Internet Exchange Points, by Philip Smith [APNIC 38 / ISOC-AU]
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This document discusses Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). It begins with a history of IXPs, explaining how they originated from the need for private networks to interconnect after commercial traffic was restricted on NSFNET. The document then defines IXPs, explaining that they are neutral locations where network operators interconnect their networks to exchange traffic via ethernet switches. It discusses why IXPs are established, including reducing costs and improving performance by keeping local traffic local. Finally, it provides examples of successful IXPs in the Asia-Pacific region and benefits of their creation, such as developing local internet economies.
Internet Exchange Points, by Philip Smith [APNIC 38 / ISOC-AU]
- 1. Internet Exchange Points Philip Smith ISOC-AU Meeting APNIC 38 Brisbane September 16th 2014 1
- 2. Internet Exchange Points p Background – What is an IXP p Why set up an IXP? p Technologies p Benefits p IXPs in Asia Pacific region today 2
- 3. A bit of history Where did the IX concept come from? 3
- 4. A Bit of History… p NSFnet – one major backbone n US “National Science Foundation” funded n Connected academic & research institutions n Also connected “private company” networks, with acceptable use policy p AUP: No commercial activity n Three Network Access Points (NAPs): Chicago, New York, San Francisco p Private companies needed to interconnect their networks n Requirement to send “commercial traffic” n Could not cross NSFnet n Resulted in the early “commercial Internet Exchanges” 4
- 5. More History… p Early Internet Exchanges created in early 90s n CIX-West – west coast USA n MAE-East – east coast USA n D-GIX – Stockholm p End of the NSFnet in 1995: n Meant move towards commercial Internet n Private companies selling their bandwidth n ANS (operator of the late NSFnet) had to join IXes 5
- 6. Even more History p D-GIX formed in Stockholm in 1992 n Three major ISPs interconnected n Latency reduction, performance gains n Local traffic stays local p LINX formed in London in 1994 n Five UK operators interconnected n Latency reduction, performance gains n Local traffic stays local p HKIX formed in Hong Kong in 1995 n Vibrant Internet community, many small operators n Latency, performance, and local traffic benefits p Also AMS-IX in Amsterdam in 1994 n Same reasons as others 6
- 7. Internet Exchange Point p What: n A neutral location where network operators freely interconnect their networks to exchange traffic p What is the physical IX: n An ethernet switch in a neutral location p How does it work: n IX Operator provides the switch and rack space n Network Operators bring routers, and interconnect them via the IX fabric p Very simple concept – any place where providers meet to exchange traffic 7
- 8. Internet Exchange Point p Layer 2 exchange point n Ethernet (100Gbps/10Gbps/1Gbps/100Mbps) n Older technologies used in the past included ATM, Frame Relay, SRP, FDDI and SMDS p Layer 3 exchange point n Has historical status now n Router based p Best known example was CIX-West p Router and management very quickly overwhelmed by the rapid growth of the Internet 8
- 9. Why an Internet Exchange Point? Saving money, improving QoS, Generating a local Internet economy 9
- 10. Internet Exchange Point Why peer? p Consider a region with two ISPs n Each provides internet connectivity to their customers n Each has one or two international connections to the rest of the Internet p How does traffic from a customer of one ISP get to the customer of the other ISP?? n Via the international connections n Expensive, high latency, congested 10
- 11. Internet Exchange Point Why peer? p The two competing ISPs peer with each other p Outcome/Benefits: n Both save money n Local traffic stays local n Better network performance, better QoS,… n More international bandwidth for expensive international traffic n Everyone is happy 11
- 12. Internet Exchange Point Why peer? p A third ISP enters the equation n Becomes a significant player in the region n Local and international traffic goes over their international connections p The three ISPs agree to peer n To save money n To keep local traffic local n To improve network performance, QoS,… n Which means they buy circuits to each other – won’t scale p Solution: Internet Exchange Point n Each participant buys just one link, to the IXP 12
