/nsfnet/linkletter/linkletter.880826 Vol. 1 No. 10 26 August 1988 T H E L I N K L E T T E R The Merit/NSFNET Backbone Project FORMAL STATISTICS COLLECTION BEGINS Facilities for the formal collection of data for the NSFNET backbone are beginning to be put in place. Some procedures were implemented by the end of July. The graph below is an example of the kind of information NSFNET is beginning to compile. The graph was taken from the monthly report to NSF for July and is a sample of the information you can expect to see regularly in the near future. Other statistics will include packet delay data, as well as packet counts in and out of the nodes. The packet count data in the graphs below were collected from the Ethernet interface at each node. The figures are per day, midnight to midnight with packet counter readings taken every fifteen minutes. Counts are shown for packets in and packets out of all nodes on the NSFNET backbone. There are two general trends in the statistics: first, the total counts are rising steadily, and second, the traffic drops off dramatically on weekends (which may partly reflect the fact that during the summer, weekends are particularly slow on college campuses). New campus nets are still being added. At present, there are 248 NSFNET known campus nets in our routing tables. 247 Arpanet networks are also reachable through the NSFNET backbone. Thus, over one half of the networks in the Internet are attached to the NSFNET backbone. Note that, as we were in the early phases of operation in July, information regarding outages and unusual service events was not compiled. Obviously, this information impacts the counts. * * * PUBLICATION TO APPEAR MONTHLY LINK LETTER ADOPTS NEW FORMAT Beginning with the next issue, you'll see some changes in the Link Letter. While the backbone was in the construction stage and later when it was in operational test mode, Information Services used the Link Letter as a vehicle to issue status and progress reports. Now that the backbone is a production network, the need for a short information-status publication is being replaced by the need for more detailed technical information. In conjunction with this change, the Information Services staff is redesigning the format to provide a longer, more colorful publication which will allow room for technical articles. Look for the new monthly Link Letter towards the end of September. We would like to take this opportunity to request articles such as reports from the sites regarding network successes. Additionally, if you have ideas for articles and information you would like to see included, please let us know. * * * A CORRECTION RE:T1 SPEED An article in the June 1988 NSF Network News compared the 56 kbps interim NSFNET backbone with the logical topology of the new NSFNET backbone. This resulted in a misunderstanding as to the actual physical topology of the new NSFNET. The diagrams below may help to clarify the information The current NSFNET connects thirteen hubs with fourteen T1 links. The bandwidth is allocated equally between the thirteen network nodes. As we collect more data, we can do network modeling and reallocate the bandwidth as needed. For more information, please refer to our proposal to NSFNET. If you would like a copy, please send your United States mail address to NSFNET-info@merit.edu. * * * CALENDAR OF EVENTS October 3-7 SPIRES/Spectrum Course Open to anyone interested in learning how to use the various utilities of SPIRES. Hosted by Merit and the University of Michigan the course will be held in Ann Arbor. For more information, contact: HQ.CON@forsythe.stanford.edu.. October 17-19 Internet Engineering Task Force Meeting (IETF) This task force will meet at the Campus Inn in Ann Arbor. IETF meeting offers a forum for technical meetings, including IETF Working Groups. October 20 InterNIC Meeting InterNIC is working on coordinating the efforts of Information Centers at the mid-level and campus level. The group will meet in Ann Arbor directly following the IETF meeting. * * * The Link Letter is published by the Merit Computer Network/NSFNET Information Services, 1075 Beal, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2112. Anyone interested in receiving the electronic version of The Link Letter should send a message to: NSFNET- Linkletter-Request@merit.edu. For more information, reach us at NSFNET-info@merit.edu or by calling (313) 936-3000 or 1-800-66- MERIT. We welcome suggestions and contributions. IS Staff: Elise Gerich, William Hart, Ellen Hoffman, Janise Honeyman, Laura Kelleher, Ken Latta, Rick Schmalgemeier, Andrew Simms, Jim Sweeton, Jo Ann Ward. * * * * * * *