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acting as the organizer. NANOG provides a forum for the discussion of technical issues associated with operating networks in North America.

Databases and tools created through the RADB projects are widely used by ISPs and have become an embedded part of the Internet today.

In order to provide stability and security to the global Internet routing scheme, there is still much work to be done in the interdomain policy specification and application space. Projects such as the RA provide a great deal of insight as to how Internet network architects should approach the issue.

The Very High-Speed Backbone Network Service

The very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS)[] project was created to provide a specialized backbone service for the high-performance computing users of the major government-supported SuperComputer Centers (SCCs) and for the research community.

On April 24, 1995, MCI and NSF announced the launch of the vBNS. MCI's duties include the following:

•Establish and maintain a 155 Mbps or higher transit network that switches IP and CLNP and connects to all NSFNET-funded NAPs.

•Establish a set of metrics to monitor and characterize network performance.

•Subscribe to the policies of the NAP and RA managers.

•Provide for multimedia services.

•Participate in the enhancement of advanced routing technologies and propose enhancements in both speed and quality of service that are consistent with NSF customer requirements.

The five-year, $50 million agreement between MCI and NSFNET tied together NSF's five major high-performance communications centers:

•Cornell Theory Center (CTC) in Ithaca, N.Y.

•National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Col.

•National Center for SuperComputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Champaign

•Pittsburgh SuperComputing Center (PSC)

•San Diego SuperComputing Center (SDSC)

The vBNS has been referred to as the research and development lab for the 21st century. The use of advanced switching and fiber-optic transmission technologies, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), enable very high-speed, highcapacity voice and video signals to be integrated.

The NSF has already authorized the use of the vBNS for "meritorious" high-bandwidth applications, such as supercomputer modeling at NCAR to understand how and where icing occurs on aircraft. Other applications at NCSA consist of building computational models to simulate the working of biological membranes and to show how cholesterol inserts itself into membranes.

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The vBNS is accessible to select application sites through four NAPs in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Figure 1-7 shows the geographical relationships between the centers and NAPs. The vBNS is mainly composed of OC12 links connected via high-end routers, such as those supplied by Juniper Networks and Cisco Systems. The first OC48c trunk and Juniper routers were commissioned in January 1999.

Figure 1-7. vBNS Backbone Network Map

Reprinted with the permission of MCIWORLDCOM. Copyright 2000. All rights reserved. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number NCR 9321047. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The vBNS is a specialized network that emerged due to the continuing need for high-speed connections between members of the research and development community, one of the main charters of the NSFNET. Although the vBNS does not have any bearing on global routing behavior, insight provided by preproduction deployment of new technologies does. The preceding brief overview is meant to give you a background on how NSFNET covered all its bases before being decommissioned in 1995.

Today, the vBNS hosts four SCCs and more than 80 universities at access speeds ranging from DS3 to OC12. Users have deployed IPv6, native multicast services, and MPLS. With

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April 2000 marking the expiration of the five-year agreement between NSF and MCI WorldCom, current plans are to continue post-April 2000 operation of the vBNS. Funding and support will be made possible by the commercialization of services without an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), as well by creating a broader target community for services.

Because of its advanced research in QoS and traffic engineering, today it's more commonly referred to as the very high-performance Backbone Network Service. The vBNS continues the tradition begun by NSFNET in this field.

Transitioning the Regional Networks from the NSFNET

As part of the NSFNET solicitation for transitioning to the new Internet architecture, NSF requested that the regional networks (also called mid-level networks) start transitioning their connections from the NSFNET backbones to other providers.

Regional networks have been a part of the NSFNET since its creation and have played a major role in the network connectivity of the research and education community. Regional network providers (RNPs) connect a broad base of client/member organizations (such as universities), providing them with multiple networking services and with Inter-Regional Connectivity (IRC).

Here are the anticipated duties of the RNPs per the NSF 93-52 program solicitation:

•Provide for interregional connectivity by such means as connecting to NSPs that are connected to NAPs and/or by connecting to NAPs directly and making inter-NAP connectivity arrangements with one or more NSPs.

•Provide for innovative network information services for client/member organizations in cooperation with the InterNIC and the NSFNET Information Services Manager.

•Propose and establish procedures to work with personnel from the NAP manager(s), the RA, the vBNS provider, and other regional and attached networks to resolve problems and to support end-to-end connectivity and quality of service for network users.

•Provide services that promote broadening the base of network users within the research and communications community.

•Provide for (possibly in cooperation with an NSP) high-bandwidth connections for client/member institutions that have meritorious high-bandwidth applications.

•Provide for network connections to client/member organizations.

In the process of moving the regional networks from the NSFNET to the new ISP connections, the NSF suggested that they be connected either directly to the NAPs or to providers connected to the NAPs. During the transition, NSF supported, for one year, connection fees that would decrease and eventually cease (after the first term of the NAP Manager/RA Cooperative Agreement, which shall be no more than four years).

