[IMR] IMR90-05.TXT MAY 1990 INTERNET MONTHLY REPORTS ------------------------ The purpose of these reports is to communicate to the Internet Research Group the accomplishments, milestones reached, or problems discovered by the participating organizations. This report is for research use only, and is not for public distribution. Each organization is expected to submit a 1/2 page report on the first business day of the month describing the previous month's activities. These reports should be submitted via network mail to Ann Westine (Westine@ISI.EDU) or Karen Roubicek (Roubicek@NNSC.NSF.NET). TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERNET ACTIVITIES BOARD IAB MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3 INTERNET RESEARCH REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4 AUTONOMOUS NETWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4 END-TO-END SERVICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5 PRIVACY AND SECURITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5 COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5 INTERNET ENGINEERING REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5 Westine [Page 1]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 Internet Projects BARRNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6 BOLT BERANEK AND NEWMAN, INC., . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6 CERFNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8 CICNET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 9 CORNELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 10 CREN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 10 ISI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 11 JVNCNET, NORTH EAST RESEARCH REGIONAL NETWORK . . . . . . page 13 LOS NETTOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 14 MERIT/UMNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 14 MIDNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15 MIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15 MITRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15 MRNET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15 NCAR/USAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 16 NEW ENGLAND ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH NETWORK . . . . . . . . page 17 NNSC, UCAR/BOLT BERANEK and NEWMAN, INC., . . . . . . . . page 17 NORTHWESTNET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 17 NSFNET BACKBONE, MERIT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 18 NTA-RE/NDRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20 NYSERNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20 OARNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20 Pennsylvania Research and Economic Partnership Network . page 20 PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20 RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeans) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21 SAN DIEGO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21 SESQUINET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21 SRI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21 SURANET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22 TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION NETWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22 UCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22 UDEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN/NCSANET . . . page 23 WESTNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 23 WISCNET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 24 Westine [Page 2]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 IAB MESSAGE The IAB held a video teleconference on April 26, 1990. Minutes of this meeting are still in preparation. The following decisions were made at this meeting. A. CONNECTIVITY Permission to connect to the Internet is currently controlled by Federal agencies that fund much of the US Internet infrastructure. To handle the increasing number of international connections, the IAB will recommend to the Federal Networking Council (FNC) that they: o Tolerate delegated responsibility and informal controls in the near term. o Develop policy-based routing for the long term. The US-centric nature of the administrative actions to connect a new network to the Internet could be significantly improved as the number of international IP connections increases. The IAB will draft recommendations on distributed connection procedures for FNC. B. ANSI STANDARDIZATION OF CORE INTERNET PROTOCOLS As announced last month, procedures are being worked out between the IAB and the ANSI group X3S3.3 to turn the core Internet protocols -- IP, ICMP, TCP, and UDP -- into ANSI standards. The IAB proposes that the process be to: o Assemble the existing documents, without trying to rewrite them. o Remand any technical problems or NO votes back to the IETF/IAB. Other Internet protocols might be submitted to ANSI for standardization in the future, but only after they have reached a final stage of development and Internet standardization. Parallel development in ANSI and IETF should not take place, although joint work may be appropriate in some cases. Westine [Page 3]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 C. PROPRIETARY PROTOCOLS The question was discussed: under what conditions, if any, should a vendor proprietary