Evolution of Nordic Research Networking

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Evolution of Nordic Research Networking

• Lars Fischer, NORDUnet
• SURFnet Relatiedagen
• Noordwijkerhout, 30 May 2006

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NORDUnet a Nordic Collaboration

• NORDUnet is a (Danish) limited company owned by
  the 5 Nordic NRENs
• Denmark
• Finland
• Iceland
• Norway
• Sweden
• Board members are managers of the Nordic national
  networks for research and education
• Financed by the Nordic national networks with GNP
  based cost sharing
• NORDUnet is the result of 25 years of Nordic
  collaboration in Networking

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NORDUnet
Iceland RHnet
Sweden SUNET
Finland Funet
Norway UNINETT
Denmark Forskningsnet
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NORDUnet Today

• NORDUnet serves Nordic NRENs
• International Research Network access
• General Internet access
• Experimental Lambda Network
• Special Research Network configurations for
  e-Science projects e-VLBI, LHC, grid project,
  etc.
• Act as representative for the Nordic NRENS
  towards international organizations (GN2, GLIF,
  GLORIAD, etc)
• Act as point of contact for international
  collaborators
• Five Countries, One Voice

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NORDUnet IP network
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NorthernLight

• Experimental Lambda Network Facility
• Star network with Center i Stockholm, OC48
  connectivity to Oslo, Helsinki, Copenhagen,
  Amsterdam
• Based on Cisco ONS-15445 equipment
• Provides 2 x GbE links between any two cities
• Connects to GLIF community via link to Amsterdam

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NORDUnet Tomorrow

• Vision
• We enable it

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NORDUnets Mission

• To enable
• Collaboration
• Facilitation
• Evolution
• Communication
• Integration
• Recognition
• of research and education in the Nordic countries

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Tomorrows Requirements

• Key User Communities
• Astronomy, Atmospheric Sciences, High Energy
  Physics, Geosciences, Medical Molecular
  Sciences
• International e-Science collaborations
• High capacity (1 Gbps)
• Project specific Architecture, Configuration, and
  Support
• On-demand Provisioning
• Service-centric view of Network
• Roaming, AAI, storage,
• Grids - Computation Storage as services in the
  network
• Support traffic growth for standard internet
  service
• Project-focused Organization

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Traffic Projection
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A New Network NORDUfibre

• Nordic Dark Fibre core network
• Freedom to chose technology platform
• Fibre enables layered topologies
• High initial cost - low running and incremental
  cost
• Positions NORDUnets users to take advantage of
  new network capabilities and international
  collaboration
• The only cost efficient way to deliver the
  network of tomorrow
• A necessity to be at the front of network
  development

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NORDUfiber
With each ? initially at 10 Gbit/sec
The East
CHINA Russia Japan Korea
sto1
reg
6?
4?
hel1
4?
osl1
6?
6?
hel2
osl2
reg
sto2
4?
13?

• NORDUnet Production Backbone (R)
• NORDUnet IPT Backbone (R)
• NorthernLight Experimental Network (U)
• Iceland Connection (R)
• DEISA Network (U)
• LHC Network (U)
• NDGF Network (U)
• GLORIAD Network (U)
• Spare Redundant Network

cph1
cph2
The West
6?
US UK Holland
6?
ham1
ham2
Europe
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Network Roadmap

• Implement Nordic Optical Network
• Integrate to NREN optical networks
• Establish fibre link to Germany / Netherlands
  the East
• Integrate NORDUfibre into
• GLORIAD (NetherLight Russia)
• GLIF
• GEANT2
• Establish NORDUnet Open Optical Exchange
  (Stockholm)
• Enable circuit on demand provisioning
• Enable Cross Border Fibre capability

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Network Vision
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NorthernLight the Nordic GOLE

• Create an Open Optical Exchange Point for
  Scandinavia (in Stockholm)
• Exchange point serving Nordic countries
• Meeting point for European and Baltic Sea Lambda
  Network efforts
• Encourange GLIF collaboration and Open Lightpath
  Exchange between network entities in Nothern
  European countries, Russia, and the Baltic States
• Connect to NertherLight and (future) GOLE in
  Moscow

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Grid Efforts Nordic Data Grid Facility

• NDGF A Collaborative Grid Production Facility
• Nordic production grid, leveraging national grid
  resources
• Common policy framework for Nordic production
  grid
• Joint Nordic planning and coordination
• Co-ordinate host major grid projects (i.e.,
  Nordic LHC Tier-1)
• ARC Middleware An Open Grid platform, and an
  Open Process for Participation, Contribution, and
  Use
• NDGF is the interface to Grid activities in the
  Nordic courtiers.
• Single Point of Entry for collaboration,
  middleware development, and deployment, and
  e-Science projects
• Represents the Nordic Grid community
  internationally

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History of Nordic Grid Collaboration

