Posts Tagged ‘networking’
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auteched + apc 2011 Network Design
People often ask me for more information about the network design and implementation for tech•ed and APC.
I finished off the physical design for the MDF and IDFs a while ago and thought I would take the time to post these in case you wanted to build your own 3000 person corporate conference at home. I am only covering off the network side of things below – there is a massive HP + Microsoft private cloud solution going in at the event that will need post(s) in its own right.
In terms of fast Internets
- 1000 mbps of Internet connectivity provided by Telstra Internet Direct. This is a high performance e-line service back to Telstra Internet Direct in the Charlotte St exchange (i.e. it is a wholesale/service-provider quality service, uncontended back to their core).
- An additional 500 mbps of Internet connectivity from Over The Wire as a redundancy option.
- BGP routing under our own AS9984 to make the best use of the combined link.
- IPv4 and IPv6.
In terms of WiFi
- Cisco 5508 WLC
- 50 x Cisco Aironet 1252 access points
- Each AP has 2 x radio interfaces (2.4 and 5GHz) for a total of 100 radios supporting 802.11a, b, g, and n
In terms of physical infrastructure
- 2 x Brocade CER units for core routing
- 2 gbps LACP core trunking between the routers, core switches and wireless LAN controller
- 1 gbps distribution network
- 77 switches deploying 2000+ ports of connectivity
IDF Physical Design
MDF Physical Design
Also available as a PDF export of the original VSD:
Project 3031 – Tech·Ed 2011 Network Design and Implementation (Microsoft Pty Ltd) – Network Design
If you have any questions then post them below.
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What’s in a colour?
Have you been to tech•ed in years past? Have you seen the array of colours used for cables in CommNet areas, Recharge Bars, around the Exposition Halls and inside the Session Rooms? You’ve thought either the person laying all those cables is colour blind or needs some serious tips from House & Garden on matching seasonal hues? Not so. Read the rest of this entry »
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When I said 16 percent I meant … 16 percent
You will recall our earlier posts regarding the performance problems with the Cisco WLC at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. If you’ve not seen them catch up here:
- Making Wireless Work
- Diagnosing and resolving extremely high RF utilisation
- Resolving a Hunch– Wi-Fi Performance @ GCCEC
Insufficient Traction Error
We had been working extensively with a number of suppliers to get the WLC issues resolved. To be honest, I reached the end of my tether some time ago as every call seemed to revolve around either co-channel interference (so much so that is now the standard butt of jokes on the tech team … car won’t start? co-channel inteference :\), or some discussion of why there were methodological defects in the reports we’d written rather than just focusing on the obvious @#(*&@ issue. Read the rest of this entry »
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Update on the Internets
Tomorrow is my first day on site at the venue (I don’t get to leave again until the 11th of September). I was supposed to be down there today but some lingering issues with the 2140 imaging procedures and timings delayed my trip to the convention centre by a day. David Haysom sent me an empty e-mail today with the subject of “Techops no turning back” and this image attached:
TechOps (or will be) - This is the room from which we will run all technology related technical activities during APC and tech•ed 2009!
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Ensuring IP address allocation integrity with DHCP snooping
Nearly every IP network you use allocates IP addresses to clients via DHCP. There is a lot you can do with DHCP and it is a fairly well thought out and extensible successor to BOOTP.
This post briefly explores the sorts of issues we have with DHCP on a large scale temporary network, and the sorts of things that go wrong.
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Internet Connectivity… plan A to F, plus a few more
I’ve not forgotten to post – I’ve just been busy undebacling a debacle.
Everyone loves fast Internets. Providing really fast Internets at tech•ed this year has provide to be a complete pain in the proverbial.
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Connectivity is easy… right?
“You just have to flick a switch and its on, right?”“It won’t cost that much…”i wish i had recorded some sound bites of these conversations over the past week, and no, I won’t name names… Over the past few weeks we’ve been a little quiet, but the guys have been working tirelessy on the relentless march to arriving onsite. A major piece of work i’ve had the Codify, Jomablue and GCCEC guys working on, is getting the venue wired for internet for the APC and tech•ed. So while i’ve been off on a quick week of leave, the world for these guys manage to turn upside down as you’ll see, almost to the point that I thought might come back to a bunch of frazzled network engineers splicing fibre late into the night… and that might happen just yet.
From Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesstewart/ I have to say, i’m constantly impressed by the commitment these guys have to quality outcomes and the sheer amount of effort to every aspect of the delegate experience. There are quite a few unique challenges that mandate we need super speedy internets; such as the thought of 2500 HP Mini-notes turned on at once to Windows Update or Youtube.. and i’m sure over the next series of posts you’ll see the huge amount of effort the guys have put into giving you the fastest internet connection for tech•ed Australia ever.
- jorke
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Windows Server 2008 R2 NAT Performance – Guest post by the Windows Product Team!
[ The following performance analysis was submitted to tech•ed backstage by Arpan Gupta and the RRAS team. They own the RRAS/ipnat.sys components of Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2. Given that we're using it for address translation at tech•ed 2009, it is rather handy having them on board.
We challenged the RRAS team to validate using RRAS as a NAT solution for 3000 concurrent clients; here is their excellent and helpful response. They did all the hard work with a physical simulation too! -- David ]Read the rest of this entry »
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