protocol be designated an Internet standard? The following two requirements were agreed upon: o The IETF and IAB must believe that such a standard is needed for the operation and evolution of the Internet. o The standard must be under full IETF/IAB control. If it is a vendor proprietary protocol, the IAB must have a letter from the owner giving the IETF change control over the protocol. D. STANDARDS The standards actions taken at the meeting were listed in last month's IAB REPORT. Since the teleconference, the IAB has taken the following additional standards actions, following IESG recommdations: o The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), RFC-1134, was approved for advancement to Draft Standard state. Designation of the PPP Options document as a Proposed Standard is awaiting review of its security provisions. o The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), defined by a pair of documents -- the protocol specification and an Internet application description -- has been designated a Proposed Standard. Bob Braden (Braden@ISI.EDU) INTERNET RESEARCH REPORTS ------------------------- AUTONOMOUS NETWORKS ------------------- Members of the ANRG are developing an "issues" RFC on the subject of resource usage feedback in the Internet and internets in general. Deborah Estrin (Estrin@USC.EDU) Westine [Page 4]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 END-TO-END SERVICES ------------------- No internet progress to report this month. Bob Braden (Braden@ISI.EDU) PRIVACY AND SECURITY -------------------- The initial version of the reference implementation of Privacy- Enhanced Mail per RFCs 1113-1115 will begin beta test in the coming month among PSRG members and the IAB, thanks to the efforts of TIS. BBN has begun development work on hardware and software in support of the registration and certificate management process in the distribution version of P-E Mail, and has been meeting with RSADSI to establish procedures for this process. In the meantime, a list of anticipated changes to the RFCs has been compiled by David Balenson, reviewed by PSRG members, and distributed to the "pem-dev" mailing list. Additional activity among PSRG members has included an increased effort, in cooperation with IETF Security AD Steve Crocker, to review protocol security facilities proposed by IETF WGs (e.g., telnet). To this end, the PSRG is planning its next meeting at UBC in conjunction with the upcoming meeting of the IETF. Ken Rossen (kenr@BBN.COM) COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY ------------------------ No report received. INTERNET ENGINEERING REPORTS ---------------------------- The IETF met May 1-4 in Pittsburgh. The meeting was hosted by the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center and the Software Engineering Institute. Gene Hasting was our local host. The Proceedings for that meeting are now in preparation. Area and WG reports from the Proceedings will be summarized next month. Phill Gross (pgross@NRI.RESTON.VA.US) Westine [Page 5]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 INTERNET PROJECTS ----------------- BARRNET ------- No report received. BOLT BERANEK AND NEWMAN INC. ---------------------------- INTERNET O&M An implementation plan has been developed for the connection of the TWBNet to the "FIX-West" ethernet, located at the NASA Ames Research Center. This connection will support all routing between the DARPA TWBNet/ICBNet networks and the remainder of the Internet, after the ARPANET is terminated and until the FIX-West connection is supplemented by the connection of the TWBNet to "FIX-East" at SURANet/UMd. The implementation plan includes the relocation of the video/multimedia conferencing system currently operating at SRI to RIACS facilities, with the associated ST gateway support to be located at Ames. Phil Park and Steve Storch attended the IETF meeting, held at the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center, May 1-4. TCP-TP4 PROTOCOL TRANSLATION Hunter Barr has come on the project to work with live network interfacing. He is getting the X.25 interface up on a test machine, and then will begin coding some interfacing to the protocol conversion. We have been expanding the ISO interface to the Estelle code, and beginning the definition of interface between the protocol conversion and the live networks, both for the TCP and ISO sides. J. Wilkes of SHAPE T.C. has expanded the finite state machine definitions in Estelle to include most of the TCP and TP4 opening and closing transitions. REAL-TIME MULTIMEDIA CONFERENCING Release 3.0 of the BBN MMConf Multimedia Conferencing System is now available. The MMConf system allows multiple people on different workstations to collaborate over text documents, rasterfiles, generated maps, terminal-based applications, video tools and presentations made up of all of these tools. Release 3.0 includes Westine [Page 6]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 these changes from previous versions: o The conferencing infrastructure has been made more robust. o The text editor has been significantly improved. It is now possible for any participant to easily include new private files or paste text from other private windows into the conference windows. o The text editor now supports viewing and sketching over rasterfiles. o The presenter, a