NANOG 84 Agenda

Full Abstract

Electromagnetic (EM) energy, both naturally occurring and man-made, can have harmful effects on electronic equipment. This presentation discusses the impact of EM energy from Geomagnetic Disturbances (GMD), High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulses (HEMP), and Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI). We address the effect this energy has on the power grid and touch on observed effects on IT equipment, including ethernet switches, routers and servers. Finally, shielding and hardening methods are identified which can provide protection against a variety of EM threats.

Full Abstract

The business case for establishing a diverse workforce grows more compelling each year but hiring managers often face challenges when it comes to the diversity of their talent pools for technical roles. The aspect of hiring that most influences the makeup of your candidate pool is your job description. Many companies rely on old job descriptions and outdated wording for new postings. Without knowing it, their posting makes highly-qualified candidates feel excluded and discouraged from applying. This presentation (1) discusses the business case for why inclusive hiring matters; (2) defines the goal of an effective technical job description; (3) illustrates common problems with job descriptions and their impacts; (4) provides practical guidance and tools to improve technical job descriptions in your organization.

Full Abstract

IPv4 address shortages have been exacerbated by the fact that a significant fraction of the IPv4 address space has never been available for numbering hosts. Decisions from the early 1980s reserved several hundred million addresses for "future use" and other purposes, and those addresses are now going to waste.

While reversing this is complicated, it would be extremely useful in light of the acute demand for IPv4 address space. We don't know exactly how much compatibility we can achieve over time, but we think it would be better to start now in order to have more options later (much as it would have been a good idea to go ahead with unreserving 240/4 when it was proposed about 14 years ago; it would be nice to have a 14-year head start on using those addresses today).

The IPv4 Unicast Extensions Project is proposing software and standards changes to allow the option to eventually bring reserved addresses into use. Some of our changes have been accepted in systems including Linux and FreeBSD, and we've proposed four Internet-Drafts at IETF, one of which received quite a bit attention on NOG mailing lists.

This talk will present our work and ideas about reclaiming address space, and respond to some concerns raised by the community in response to our proposals.

Full Abstract

5G Transport Network Requirements and Architecture Part II (continued from NANOG 76)

Several fundamental changes in the radio access network (RAN) architecture were introduced in the evolution from 4G to 5G. The radio capacity increase in 5G by utilizing new spectrum and beamforming radios with the desire for more deployment flexibility to account for the variety of use cases. This led into the introduction of new splits in the RAN protocol stack. The lower layer split, between radio unit and baseband unit, was in 4G based on the common public radio interface (CPRI) in the fronthaul transport segment, while for 5G to provide better rate efficiency and node scalability more functionality was moved into the radio and the new Ethernet based eCPRI interface was introduced.

Another notable change is the use of packet technology in eCPRI instead of time-division multiplexing (TDM) in CPRI. By utilizing an Ethernet/IP network in fronthaul instead of point-to-point TDM links, the mobile network can provide superior performance utilizing legacy and new spectrum while making optimal use of the underlying network infrastructure and RAN baseband resources. A packet network allows using the Ethernet/IP ecosystems which offers well-proven and standardized tools for easing OAM processes and to improve network resiliency, reliably, and availability.

The packet fronthaul transport network architecture defines how RAN applications (eCPRI), will use L2 Ethernet for its connectivity with tight characteristics requirements. These can be fulfilled with a L2 Ethernet fabric in small Edge deployments, but when the fabric introduces additional paths and more scale is needed then it becomes complex to manage and control using L2 control protocols. An overlay-underlay network architecture makes it possible to separate the physical network structure from the application service needs. An IP underlay can handle networks from simple to full-mesh, using protocols like IP etc. Such protocols have been used and are well-understood for years for sharing network topology and characteristic information. The eCPRI L2 Ethernet traffic is handled as a virtual overlay Ethernet service with strict service requirements operating over the underlay network fabric.

