participant on the Internet2 Observatory web page?
  • Technical Description
    1. Give a general description of the project technology
    2. Describe the specific hardware platforms, including
      1. Space requirements
      2. Power requirements
      3. Network requirements, both in band and out
      4. Describe any special installation procedures required of the hardware
      5. Describe specific maintenance issues associated with the hardware
    3. Describe the specific software platforms, including
      1. Operating systems
      2. Specify the specific software requirements of the systems
      3. Describe any special software installation procedures
      4. Describe the update procedures for all software.
      5. Specify any special requirements for monitoring by the Internet2 NOC
    4. Describe the security aspects of the project, including
      1. Plans for providing security for the devices
      2. Any particular security requirements
      3. Incident management techniques
      4. Security reporting schemes
    The above information is preliminary in nature and only used during the proposal decision stage. A more detailed description of the hardware will be necessary before actual installation occurs. Details will be available on the Internet2 Observatory web page.

    Download/View word document of proposal process.

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