tool for organizing and making presentations or "talks", has been significantly improved. It is now much easier to manage multiple talks and to add new slides created from private information. o This release includes a set of tools for managing video resources and conferencing over them. Programs include servers for managing shared video resources for multiple clients distributed over a local area and applications programs for accessing and displaying the video information. Applications include a video map navigator, a video database browser, a tool for creating and editing video edit decision lists (as well as directly controlling video devices) and a tool for dubbing from one device to another. o This release includes binaries for Sun3's and Sun4's running Sunview and for Sun3's and Sun4's running the X11 window system. The complete list of tools distributed with this release includes: mmconf The conference manager. in.confd The conference daemon. presenter The talk creation and presentation tool. mmslide The text and rasterfile editor/viewer. viewshell A terminal emulator. The application run by the emulator only runs at one site in the conference. This tool makes it possible to run any terminal-based program in the conference. sketch A simple sketching tool. Xnavigate A video map browser. vlens A video database browser. vide A video edit decision list editor and an interface to directly control video devices. switch A video crossbar switch manager. vmount Tool for mounting and unmounting video volumes. dub A tool for recording from one video device to another. Westine [Page 7]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 Also available is the "Final Report on Research into Real-Time Multimedia Conferencing Applications". For more information about MMConf or to obtain the final report, contact Terry Crowley (tcrowley@bbn.com). INTERNET ROUTING We completed the Inter-Domain Policy Routing (IDPR) protocol specification document and distributed it to members of the Internet community for review. At the May IETF meeting we gave tutorials (in our working group) on the architecture and on the protocol suite. As we proceed with implementation, we are awaiting detailed comments on the IDPR protocol suite, which was well- received at the working group meetings. Protocol implementation has been split between people at USC and people at BBN. We expect to complete implementation in August and begin experiments in October. TERRESTRIAL WIDEBAND NETWORK AND ST/IP GATEWAY During May, the ST Gateway and Terrestrial Wideband projects supported 3 SIMNET exercises/tests, eight video conferences and three conferencing demos. One of the video conferences included four sites, two involved three sites, and eight involved two sites. Conferences were held by the Internet Open Routing Working Group, members of DARPA, and NIST OSI Implementor's Working Group on Security and Network Management. This month we also introduced echo cancellers at ISI and at DARPA. These echo cancellers permit the use of room audio speakers. Previously, room echos were avoided through the use of personal headphones. SIMNET activity included the support of three two day exercises. One of these exercises was held to demonstrate the system during DC area Armor Conference. This month we also supported the first simultaneous usage of the Terrestrial Wideband Network by a SIMNET exercise and a two way video conference. Bob Hinden (HINDEN@BBN.COM) CERFNET ------- No report received. Westine [Page 8]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 CICNET ------- CICNet has been very active on a variety of fronts recently. These include personnel changes, new members, advancement in the development of video applications, and the issuance of a Request for Proposals for network management services. Effective March 1, 1990, Chris Weider has replaced Cathy Aronson as the MERIT-CICNet technical representative. Cathy has moved on to Lawrence LivermoreLabs in California, and will be actively involved with the operations of ESNet - a Department of Energy network. CICNet wishes Cathy the best of luck in her new position. The CICNet Central Staff has doubled in size with the appointment of John Hankins as Assistant Director, effective April 1, 1990. John's duties include financial management and marketing support. CICNet has moved into larger facilities on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Now located in the Industrial Technology Institute Building (ITI), 2901 Hubbard Rd. Pod G (Zip 48105), CICNet is closer to MERIT,and has room for growth. Joel Maloff can be reached at (313) 998-6101. CICNet has developed a Request for Proposals (RFP) for network management and operations support services. Copies of the RFP are available from the CICNet office, with a closing date for responses of June 22, 1990. A Bidder's Conference has been scheduled in Ann Arbor for June 14, 1990. Contact Joel Maloff electronically at maloff@@merit.edu. Some of the functions required fromthe successful external contractor are: * Monitor and troubleshoot the current CICNet network, plus up to six additional routers and twelve additional circuits. * Coordinate with on-site personnel for identification and resolution of problems. * House CICNet spare equipment, such as routers, cable systems, and CSU/DSU's, for shipment to trouble