Our Network Operations Centre (NOC) is an essential part of our core network. The NOC is staffed by highly experienced Systems & Network Administrators 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and features heavy-duty UPS (uninterrupted power) and AC systems.

The local network is arranged in three logical segments:

Core - redundant Cisco 12008 GSR routers connected to the Internet and the DCA2 NOC via multiple full-capacity 45 Mb/s DS-3s; running the full BGP4 protocol, thus ensuring route optimization and redundancy.

Distribution - redundant high-end Catalyst 5513 RSM master routing switches that distribute access to the physical and virtual LANs.

Access - redundantly connected Catalyst 2924XL EE switches to which all servers are connected. Each and every server gets a full 100Mb/s full duplex port to the access layer.

Our network is completely Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s, for access) and Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mb/s, for core and distribution) based. Both internal and external network provides multiple, redundant, paths. Each and every piece of the network is fully redundant: there is no single point of failure. The network also features a 1.9TB (terabyte) robotic tape autoloader library backup system, as well as multiple RAID-based high-volume backup units.

Physical Network Infrastructure

The networks fibre-optics are provided through an OC-12 (622 Mb/s) circuit and an OC-12 IntelliLight Dedicated SONET Ring (IDSR).

The OC-12 IDSR (SONET ring) consists of two redundant OC-12s traversing two separate paths and having two diverse routes to the network facilities, thus providing the ultimate in reliability and performance. Even if both of the lines are cut at any point, the OC-12 ring is still operational, with less than 50 ms (0.05 second) self-healing restoration time.

The SONET ring, in combination with the standalone OC-12, provides us the ultimate in reliability and capacity: no downtime even in the case of a major fibre cut in the area (due to separate paths and multiple fibres) and capacity of over 1.2Gb/s!

Further Advantages of Our Network

We are redundantly set-up Internet connectivity wise (multiple backbone connectivity providers), as well as physically (in terms of fibre optics, multiple private OC-12 SONET rings with multiple financially-healthy fibre providers, taking different physical paths).

The NOC feeds from two separate, redundant power grids; if one power grid goes out, it still would not lose power. The NOC also utilises a high-capacity Liebert UPS system, augmented by a number of smaller per-rack UPSes. Both UPS sytems are able to power all the servers in case of a power outage. Two 20-ton Liebert AC units are in use, too, maintaining a consistent temperature of 18C and a dust-free environment at our NOC.