The overlay is the virtual network running on top of the underlay to create connectivity for the L2 EVPN and L3 IP-VPN services. The Multi-Protocol Boarder Gateway Protocol and automation as well as controller functions are used to simplify the creation and control of the virtual networks and services where following applies:

Scalability – small to large deployments using the same architectural principles
Resiliency – a robust network to minimize effects of failures
Simplicity – a network easy to dimension and deploy

An overlay-underlay networking structure further improves ease of deployment and connection flexibility by being able to establish software-defined overlays with optional traffic engineered paths on the underlaying transport switch fabric. A distributed IP based control protocol on the infrastructure makes the underlay self-contained and gives fast response to failures. Extensions in the routing protocol makes it possible to distribute the MPLS forwarding information including traffic engineering with Segment Routing (SR-MPLS). This also removes the need for multiple control planes, but it still uses IP and MPLS in the forwarding plane.

In addition to the above, the packet fronthaul synchronization architecture implies that when changing from CPRI to eCPRI in the fronthaul, time distribution between baseband and RU has moved from being carried by the CPRI frame itself to being carried by the packet-based precision time protocol (PTP). ITU-T has specified several PTP profiles with relevant properties for telecom. For the RAN to support full functionality, a performant synchronization solution must be available.

This presentation discuss the necessary evolution of the transport network interface to comply with the increased requirements in 5G networks, and explains the design rationales behind the functional splits and the packet switch fabric architecture.

Full Abstract

The world’s trust in DNS rests in no small part on the Root Server System (RSS). For three decades the RSS has operated 24 x 365 without interruption thanks to the services of a small group of organisationally diverse, fiercely independent, utterly dedicated, and highly collaborative Root Server Operators (RSO). The year 2021 began with a potential regulatory threat to the stability of the RSS and ended with a significant leap forward in developing its new governance model.

In this talk, we will review the threat to RSS stability from the European Union’s proposed NIS2 Directive and how this has been avoided (for now). After briefly considering how the RSS is governed today, we will discuss how RSSAC058 and ‘059 (published November 2021) represent a significant breakthrough in developing a new governance structure that seeks to assure the continued stability of the RSS and the Internet itself.

Full Abstract

Join us for a 15 minute recap of the hackathon - where the theme was Giving Back to Open Source.
You'll hear from hackathon coordinators, open source maintainers, and participants.

Full Abstract

This popular tutorial tailored for Network Engineers has been updated to cover the latest technologies.

Example topics include:

* How fiber works (the basics, fiber types and limitations, etc)
* Working with optics (choosing the right type, designing optical networks, etc)
* Optical power (understanding dBm, loss, using light meters, etc)
* DWDM (how it works, muxes, oadms, amps, etc)
* Dispersion (what is it, why do we care, how do we fix it)
* Optical Myths (can I hurt myself looking into fiber, can I overload my optic, etc)

Full Abstract

With the introduction of 400ZR/400ZR+ pluggables promising high capacity, small form factor and interoperability in DWDM deployments, existing IP/Optical network architectures are currently being re-examined with the ultimate goal of leveraging the benefits in terms of cost reduction, optimization and simplification of the network. Although several 400ZR/ZR+ use cases have been defined ranging from simple point-to-point to hybrid ROADM deployments, one important area that has not been given much attention is how to manage, control and automate these pluggables. This session will focus on highlighting the implications of 400ZR/400ZR+ on existing network management systems and OSSs, as well as how to leverage automation to optimize total cost of ownership.

Full Abstract

Tampnet is owning and operating an LTE 4G network to accommodate (primarily) the oil and gas industry in the Gulf and Mexico and north sea in Europe. Operating an offshore network poses an extra set of challenges mostly unknown to regular users, like hurricanes for example.

The Tampnet network in the Gulf of Mexico got hit by hurricane Ida in 2021. In this presentation, we would like to show you what happens if a cat4 hurricane is hitting your network...