sites. * Coordinate the correction of equipment and service failures with the appropriate vendors (currently MCI, Illinois Bell, cisco Systems, and Datatel). * Provide input to the CICNet Network Planning and Design Subcommittee. Westine [Page 9]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 * Assist in the management of on-line services located on a CICNet-owned workstation (mail, mail reflectors, FTP, etc.). * Provide at least monthly statistics on, at a minimum: number of packets per node, percent change from previous month, packet count by day of week, packet count by hour of day, circuit utilization by individual backbone segment. * Provide monthly reports on outages, impairments, or other atypical network incidents and experiences. As a result of activities begun in the CICNet Video Applications Study Group, aproposal has been submitted to the National Science Foundation for the "Parallax Project", a program designed to evaluate the impact of a unified Europe, circa 1992, on research, educational collaboration, and business relationships. At the same time, or in "parallel", the effectiveness of various electronic information transport techniques will be evaluated. This includes electronic mail, database access, compressed video and full motion video. By the end of 1992, the 12 member states of the European Community will have integrated their economies with one another forming a "Unified Europe". A team led by Professor Steve Acker, Ohio State University, representing CICNet and our members, has proposed research on the impacts of a unified European economy, focusing on both the technical and social issues of collaboration theory. The proposed research includes industrial and academic participation, as well as American and European partners. More information on this project is available through CICNet. Joel Maloff (Joel_Maloff@um.cc.umich.edu) CORNELL ------- No report received. CREN ---- CREN, which is currently connected to the NSFNET backbone on the East Coast viaa CSNET-NEARnet-JVNCnet link, is installing an additional connection on the West Coast in June. A T1 line from the Olivetti Research Center in Menlo Park will connect the CSNET West Coast Cluster to the NSS at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. A copy of the routing plan is available for anonymous ftp on sh.cs.net, /info/csnet-routing. Westine [Page 10]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 At its May meeting, the CREN Board of Trustees passed resolutions regarding: * Eastern Europe: CREN will promulgate the General License GTDA regulations of the Export Regulation Act to current and new members to support legal connections to East European countries and will accept membership applications from East European nations. The General License GTDA allows export of non-proprietary information consisting of three principal categories: a. Publicly available information, b. Fundamental research, and c. Educational information. * K-12 Networking: CREN endorses the use of CREN networks to enhance K-12 education. * CREN strongly urges all its BITNET Members to acquire and use mailer softwarethat supports domain names. Karen Roubicek attended the IETF meeting in Pittsburgh, Jim Conklin participated in the DECUS meeting in New Orleans, and Mike Roberts represented CREN at the EARN/RARE Joint Networking Conference in Killarney, Ireland. Karen Roubicek (roubicek@nnsc.nsf.net) ISI --- INTERNET CONCEPTS PROJECT The majority of testing of the IP/SQ algorithm in a small network setting is now finished. The results are being written up. Essentially, the testing regime had four senders simultaneously transferring one Mbyte through a congested gateway with no limitation (no window) to transmission speed except Source Quench feedback from that congested gateway. Hundreds of test runs were done. If random drop is utilized in the gateway, across a range of round-trip delays from 0.02 to 1.0 seconds with multiple senders, the algorithm utilized 86% of available gateway capacity with a std. dev. of 6%. The algorithm is also quite fair in conjunction with random drop. As gateway capacity was changed during testing, the amount of source data transferred was altered to keep the ideal fair completion time constant. Mean completion time was 854 seconds with a std. dev. of 89 seconds. Greg Finn (Finn@ISI.EDU) Westine [Page 11]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 Bob Braden shared with Vint Cerf a session entitled "TCP/IP: Current Implementation and Future Evolution", in a symposium given by Technology Transfer Institute in Washington, D.C., 18-22 May, 1990. The topic of the symposium was "TCP/IP and OSI: The Interoperability Challenge". Braden's talk was mostly concerned with the technical limitations of the TCP/IP protocol suite and the current and projected efforts in IETF and IRTF to address these limitations, significantly extending the domain and lifetime of TCP/IP. Paul Mockapetris, and Joyce Reynolds attended the IETF meetings held at PSC in Pittsburgh, PA., 4/30 - 5/3 1990. Paul Mockapetris visited Siemens at OSF to discuss X.500 and met with Mark Pullen at BBN in Boston, Ma. 12-20 May 1990. Ann Westine attended the NSF Networking Symposium in Fullerton, Ca, 3-4 May 1990. Six RFCs were published this month. RFC 1140: Postel, J., "IAB Official Protocol Standards", USC/ISI, May 