- 13. Internet Exchange Point p Solution: n Every ISP participates in the IXP n Cost is minimal – one local circuit covers all domestic traffic n International circuits are used for just international traffic – and backing up domestic links in case the IXP fails p Result: n Local traffic stays local n QoS considerations for local traffic is not an issue n RTTs are typically sub 1ms n Customers enjoy the Internet experience n Local Internet economy grows rapidly 13
- 14. Who can join an IXP? p Requirements are very simple: any organisation which operates their own autonomous network, and has: n Their own address space n Their own AS number n Their own transit arrangements p This often includes: n Commercial ISPs n Academic & Research networks n Internet infrastructure operators (eg Root/ccTLDs) n Content providers n Broadcasters and media n Government Information networks 14
- 15. When is an IXP not required? p Legislation: When there is one legislated monopoly transit provider n With all other network operators legislated to be customers of this monopoly provider p Geography: When the local economy is so small that it cannot sustain more than one network operator n Very small nations (maybe less than 10000 population?) n Sparsely populated / remote areas 15
- 16. When an IXP is “not required” p This is still the situation in several countries around the world p Usually it is a Government operated “national telco” n ISP licence mandates connecting to “national telco” for Internet services p Implications: n Expensive domestic connectivity n Expensive international connectivity n Restricted and poor service offerings n No domestic Internet economy 16
- 18. IXP Design p Very simple concept: n Ethernet switch is the interconnection media p It must be a managed switch p It must have decent security features p The IXP is one LAN (Layer 2) p https://www.euro-ix.net/ixp-wishlist has more details n Each ISP brings a router, connects it to the ethernet switch provided at the IXP n Each ISP peers with other participants at the IXP using BGP 18
- 19. Layer 2 Exchange 19 ISP 6 ISP 5 ISP 4 IXP Management Network Ethernet Switch IXP Services: Root & TLD DNS, Routing Registry Looking Glass, etc ISP 1 ISP 2 ISP 3
- 20. Layer 2 Exchange p Two switches for redundancy p ISPs use dual routers for redundancy or loadsharing p IXP offers services for the “common good” n Internet portals and search engines n DNS Root & TLDs, NTP servers n Content Caches n Routing Registry and Looking Glass 20
- 21. Layer 2 Exchange p Neutral location n Anyone can install fibre or other connectivity media to access the IXP p Without cost or regulations imposed by location p Secure location n Thorough security, like any other network data centre p Accessible location n Easy/convenient for all participants to access p Expandable location n IXPs result in Internet growth, and increasing space requirements 21
- 22. Layer 2 Exchange p Operation: n Requires neutral IXP management n “Consortium” p Representing all participants p “Management Board” etc p Funding: n All costs agreed and covered equally by IXP participants n Hosting location often contributes – the IXP brings them more business p Availability: n 24x7 cover provided by hosting location p Managed by the consortium 22
- 23. Layer 2 Exchange p Industry Standards documented by Euro-IX, the European IXP Association n Contributed to by the Euro-IX members p IXP BCP n General overview of the infrastructure, operations, policies and management of the IXP n https://www.euro-ix.net/ixp-bcp p IXP Website BCP n https://www.euro-ix.net/website-bcp 23
- 24. Types of Peering p Mandatory Multi-Lateral Peering (MMLP) n Each participant is forced to peer with every other participant as part of their IXP membership n Has no history of success — the practice is strongly discouraged p Multi-Lateral Peering (MLP) n Each participant peers with every other participant (usually via a Route Server) p Bi-Lateral Peering n Participants set up peering with each other according to their own requirements and business relationships n This is the most common situation at IXPs today 24
- 25. Types of Operator Peering Policies p Open Peering n Where an ISP publicly states that they will peer with all parties who approach them for peering n Commonly found at IXPs where ISP participates via the Route Server p Selective Peering n Where an ISP’s peering policy depends on the nature of the operator who requests peering with them n At IXPs, operator will not peer with RS but will only peer bilaterally p Closed Peering n Where an ISP decides who its peering partners are, and is generally not approachable to creating peering opportunities 25
