Apologies to non UK members! This is a typical national problem, ie in the UK, the inter-connectivity between the .co and .ac domains has gradually degraded to the point that it is almost impossible for one to load the other's web pages. This is probably particular to the UK infra-structure, although comments from people outside the UK on their .edu vs .com connectivity etc are most welcome!!

UPGRADE TO BANDWIDTH BETWEEN JANET AND THE UK COMMERCIAL IP PROVIDERS

As you may be aware there has been for some time a congestion problem between JANET and the UK commercial IP providers, resulting in poor performance when JANET users access facilities on commercial networks, and vice versa.

In recognition of this problem, UKERNA obtained agreement from the JISC to install additional bandwidth JANET to the LINX (the connection point at which access between most UK IP networks is provided). This has now been installed and, subject to the usual need for a few days' settling down, JANET users should see a significant improvement in performance to the commercial IP networks in the UK.

For those that are interested in the details, the upgrade was to install another SuperJANET 10 Mbps SMDS connection at Telehouse, where the LINX is located. This means that there are now two 10 Mbps connections at Telehouse, with the expectation that one will be devoted to access from JANET to the European research networks, and the other to LINX traffic. (Previously these two streams shared a single SMDS connection, and it was necessary to apply restrictions to the LINX traffic to protect the European traffic. Part of the discussion UKERNA had with the JISC was to reach agreement that both types of access merited equal treatment.)

The current traffic levels being seen are as follows:

LINX into JANET ca. 8-9 Mbps JANET into LINX ca. 5 Mbps

"Europe" into JANET ca. 4 Mbps JANET into "Europe" ca. 4 Mbps

Because the traffic from the LINX is already coming close to the SMDS access classs limit of 10 Mbps, we're currently allowing some LINX traffic into JANET to use the "European" SMDS connection, which has spare capacity. If it becomes apparent that this is adversely impacting European traffic, we will restrict the LINX traffic to one SMDS connection.

It is clear that the current provision will not be sufficient for very long; consequently UKERNA is submitting to the JISC costings for a further upgrade. Whether or not this is done will of course be a matter for the JISC, although our recommendation will be that such an upgrade is necessary.

Finally, we would like to apologise for the temporary disruption to performance yesterday whilst the changes were bedded down. The re-engineering was slowed down by hardware failures and the need to respond to a fault on one of the US links; consequently the routing changes could not be completed as quickly as was wished. During the re-engineering traffic was at times diverted via the US, which had a performance impact.

If you believe there are still problems in your access to any external networks, please contact the JIPS NOSC (through your normal local channels) as soon as possible. With a major change of this nature it is always possible that such settling down problems will occur, and the NOSC will wish to deal with them as early as possible.

Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ (Eudora Pro 3.0) ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver@ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa@ic.ac.uk)