1990. RFC 1155: Rose, M., (PSI) and K. McCloghrie (HUGHES), "Structure and Identification of Management Information for TCP/IP-based Internets", May 1990. RFC 1156: McCloghrie, K., (HUGHES) and M. Rose, "Management Information Base for Network Management of TCP/IP-based Internets", May 1990. RFC 1157: Case, J., (SNMP), M. Fedor, (PSI), M. Schoffstall (PSI), J. Davin (MIT), "A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", May 1990. RFC 1158: Rose, M., "Management Information Base for Network Management of TCP/IP-based Internets: MIB-II", Performance Systems International, May 1990. RFC 1160: Cerf, V., "The Internet Activities Board", NRI, May 1990. Ann Westine (Westine@ISI.EDU) Westine [Page 12]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 MULTIMEDIA CONFERENCING PROJECT PictureTel video codecs have been installed at the ISI and DARPA teleconference sites, and additional units will be installed at BBN and SRI soon. These codecs provide better video quality, but can only be used for 2-site teleconferences for now. The existing Concept codecs are still available in parallel for multi-site, multi-quadrant teleconferences. Switching between codecs, and between 12th-floor and 1st-floor conference rooms at DARPA, is controlled by the MMCC user interface on the conference workstation plus RPC-based codec and audio/video switch servers. NEC echo cancellers have also been installed at ISI and DARPA, and were first put to official use during a telemeeting of the IETF's ORWG on May 29th. The echo cancellers eliminate the need for conference participants to wear headphones at these sites. A new debugging feature has been added to the Packet Video Host, PVP, to intentionally mis-order, delay or drop out-going packets in a specified pattern. This feature has been helpful in testing the new packet-reordering algorithm. Progress continues on porting the Voice Terminal (VT) program to run on a Sun SPARCstation, working toward the goal of personalized conferencing. Several multisite conferences and demos were held again this month. One of the demo groups, PIs for the National Photonics Center, would like to use teleconferencing to coordinate the Center's work. Eve Schooler, Steve Casner, Annette DeSchon, Dave Walden (schooler@ISI.EDU, casner@ISI.EDU, deschon@ISI.EDU, djwalden@ISI.EDU) FAST PARTS Paul Postel is currently working on automating FAST's interface to Hamilton Avnet by simulating (using the Icon programming language) the dialup procedure and the remote query procedure that a human operator uses when communicating with Hamilton Avnet's inplant terminal. Anna-Lena Neches (ALNeches@ISI.EDU) JVNCNET, NORTH EAST RESEARCH REGIONAL NETWORK --------------------------------------------- No report received. Westine [Page 13]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 LOS NETTOS ---------- A data pattern sensitivity problem was finally cleared by GTE. The problem was a weak, failing repeater in a C.O. NOSC equipment was installed and the T1 link was brought up to the AT&T demark. The metalic tail circuit extending the circuit to the correct building is up but runs with excessive errors at various times during the day. Some equipment for providing remote console access to member ciscos and CSU/DSUs has arrived and is being packaged and configured. Walt Prue (Prue@ISI.EDU) MERIT/UMNET ----------- This month a great deal of effort has been concentrated on the new statewide network backbone upgrade. A RFI went out to interested vendors at mid-month, with results expected in a few weeks. Along with the backbone redesign, a major upcoming problem is resolution of ourrouting complications due to multiple access points (CICNET and NSFNET) intothe Internet. Currently, all the Merit member institutions share a single ClassA address (35.0.0.0), and this does not allow for optimal routing. Several of Merit's member's campus networks are looking at getting class B and class C addresses, to help get more efficient and reasonable routing for their campuses. To that end, Merit is sponsoring a workshop on practical steps which should be taken to get new addresses, configure the campus nets more efficiently, and other local troubleshooting. This workshop will be held in early June in Ann Arbor, and many of the Merit members' technical and user staff will be attending. Our authorization server to allow access off net 35 (Merit) from dialin and public ports, as well as allowing charging for surcharged services to previously inaccessible nodes, is in beta test mode now. We expect this service to come online within the next few months. Merit has been working on an appropriate use policy for its statewide infrastructure and a draft has been submitted to the board of directors for their consideration and approval at their June board meeting. Westine [Page 14]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 The Michigan Governor's Telecommunications Task Force report, entitled "CONNECTIONS -- A Strategy for Michigan Future Through Telecommunications" has just been released. This report projects a vision of statewide communication, in which education is enhanced by the use of telecommunications resources. Merit is mentioned favorably several times in the report. Copies of the report summary can be read online by telnetting to hermes.merit.edu, and typing "EDTECH-PRESS". A menu