- 26. Operators Peering Activities p The Peering Database documents ISPs peering policies and contact information n http://peeringdb.com p All operators of ASNs should register in the peeringdb n All operators who are considering peering or are peering must be in the peeringdb to enhance their peering opportunities p Participation in peering fora is encouraged too n Global Peering Forum (GPF) n Regional Peering Fora (European, Middle Eastern, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American) 26
- 27. Charging p IXPs needs to be run at minimal cost to its member participants p Common examples: n Datacentre hosts IX for free n IX operates cost recovery – most common n Different pricing for different ports – biggest IXPs p IXes do NOT charge for traffic crossing the switch fabric n They are a peering enabler, encouraging as much traffic as possible between members 27
- 28. IXP Benefits 28
- 29. IXP Creation p No economy or circumstance is unique or different n The first excuse for not creating an IXP is “we don’t need one” n The second excuse for not creating an IXP is “oh, it is different here” p Every locality has its differences n But every locality wants to p Keep local traffic local p Improve network performance and QoS p Improve local Internet economy n The available technology is the same for every network operator everywhere n There is no excuse for not improving the local Internet 29
- 30. Eco System Development p Create IXP association n Formed by members who have a port on the IXP p IXP members meet regularly n IXP Board meetings n IXP Operational strategy and direction p IXP Technical community could also meet too n Network operators meeting, involving network and systems operations engineers n Aligned with IXP Association/member meetings n Could lead to creation of a Network Operators Group p IXP could facilitate the creation of a NOG n The same engineers are involved in both! 30
- 31. Industry Associations p Euro-IX n European Internet Exchange association n Members from Europe, associate members from around the world n Website has all the information needed to start an IXP n https://www.euro-ix.net/starting-an-ixp n IXP Best Practice documentation: n https://www.euro-ix.net/euro-ix-bcp p APIX n Asia Pacific Internet Exchange association n Members from Asia Pacific region n Meets twice a year, during APRICOT and APNIC meeting n http://apix.asia 31
- 32. More about IXPs and ISP interconnects p Network Startup Resource Center n http://nsrc.org/route-bgp-ixp.html p Internet Society n http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/issues/ internet-exchange-points-ixps n http://www.ixptoolkit.org/ p Telegeography n http://www.telegeography.com/telecom-resources/ internet-exchange-map/ n A collection of ISP interconnect points p Note Well: many of these are NOT IXPs 32
- 33. Summary p IXP is a Layer 2 infrastructure p At least three players required (two is okay too) n Meeting in an open and neutral location p Minimal rules p Minimal bureaucracy p Cost recovery p Encourage participation by all autonomous networks p Develop the local Internet eco-system 33
- 34. IXPs in Asia Pacific 34
- 35. Success stories p Vanuatu IX (VUIX) n Launched in 2013, and all network operators in Vanuatu participate n First open neutral IXP in the Pacific n Has caused a lot of interest in neighbouring Pacific nations, especially Papua New Guinea and Fiji n The recent PacNOG in Vanuatu included visit to the IX facility 35
- 36. Success stories p Nepal IX (NPIX) n Launched in 2002 n Within first year, most ISPs in Nepal connected n Incumbent followed a few years later n Very effective at keep local traffic local p Bangladesh IX (BDIX) n Launched in 2004 n Connecting many of the small and mid-sized providers in and around Dhaka p Now Bhutan is looking at an IXP for the industry there 36
- 37. Other IXPs in the region p Hong Kong (HKIX) p Japan IXPs n JPNAP, JPIX, WIDE’s IX,… p New Zealand’s IXPs n Auckland, Christchurch,… p Western Australia (WAIX) p Singapore (SGIX) p Thailand’s first Open Neutral IXP being established 37
- 38. The future p Ultimately each economy requires an IXP n Open and neutral, free for all operators to connect to and exchange traffic n Keeps local traffic local n Improves domestic internet performance n Improves local internet economy (attracting content and content development back home) n Very attractive for content providers and content distribution providers 38