Hands-on Workshop on Networking Topics
Tuesday April 5, Tuesday April 12, 2022
Registration is now closed
- New York State Education and Research Network (NYSERNET)
- Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC)
- University of South Carolina (UofSC)
- Online via Zoom
Overview
This free hands-on workshop provides cyberinfrastructure (CI) engineers with an introduction to tools and techniques for the design, implementation, and monitoring of high-throughput networks and science demilitarized zones (Science DMZs). Each attendee will have full control of equipment pods emulating internetworks and tools (see figures below) to learn and test TCP-related issues and perfSONAR nodes distributed across networks.
This workshop also provides hands-on experience on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP is the de facto standard inter-AS routing protocol in today’s Internet. As such, it is a critical protocol for the Internet—in essence, it is the protocol that glues the whole thing together.
Outcomes
By the end of this workshop, attendees will:
Network Tools and Protocols:
- Use tools and techniques such as iPerf3 and NETEM to measure performance
- Test Linux systems on emulated Wide Area Networks (WANs)
- Configure parameters that impact throughput performance, such as TCP buffer size and congestion control (Reno, HTCP, BBR)
perfSONAR:
- Describe the operation of perfSONAR and use perfSONAR GUI to configure regular tests
- Analyze perfSONAR results on a variety of scenarios with injected packet loss and latency
- Use pScheduler’s CLI to schedule tests
- Visualize measurement data using MaDDash
- Understand and use the psConfig Web Administrator (PWA) to host groups and tests
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP):
- Describe the operation of EBGP and IBGP sessions
- Configure and understand different BGP attributes
- Use BGP attributes such as Local Preference and Metric to implement routing policies
Intended Audience
The workshop is targeted to IT educators and professionals such as system administrators, network engineers, practitioners. The content is suitable for instructors who want to incorporate advanced material into their networking classes. The content is available for NETLAB systems.
Pre-requisites
The laboratory environment consists of routers, switches, and hosts deployed in IPv4 networks. Attendees are expected to know basic networking (IPv4, local area networks, OSI model). Training activities will be conducted using NetLab. Attendees will be provided with a username and a password.
Virtual Machines for NTP and BGP Pods
The pods corresponding to the lab series “Network Tools and Protocols” and “Border Gateway Protocols” consist of one virtual machine (VM) each. The VM for each pod can be downloaded and run with a hypervisor such as VMware Workstation and Virtual Box. Please see directions and URL below.
Installation guide: VirtualBox guide
Network Tools and Protocols (NTP) virtual machine: Link
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) virtual machine: Link
Agenda
DAY 1: Tuesday, April 5
| Time | Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 - 10:15 | Welcome and Introduction [PDF, PPT] | Jeff Harrington (NYSERNET) [Bio], Jason Zurawski (EPOC) [Bio], Jorge Crichigno (UofSC) [Bio] |
| 10:15 - 10:45 | Introduction to perfSONAR [PDF, PPT] | Doug Southworth (International Networks at Indiana University) [Bio] |
| 10:45 - 11:45 | Hands-on Session 1: perfSONAR Toolkit GUI and pScheduler [PDF, PPT] | Jose Gomez (UofSC) [Bio], Doug Southworth (International Networks - IU) |
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Break and Chat (breakout rooms) | See breakout rooms |
| 12:15 - 12:45 | An overview of Science DMZs and Data Transfer Nodes (DTNs) [PDF, PPT] | Ken Miller (EPOC) [Bio] |
| 12:45 - 01:45 | Hands-on Session 2: iPerf3, NETEM, Bandwidth-Delay Product (BDP), TCP buffer size [PDF, PPT] | Elie Kfoury (UofSC) [Bio], Ken Miller (EPOC) |
| 01:45 - 02:00 | Summary, QA, and Discussion | EPOC, NYSERNET, UofSC |
| Day 1 | Video | Chat |
DAY 2: Tuesday, April 12
| Time | Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 - 10:30 | BGP and R&E Networks [PDF, PPT] | Brenna Meade (EPOC) [Bio] |
| 10:30 - 11:30 | Hands-on Session 3: Essentials of BGP, EBGP, IBGP [PDF, PPT] | Ali AlSabeh (UofSC) [Bio], Brenna Meade (EPOC) |
| 11:30 - 12:00 | Break and Chat (breakout rooms) | See breakout rooms |
| 12:00 - 01:00 | Hands-on Session 4: Local Preference and MED attributes [PDF, PPT] | Ali AlSabeh (UofSC), Brenna Meade (EPOC) |
| 01:00 - 01:30 | BGP and Routing Security [PDF, PPT] | Hans Addleman (EPOC) [Bio] |
| 01:30 - 02:00 | Summary, QA, and Discussion | EPOC, NYSERNET, UofSC |
| Day 2 | Video | Chat |
Breakout Rooms
| Breakout Room | Topic | Facilitator |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monitoring: perfSONAR and other tools | Doug Southworth (EPOC), Jose Gomez (UofSC) |
| 2 | Data Mobility [PDF, PPT, Testing results] | Ken Miller (EPOC) |
| 3 | Science DMZ: Data transfer nodes (DTNs), switches, TCP | Jason Zurawski (EPOC) |
| 4 | Routing Policy: BGP | Ali AlSabeh (UofSC), Breena Meade (EPOC), Jeff Harrington (NYSERNET) |
| 5 | Network Security | Hans Addleman (EPOC), Elias Bou Harb (UTSA) [Bio], Nathaniel Mendoza (Texas Advanced Computing Center) [Bio] |
| 6 | Programmable Switches: P4, custom codes, ASICs | Jorge Crichigno (UofSC), Elie Kfoury (UofSC) |