of options is available. Pat McGregor (patmcg@merit.edu) MIDNET ------ No report received. MIT-LCS ------- No report received. Chuck Davin (jrd@PITT.LCS.MIT.EDU) MITRE Corporation ----------------- No report received. MRNET ----- MRNet is providing NSFnet connectivity to several additional sites: o NCR Network Products Division (formerly NCR Comten) o Minnesota Supercomputer Center (now routing through MRNet) o Seven Army Supercomputer Network (ASnet) sites including networks at: - Armament Research Development and Engineering Center - Ballistics Research Laboratory (BRL) - Concepts Analysis Agency - Corps of Engineer, Waterway Experiment Station Westine [Page 15]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 - Harry Diamond Laboratories - Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) - White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) The T1 link to the NSFnet backbone was down for several hours one night. Discussions were held with both our carrier and our router vendor concerning strategies to avoid and more quickly correct a similar outage. The P4200 supporting three sites died. It took eight days to get the router back in operation. About the only lessons to be learned are the value of common equipment, (which the P4200 is not), and hot spares, (which we don't have for the P4200). Credit is due Jeff Wabik for persistence in finally repairing the router. The MRNet NIC was moved to Supercomputer Systems Engineering and Services Co. (SSESCO) space about 50 feed away. The temperature of the MRNet room dropped about eight degrees, satisfying the primary objective of the move. The next MRNet general meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, July 26. The agenda is expected to include: o Election of an MRNet chair o Discussion of the MRNet Executive Committee's vision for the next phase of MRNet o Approval of fiscal year 1991 budget Tim Salo (tjs@msc.edu) NCAR/USAN --------- No report received. Westine [Page 16]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 NEW ENGLAND ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH NETWORK ----------------------------------------- During May The MITRE Corporation, Viewlogic Systems, Incorporated and The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research were connected to the network. An additional T1 connection between MIT Lincoln Laboratory and MITRE will provide high speed redundancy to these sites in June and will further Improve the reliability of NEARnet's Boston area core. Operation of the network continued to be stable. Problems with the connection to Colby College have been resolvedby MCI. John Rugo (jrugo@nic.near.net) NNSC, UCAR/BOLT BERANEK and NEWMAN, INC. ---------------------------------------- Karen Roubicek attended the IETF Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Karen gave a presentation on Information Resources on the Internet at the MIDNET Technical Meeting at the University of Kansas. Laura Breeden participated in the EARN/RARE Joint Networking Conference in Killarney, Ireland. The NNSC distributed several copies of the Internet Resource Guide, NSF Network Newsletter, and NSFNET posters at the conference. The NNSC began distribution of the newest chapter of the Internet Resource guide, Chapter 4, White Pages. Additions to Chapters 2, 3, 5, and 6 were also distributed to the electronic mailing list for updates to the guide. The number of anonymous ftp requests for the Resource Guide for the month of May has doubled since last month and is now up to over 4,000 requests. Corinne Carroll (ccarroll@nnsc.nsf.net) NORTHWESTNET ------------ On May 14 participants from NorthWestNet (NWNet) and the Oregon State System ofHigher Education Network (OSSHENet) met in Corvallis, Oregon. The main topic of discussion was to determine what, if any, collaborative effort was possible at this time between the two organizational networks. OSSHENet is a centrally funded, state operated network with the charter to support administrative computing and connectivity between eight or more Oregon state colleges and universities. The transport will Westine [Page 17]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 initially be IP only, providing distributed access to an SQL database engine running on a Bull mainframe. Planned implementation date is July 1990. Discussion centered around OSSHENet providing circuits (multiples of DS0) to NWNet, rather than the sharing of routers or router ports. Once a working relationship is established at this level, perhaps more collaboration will result. On May 22, 23 and 24 in Seattle, there were face to face meetings of a number of NWNet committees. The Training Committee met the first night, mostly in preparation for the NWNet annual meeting in which the regional members have theopportunity to send representatives from the User Services area and from the research community. The Configuration Subcommittee worked on issues regarding router upgrades, OSPF integration, policy requirements for NWNet connections, low cost services offerings, backdoor connections to MRNet and ESNet and operational concerns. The Technical Committee meeting then addressed issues relating to funding requests, new member status, the requirements for a NWNet NIC and the upcoming NSF Site Review. Finally, the Five-Year Planning Task Force met to consider long