GÉANT2, the high bandwidth, pan-European research and education network, has announced the release of the latest software bundle that is used to deliver the perfSONAR multi-domain monitoring (MDM) service across a number of key European National Research and Education Network (NREN) sites.
  This release is the result of collaborative efforts from 11 different organisations around the world and forms the first stage of the full deployment of the perfSONAR MDM service across the whole GÉANT2 pan-European backbone.

The perfSONAR MDM service enables fast troubleshooting by providing secure, user-friendly access to standardised network performance metrics from multiple domains. Using its out-of-the-box or customised web-interfaces, network problems and performance bottlenecks can be tracked and resolved, and potential performance issues can be identified. Specifically, information that network administrators access through perfSONAR MDM has the same meaning across the board enabling operators to discuss problems which span multiple domain boundaries on a communal basis and to collaborate more successfully.

International research collaboration is now reliant on high speed connections across multiple local, national and international networks. This growing complexity makes being able to pinpoint and eliminate problems much more difficult, due to the number of dissimilar networks involved. The new state-of-the art perfSONAR tools and infrastructure have therefore been created to enable network administrators to quickly find and deal with issues, irrespective of domain and location, to ensure fast, reliable and uninterrupted connections at all times for researchers across Europe.

Dai Davies, General Manager, DANTE said: “Today’s researchers need to be able to collaborate with their peers around the world, at high speed and in real-time. Consequently, the complexity of working across multiple networks spanning thousands of miles and disparate protocols must not interfere with research work. The perfSONAR MDM tool avoids downtime by allowing fast diagnosis and correction of network problems, wherever they occur. As a result, this will help increase the level of high speed research networking and collaboration across the globe.”

The perfSONAR MDM bundle comprises a full package of open-source based software, usage support and deployment/configuration support. It is currently aimed at network administrators in the global research community with the future option of deployment in the commercial sector.

perfSONAR MDM is made up of an advanced user interface layer, a modular set of web services to access performance metrics and a layer of domain-specific measurement tools. These can all be accessed through a range of visualisation tools which allow users to query and view network end-to-end performance data in an intuitive, user-friendly way.

About GÉANT2:
GÉANT2 is an advanced pan-European backbone network that interconnects National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) across Europe. With an estimated 30 million research and education users in 34 countries across the continent connected via the NRENs, GÉANT2 offers unrivalled geographical coverage, high bandwidth, innovative hybrid networking technology and a range of user-focused services, making it the most advanced international network in the world. Together with the NRENs it connects, GÉANT2 has links totalling more than 50,000km in length and its extensive geographical reach interconnects networks in other world regions to enable global research collaboration. Europe’s academics and researchers can exploit dedicated GÉANT2 point-to-point links, creating optical private networks that connect specific research centres.

GÉANT2 is co-funded by the European Commission under the EU’s Sixth Research and Development Framework Programme. The project partners are 30 European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), TERENA and DANTE. GÉANT2 is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs.

About DANTE:
DANTE is a non-profit organisation, co-funded by the European Commission and working in partnership with European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build and operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT2, which provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the success of many research projects in Europe. DANTE is involved in worldwide initiatives to interconnect countries in the other regions to one another and to GÉANT2. DANTE currently manages projects focussed on the Mediterranean, Latin American and Asia-Pacific regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, ALICE and TEIN2 projects, respectively.

About PerfSONAR:
perfSONAR is a joint collaboration between GÉANT2, Internet2, ESnet and RNP and the wider consortium consists of more than twenty partners, that seek to build network performance middleware that is interoperable across multiple networks and useful for intra-network and inter-network analysis. One of the main goals is to make it easier to solve end-to-end performance problems on paths crossing several networks. For more information and full technical specifications please visit www.perfsonar.net. To download the latest perfSONAR MDM software see PerfSONAR.