• Collaboration initiated with Nordunet2 programme
  (2001-2003)
• "Nordic Testbed for Wide Area Computing and Data
  Handling"
• Development of middleware Architecture and First
  Implementation
• Grid test-bed in operation since August 2002
• Nordic grid middleware ARC (Advanced Resource
  Locator)
• Deployment of ARC at computing centres and
  clusters in Scandinavia
• Successful participation in LHC Service
  Challenges
• Forming of the NorduGrid middleware consortia
  (2005)
• NDGF Pilot
• Two-year trial 2004-2005
• Deployment of a pilot production facility, based
  on national resources.
• NDGF 2006-2010

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NDGF Technical Platform

• A Nordic Production Grid leveraging national
  resources
• Extending the Network with Compute Services
• Create a single production grid facility from
  existing resources (supercomputers, clusters,
  storage) in participating countries
• Provide grid storage a current challenge
• Middleware Development for Collaborative
  e-Science projects
• Deliver the middleware required for a production
  grid for e-Science
• Leverage existing middleware development
  initiatives (i.e., ARC)
• Hardening, usability, from proof-of-concept to
  production code
• Development of facilities not currently available
  (i.e., storage sharing)

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Supporting Nordic e-Science

• Provide a single point of contact for e-Science
  initiatives
• A place to go for researchers initiating projects
• Support projects in high-energy physics,
  nanotech, earth science, astronomy, medicine,
  etc.
• Services for user groups and applications
• Portals for user groups
• Gridifying major applications
• Host and Coordinate major e-Science projects
• Coordinate technical implementation
• Coordinate collaboration
• Represent project internationally

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International Collaboration

• Represent the Nordic Grid community
  internationally
• Allows the Nordic Grid community to speak with
  one voice
• Creates visibility for Nordic technology and
  solutions
• Creates a single Nordic representation in major
  e-Science projects
• Single Point of Entry for international partners
• To reach the Nordic Grid community, talk to us
• Point of contact for e-Science projects,
  middleware development, and grid facility
  deployment
• Leverage NORDUnet international contacts and
  activities
• Joint participation in conferences and workshops
• Joint representation of Nordic networking and
  grid views

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ARC an Open Grid Middleware

• ARC the Advanced Resource Connector
• Open Source Grid Middleware platform
• Available for free download
• Source code available for modification and
  incorporation in new projects
• An Open Process for Collaboration
• Open for international participation
• Open for contribution of code and ideas
• Open for deployment
• Rough Consensus and Working Code
• Controlled by the NorduGrid middleware consortia
• http//www.nordugrid.org

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ARC Overview

• ARC Features
• ARC has no single point of failure
• ARC is non-intrusive (does not require changes to
  existing computing resources)
• ARC is easy to install and deploy
• LCG Interoperability
• The ARC middleware inter-operates with the LCG
  middleware, designed for the CERN LHC project
• Co-existence
• The ARC middleware can co-exist with other types
  of middleware
• Developed in funded and non-funded efforts, by
  Nordic and International Partners

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ARC Deployment

• 60 Sites
• 6000 Processors
• 60 TB storage
• 1600 Grid users

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Case NDGF LHC Tier-1

• A Nordic Tier-1 for CERN LHC Experiments
• None of the Nordic countries have the resources
  to host a Tier-1
• The Nordic HEP community would like to have
  Tier-1
• NDGF will
• Host the Nordic LHC Tier-1
• Co-ordinate network, storage, and computing
  resources
• Co-ordinate towards CERN and LHC project partners
• NDGF creates one technical facility to host the
  Tier-1
• NDGF Tier-1 Network, connecting to CERN and to
  participating sites
• NDGF Tier-1 computing infrastructure, employing
  national grid resources
• NDGF Tier-1 storage infrastructure, deployed at
  national supercomputing centres

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NDGF Tier-1 Sites

• Appears as a Single Site
• Has one interface towards CERN (One SRM
  endpoint)
• The Storage is distributed
• The Computing Ressources are distributed like
  most other Tier-1s
• Has Storage and Computing Resources attached to
  a long-reach LAN
• Most resources run ARC

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NDGF Tier-1 Optical Private Network
Copenhagen
Stockholm
NORDUnet
NREN
NDGF AS - AS39590
National Sites
National IP network
HPC2N PDC NSC
To other countries
Nordic Switch
National Switch
Central host(s)
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Major Challenges

• Capacity Requirements grows
• International IP Transit
• E2E Special Purpose Network
• Price Decline after Internet Bubble levels off.
• We cannot count on price decline to cover our
  increasing cost of networks
• Circuit Sharing requires new provisioning
  methodology
• Evolving organization and developing facilities
  to match needs of user communities its more
  than just a network

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Thank You

• Questions?
• http//www.nordu.net
• http//www.ndgf.org
• http//www.nordugrid.org
• Lars Fischer, lars_at_nordu.net