term planning and the strategic goals for the region. Dan Jordt (danj@cac.washington.edu) NSF BACKBONE (Merit) ------------------- Inbound traffic on the NSFNET Backbone increased 2.55% in May, 1990, over April, with a total of 3,153,325,456 inbound packets. As of 31 May 1990, the number of configured nets on the NSFNET Backbone totals 1591. Plans for facility upgrades at four nodes on the NSFNET backbone will necessitate NSS relocations. The sites involved are Ithaca (NSS 10) the week of June 25, College Park (NSS 9) the week of July 9, Princeton (NSS 8) the week of July 16, and Seattle (NSS 14) the week of August 6. Members of the Merit, IBM and MCI technical staffs are involved with these moves to assist in minimizing any disruption in service. It is planned that none of the sites will be completely isolated for extended periods of time as the changes take place. Any questions may be directed to the regional network or by contacting nsfnet-info@merit.edu. A technical seminar open to regional technical and interested staff will be presented by Merit/NSFNET on June 21 and 22 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Topics will include network performance modeling and tools, network performance considerations, internetworking with Westine [Page 18]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 ISDN, T3 technology and plans for the NSFNET backbone, OSI (CLNP), gigabit testbeds and advanced graphics applications. Additional information is available from Merit/NSFNET at 1-800-66-MERIT or nsfnet-info@merit.edu. Guests at the Merit/NSFNET Network Operations Center included Brian Carpenter from CERN who presented information on the operational and technical aspects of EASInet. OSI plans for the backbone were also discussed. A meeting of IBM CEs from across the country convened at the NOC for an update on the NSFNET Project and technology. Merit Computer Network and the NSFNET Project sponsored a networking symposium with the University of California Office of the President, The State University of California, California Community Colleges and several corporate sponsors. "Enriching Education with National and Regional Networks: An Agenda for the 1990s" was held at Fullerton College on May 3 and 4 to highlight the ways NSFNET and regional networks are being used to enhance all levels of education. Susan Calcari, Merit/NSFNET Site Liaison, presented information on the NSFNET Project, conducted a tutorial on internetworking and TCP/IP, as well as participated on the planning committee. Susan also traveled to Nevada, speaking to information services personnel and faculty from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and the University of Nevada-Reno on the educational applications of the network. Elise Gerich represented Merit/NSFNET at the joint networking conference in Killarney, Ireland, May 15-17, sponsored by EARN and RARE. Bringing together nearly 400 members of the OSI, TCP/IP and EARN communities, this conference promoted a great deal of discussion regarding the future development of a pan-European backbone which would support multiple protocols. Elise also attended the CCIRN meeting in France as an FEPG observer. Pat Smith presented information on the NSFNET Project to a meeting of the MIDnet regional in Lawrence, Kansas. Merit/NSFNET staff attended the IETF meeting held at the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center/Carnegie-Mellon University. Hans-Werner Braun presented a report on the current state of the NSFNET. Dana Sitzler chaired the Network Information Services Infrastructure (NISI) working group. Pat Smith and Glee Cady also participated in User Working Group sessions. John Vollbrecht attended sessions on topology engineering and router requirements. Jo Ann Ward (jward@merit.edu) Westine [Page 19]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 NTA-RE and NDRE --------------- No report received. NYSERNET -------- No report received. OARNET ------ No report received. PENNSYLVANIA RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP NETWORK ------------------------------------------------------ Two additional academic sites have signed on as members of PREPnet during the month: Villanova University and Lafayette College. Connections are still pending on these new sites. Tom Cummings (tc1r@andrew.cmu.edu) PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER ------------------------------- The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center hosted the May IETF. The Ultranet link from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (site of NSS#5) to the Westinghouse Energy Center (location of Cray YMP) described in our last report has been brought up to full (1 gigabit) capacity over single mode fiber. Experimental data will soon be used to exercise this link and determine its performance characteristics. The number of networks connected through the PSC NSS and PSCNET increased by six since our last report. Greg Dobrich (dobrich@a.psc.edu) SAN DIEGO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER We have begun using the UltraNet's frame buffer code in production on our Y-MP. Problems remain with TCP/IP services over the Ultra and with its "tsock" service. Westine [Page 20]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 ESnet software has been moved to a production VAX. We continue