The National Library of New Zealand would like to thank TelstraClear New Zealand for providing a quick alternate National and International Internet service to us by setting up a BGP routing/Peering connection over our existing CityLink Network connections to bypass the major Telecom network outage on Monday. Our organisation was back up on the Internet several hours before the Telecom Network failure was restored. Due to the nature of Mondays Telecom Network failure we lost both our primary and backup Internet connections at 10:49am, leaving only our CityLink connection working, and peering with the CityLink WIX route servers, which still provided some 300 routes to us. After an hour of not being able to get any news on the cause and duration of the Telecom outage we approached one of TelstraClear's Internet BGP routing wizards and asked how can we route past this problem, he advised us to talk to their wholesale people. After explaining the situation to wholesale, authorisation was given to one of their Internet BGP routing wizard's to make it happen. Within a short time BGP Peering was set-up and implemented over the phone, and our full National and International Internet service was fully restored over CityLink to TelstraClear. We do not have any sort of contract with TelstraClear. The point here is that although TelstraClear stopped peering at WIX :( they are still connected to the CityLink Network :) and still connect to customers over it. We would not have had this option open to us if we were not already connected and using the CityLink Network and CityLink's Neutral Peering Exchange. http://www.citylink.co.nz/community/peering.html So Thanks to TelstraClear for providing a temporary Internet pipe with no notice; and Thanks also to the CityLink team /NGI/MORST Advanced Network for running some Internet BGP routing courses last week. The information was put into action on our router to bypass Monday's problem. http://www.ngi.org.nz/ http://www.morst.govt.nz/?CHANNEL=IT+INFRASTRUCTURE&PAGE=IT+Infrastructure The recently released Government Digital Strategy http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/ encourages co-operation and collaboration in as many ways possible between all New Zealand people, and organisations both Government and private sector. When the many technical people on this NZNOG list receive this email, please take it to your leaders and explain the many benefits of Internet Peering at Neutral Internet Peering Exchanges to create a fully meshed, distributed Internet for New Zealand. Digital Strategy Launch http://www.r2.co.nz/20050516/ recording from Parliament. When the big one hits New Zealand and we have a full-scale major civil defence emergency it will be far too late for the very capable technical people in each of the organisations to implement Internet peering. They will not be able to use the phone networks due to outages and overloading, and the current New Zealand Internet will fail because peering was not put in place and working. It is in the interest of every single New Zealander that every New Zealand Telco, ISP and organisation connects their networks to the nearest Neutral Internet Peering Exchange and starts peering; and helps to create a real New Zealand Internet. The original Internet was designed for this very reason for the US Defence Department to prevent a total failure of communications during major infrastructure outages and emergencies. There would also be benefits for the Telco's and ISP's if this peering was already in place before the Telecom outage on Monday. It may have been a non-event, when both fibres were cut, the Telecom network could have re-routed traffic around the damage over TelstraClear's equally capable backbone network. Even if Telecom had to pay TelstraClear for the temporary transit traffic, it would have probably been a far less cost to pay both financially and politically. And the major disruptions caused to a lot of people waiting at airports, unable to use EFTPOS networks etc. may have been avoided, and Telecom customers would still have trust in them to provide Internetworking services. This would also work in reverse should such an event hit TelstraClear's network. So come on New Zealanders, please get the important message and do something about this situation today. Without realising it, you may save lives in the future because the NZ Internet does not break, just because a couple of fibre optic cables get cut by accident or equally by a natural disaster event. To all journalists on this list, please feel free to put this full message in as many papers, magazines and web sites as possible. With a further message to encourage every New Zealander who reads it, to email their ISP and request that their ISP set-up Internet Peering at a Neutral Internet Peering Exchange to create a robust New Zealand Internet. Come on Kiwi's, lets just do it. Adrian Smith, Network Specialist, National Library of New Zealand

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Michael Newbery 20/06/2005 17:26:36 >>> At 5:01 PM +1200 20/6/05, Andy Linton wrote: So is this a good time to ask about the design of a network that concentrates so much of its core service in Auckland? Is TelstraClear's network design any better?

I'd like to think so. :) For a start, it takes more than two fibre cuts in the North Island to disrupt us (that's new since you fled Andy :) Currently the core network is distributed and I prefer to follow that mantra whenever possible, though sometimes resources are naturally 'clumpy' (is that a word?) -- Michael Newbery IP Architect TelstraClear Limited Tel: +64-4-920 3102 Mobile: +64-29-920 3102 Fax: +64-4-920 3361 _______________________________________________ NZNOG mailing list NZNOG(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/nznog