Table 1-1 lists some of the old NSFNET regional providers and their new respective regional providers under the current Internet environment. As you can see, most of the regional providers have shifted to either MCInet (now Cable & Wireless) or Sprintlink. Moving the regional providers to the new Internet architecture in time for the April 1995 deadline was one of the major milestones that NSFNET had to achieve.

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NSF Solicits NIS Managers

In addition to the four main projects relating to the architectural aspects of the new Internet, NSF recognized that information services would be a critical component in the even more widespread, freewheeling network. As a result, a solicitation for one or more Network Information Services (NIS) managers for the NSFNET was proposed. This solicitation invited proposals for the following:

•To extend and coordinate directory and database and information and services.

•To provide registration services for nonmilitary Internet networks. The Defense Information Systems Agency Network Information Center (DISA NIC) will continue to provide for the registration of military networks.

At the time of the solicitation, the domestic, nonmilitary portion of the Internet included the NSFNET and other federally sponsored networks such as NASA Science Internet (NSI) and Energy Sciences Network (ESnet). All these networks, as well as some other networks on the Internet, were related to the National Research and Education Network (NREN), which was defined in the president's fiscal 1992 budget. The NSF solicitations for database services, information services, and registration services were needed to help the evolution of the NSFNET and the development of NREN.

Network Information Services

At the time of the proposal, certain network information services were being offered by a variety of providers. Some of these services included the following:

•End-user information services were provided by NSF Network Services Center (NNSC), operated by Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN). Other NSFNET end-user services were provided by campus-level computing and networking organizations.

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•Information services for various federal agency backbone networks were provided by the sponsoring agencies. NASA, for example, provided NSI information services.

•Internet registration services were provided by DISA NIC, operated by Government Services, Inc. (GSI).

•Information services for campus-level providers were provided by NSFNET mid-level network organizations.

•Information services for NSFNET mid-level network providers were provided by Merit, Inc.

Under the new solicitation, NIS managers should provide services to end-users and to campus and mid-level network service providers. They should also coordinate with other mid-level and network organizations, such as Merit, Inc.

Creation of the InterNIC

In response to NSF's solicitation for NIS managers, in January 1993 the InterNIC was established as a collaborative project among AT&T, General Atomics, and Network Solutions, Inc.[] It was to be supported by three five-year cooperative agreements with the NSF. During the second-year performance review, funding by the NSF to General Atomics stopped. AT&T was awarded the Database and Directory Services, and Network Solutions was awarded the Registration and NIC Support Services.

Directory and Database Services

The implementation of this service should utilize distributed database and other advanced technologies. The NIS manager could coordinate this role with respect to other organizations that have created and maintained relevant directories and databases. AT&T was providing the following services under the NSF agreement:

•Directory services (white pages):

This provides access to Internet White Pages information using X.500, WHOIS, and netfind systems.

The X.500 directory standard enables the creation of a single worldwide directory of information about various objects of interest, such as information about people.

The WHOIS lookup service provides unified access to three Internet WHOIS servers for person and organization queries. It searches the InterNIC directory and Database Services server for nonmilitary domain and non-Point-of-Contact data. The search for MIL (military) domain data is done via the DISA NIC server, and the POC data is done via the InterNIC Registration Services server.

Netfind is a simple Internet white pages directory search facility. Given the name of an Internet user and a description of where the user works, the tool attempts to locate information about the user.

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•Database services:

This should include databases of communications documents such as Request For Comments (RFCs), Internet Drafts (IDs), IETF Meeting Minutes, IETF Steering Group (IESG) documents, and so on. The service could also contain databases maintained for other groups with a possible fee.

AT&T also offered a database service listing of public databases, which contains information of interest to the Internet community.

•Directory of directories:

This service points to other directories and databases, such as those listed previously. This is an index of pointers to resources, products, and services accessible through the Internet. It includes pointers to resources such as computing centers, network providers, information servers, white and yellow pages directories, library catalogs, and so on.

As part of this service, AT&T stores a listing of information resources, including type, description, how to access the resource, and other attributes. Information providers are given access to update and add to the database. The information can be accessed via different methods, such as Telnet, ftp, e-mail, and World Wide Web.

Registration Services

The NIS manager was required to act in accordance with RFC 1174, which states the following:

The Internet system has employed a central Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)[] for the allocation and assignment of various numeric identifiers needed for the operation of the Internet. The IANA function is performed by the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute. The IANA has the discretionary authority to delegate portions of this responsibility and, with respect to numeric network and autonomous system identifiers, has lodged this responsibility with an Internet Registry (IR).

The NIS manager would become either the IR or a delegate registry authorized by the IR. The Internet registration services included the following:

•Network number assignment

•Autonomous system number assignment

•Domain name registration

•Domain name server registrations

From 1993 to 1998, NSI was the only provider of domain name registration services for the

.com, .net, and .org top-level domains, following the Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Government. The agreement was amended in 1998, and NSI is now working to develop software supporting a "Shared Registration System" for these top-level domains.

Today the U.S. Government has begun to privatize the management of domain name space in hopes of introducing competition in order to benefit the global Internet community.

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