to use the NSFnet link to NERSC - the direct connection should be inplace by the end of June (via the General Atomics ESnet connection). Our Distributed Test Editor software has been upgraded to handle encrypted passwords. by Paul Love (loveep@sdsc.edu) RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeans) --------------------------- No report received. SAN DIEGO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER ------------------------------ No report received. SESQUINET --------- No report received. SRI ---- DDN NIC In May, we assigned 49 new numbers to government-sponsored IP networks and 141 to independent IP networks. The total number of all assigned IP numbers is now 4,721 which includes 2,677 sponsored networks and 2,044 independent networks. The total number of assigned Autonomous System numbers (ASNs) is now 677. There are currently a total of 1,676 registered domains which includes 48 at the top level, 1,580 at the second level, and 48 third-level MIL domains. Douglas MacGowan (MacGowan@NIC.DDN.MIL) Internet Research Mary Stahl and Zaw-Sing Su participated in a number of IETF working groups in Pittsburgh. Zaw-Sing Su (ZSu@SRI.COM) Westine [Page 21]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 SURANET ------- No report received. TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION NETWORK ------------------------------ No report received. UCL ---- The infrastructure for the UK tails of the upgraded UK-US links are now mostly tested. A 2nd video conferencing room is nearly prepared, and a Lab for video work has been set up. Work on our very own distributed networks simulator is now well under way. We are studying ways to reproduce/verify the MIT FQ and virtual clock results. The question is being asked - "What is the analogy video source that is conformant with the network congestion control algorithms, in the way that a >4.3BSD TCP is "conformant" with some network mechanisms"? A third JANET site (Cambridge) has joined in the NTP over ROS peer community. UCL are bidding for a decent clock. The X Windows protocol work over other Comms Stacks has thrown up an interesting finding - a research implementation of X.25 on Ethernet was measured to be within 2% user data throughput of TCP on the same machines - unexpected to say the least; further investigation is deemed necessary. Peter Kirstein attended the may IETF. Jon Crowcroft visited Bellcore for a reviewers meeting. John Crowcroft (j.crowcroft@CS.UCL.AC.UK) UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE ---------------------- 1. Paul Schragger demonstrated initial simulation results of the routing algorithm proposed for our gigabit project. The provocative simulation scenario involves the existing NSFNET backbone network topology with the sites connected by 1-Gps fibre loops. Erik Perkins, Mike Davis and Ken Monington produced a detailed report on the experimental VLSI crossbar chips for the project. The project sprouted two new Westine [Page 22]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 contributors, Professor Charles Boncelet and grad student Alden Jackson. Charlie's field is algorithms, especially those used in digital signal processing, while Alden is working in routing technology. 2. Our DARTNET connection via the DC point-of-presence is now operating. Paperwork has been completed to acquire a SPARCstation for use as a router. 3. Using a precision timer board built by Stefan Levie, appropriate statistical procedures and exquisite care, Ken Monington managed to determine the frequency offset of our cesium clock at minus 170 nanoseconds per day relative to the East Coast LORAN-C chain. While this represents the culmination of a lot of hard work, he does not consider even this degree of precision sufficient for use in NTP to measure continental drift. 4. Mike Davis completed a report on a statistical study of NSFNET backbone network delays. Mike is using correlation methods to pry forth subtle interdependencies in time and space which might prove useful in characterizing congestion events. 5. Further work on the NTP specification and implementation continues. After a good deal of simulation and experiment, the new algorithms have been implemented and tested in the fuzzball time servers now operating in the Internet. The results indicate a worthwhile improvement in robustness and accuracy, while at the same time providing reliable indications of correctness and timekeeping quality to the users of the service. The specification (RFC-1119 as amended) has been updated and will soon be circulated for review. Dave Mills (Mills@UDEL.EDU) UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN/NCSANET -------------------------------------------------- No report received. WESTNET -------- No report received. Westine [Page 23]  Internet Monthly Report MAY 1990 WISCNET ------- We received official notification from the NSF that our proposal has been funded. The WiscNet Board met 5/2/90 at UW-Eau Claire. The agenda included a proposal for a test installation between UW-Madison and UW- Platteville, mebership policies and fees, and appropriate use of the network. Bids for DSU and multiplexor equipment and for communication services have been received and are currently undergoing analysis. Awards will be made in early June. Michael Dorl (dorl@vms.macc.wisc.edu) Westine [Page 24]