So we're going to look at the IXP design
and it's actually a very simple concept--
it is an Ethernet switch and it's a
single LAN each ISP brings a router and
connects it to the Ethernet switch
provided at the exchange point and each
provider will appear with other
participants at the exchange point using
BGP scaling this simple concept is the
challenge for the larger IXPs the
diagram shows a typical simple layer to
exchange we are the net switch in the
middle we have six ISPs in this example
connected to the Ethernet switch and we
also have the IXP services for example
the root or TLD dns servers
perhaps a routing registry
looking-glasses and other services we
also have the exchange point management
network where the network monitoring
system and the exchange point website
and so on would reside as the exchange
point GRU is quite often the ISP members
would like a second site for redundancy
so a second Ethernet switch is
provisioned note that the switches are
not interconnected it's a true
independent second site we don't want to
have the two exchanges join together so
that we have true redundancy should
either site fail ISPs will use dual
routers for the redundancy or load
sharing and of course the exchange point
will host services that all members
agree would be useful for the common
good this would include internet portal
search engines DNS root and TLD servers
network time protocol servers for time
synchronization routing registry and
looking-glasses and so on which we'll
discuss later on also about layer 2
exchanges it's very important that we
have a neutral location
and this means anyone can install fiber
or other
connectivity media to access the ixp
without cost or regulations imposed by
the location a secure location is
important thorough security like any
other network data center while the
exchange point starts off being quite
informal as an Internet economy grows
due to the exchange point six success it
becomes a very very important part of
the local internet ecosystem last thing
we want to do is to move the exchange
point from an insecure ill-prepared
location to somewhere more secure
because the members are worried about
its lack of security we also need an
accessible location easy and convenient
for all participants to access and an
expandable location exchange points
result in internet growth and increasing
space requirements within the facility
not from the exchange point itself but
for the operators who want to host in
the same facility they start wanting to
bring more equipment and make the point
of presence larger content hosting the
content providers want to participate at
the exchange point the root name server
and the TLD name server operators all
cause the actual facility to need more
space the operation of the layer to
exchange requires a neutral management
now this could be done by a consortium
representing all participants or a
management board or somebody hired by
all the members to operate the exchange
point infrastructure exchange points are
not operated by one of the members
everybody who is participating needs to
take part and feel as though they have
some investment in the success of the
infrastructure the same goes for funding
all costs are agreed and covered equally
by all the exchange point participants
the hosting location often contributes
the exchange point brings them more
and in the ideal case the who the
hosting location would even provide the
exchange point Rackspace and facility
for free the availability of the
exchange point we should have 24 by 7
cover provided by the hosting location
and this will be managed by the
consortium if there's no 24 by 7 cover
then that can't be 24 by 7 operation of
the exchange configuration also we use
public ipv4 and ipv6 address space for
exchange point land the regional
registries have policies for exchange
points allowing exchange points to apply
for address space for the peering land
the network operators who turn up at the
exchange points need an S number for the
BGP configuration but the basic internet
exchange point does not it's layer 2 as
for the network security considerations
the land switch needs to be a full
proper managed switch with standard
secure configuration unmanaged switches
are of no use here whatsoever the
exchange point management and services
router needs to be well protected as
with any other internet router and the
ixb services again must be behind router
with strong filters and secure
configuration industry standards for
internet exchange points are documented
by Euro IX the European internet
exchange point Association and these
standards are all contributed to by the
Euro IX members you can find the
reference at the URL on the screen
they've also documented best current
practices for internet exchange points
giving a general overview of the
infrastructure operations policies and
management of the exchange point your ex
has also documented website best can
practice for exchange points and this
shows
IXP operators the key elements of the
required for website at an internet
exchange point the type of content and
information that members and potential
members would like to see
including connected peers traffic statistics and so on.
© Produced by Philip Smith and the Network Startup Resource Center, through the University of Oregon.
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