MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HAYSTACK OBSERVATORY
WESTFORD, MASSACHUSETTS 01886
Telephone:
Fax:
978-692-4764
781-981-0590
6 May 2002
TO:
Distribution
FROM:
Alan R. Whitney
SUBJECT:
6 May 2002 e-VLBI telecon summary
Attendees:
Lee Foster, Pat Gary, Chuck Kodak, Paul Lang, Bill Wildes – GSFC
Steve Bernstein – Lincoln Laboratory
Richard Crowley, Kevin Dudevoir, Arthur Niell, Mike Titus, Alan Whitney – Haystack Observatory
This telecon is one of an ongoing series of telecons to prepare for gigabit/sec e-VLBI demonstrations
between NASA GSFC and MIT Haystack Observatory using a combination of network facilities
including all or part of Glownet, Bossnet, ISI-E, SuperNet, Max and GSFC/HECN.
Status Reports
The attached figures of the e-VLBI path have been updated to reflect current status and are pretty
much self-explanatory; critical status items are indicated in red. In addition, the following comments
are relevant:
− Steve reported that the Bossnet OC-48 link is still down. Peter Schultz and Tom Lehman are
pursuing, but Tom is away this week, so likely will not be up before next week.
− Tom Lehman has sent a test workstation to LL (labeled E5A in Figure 1)
− Pat reported that links H9 and H11 are now in place, but that the Juniper M160 at H7 is not
yet configured to use these links; Pat will work with Jerry Sobieski to get this done. The test
workstation at J1 is now in place, but vital characteristics of J1 are not known; Pat will
coordinate with Jerry to get this information.
− Pat reported that there has been some difficulty in configuring the kernel for test workstation
K6, but hope to complete this effort soon and move K6 to position L6 at GGAO.
− Steve reported that the LL radar is expected back on-line sometime mid-May, at which time
the Haystack-LL e-VLBI link will again be shared and will need to be scheduled.
Performance Testing
Kevin and John Ball are working on application software at Haystack; present systems are too slow
(~380 Mbps with Mark 5 systems back-to-back with a GigE connection), but are expected to be
substantially boosted by use of scatter-gather DMA, which should be available in a few weeks.
Kevin reported that performance testing that he and Tom Lehman have been doing between ISI-E and
minutes12.doc 5/7/2002
1
LL/Haystack is still show puzzling results. Kevin reported the following numbers:
Haystack (B3) to/from LL (E5) - ~980 Mbps
Haystack (B3) to ISI-E (G7) - ~300 Mbps
ISI-E (G7) to Haystack (B3) - ~550 Mbps
ISI-E (G7) to LL (E5A) - ~800 Mbps
LL (E5A) to ISI-E (G7) – not tested
Difficulties with the Bossnet link have prevented further testing at this point. The asymmetry and
inconsistent performance numbers are not yet understood. Kevin and Tom are pursuing. Coming to
an understanding of these differences is critical to achieving the desired data rates.
Other
Pat re-iterated that we need to create a summary of the vital characteristics of each of the test
workstation. Kevin will create such a list of workstations he knows, along with a summary of
performance results, together and distribute.
Pat also re-iterated the importance of a continuing program. Alan outlined the plans for Haystack,
LL (Steve Bernstein et al) and MIT (John Wroclawski et al) to collaborate on a proposal to NSF to do
exactly this. This includes developing special protocols for e-VLBI to better utilize network
facilities, as well as infrastructure building and testing for e-VLBI. There is much interest in
connecting to Internet2 and thence to overseas connections such as TransPAC (to Japan) and Surfnet
(to Europe). Suggestions are welcome. Paul indicated that Dan Magorian is interested in looking
into possibility of providing ‘wavelength service’ across the MAX network, for example.
Action Items
Kevin, Tom, Pat: Gather and distribute workstation configuration information as necessary. Kevin
will put together and distribute a list of vital statistics of test workstations and performance-test data
to date.
Steve: Check on expected date that Glownet connection will once again be shared.
Steve: Keep tabs on status of Bossnet and notify group when problem is fixed.
Pat: Work with Jerry Sobieski to configure Juniper M160 at H7.
Pat: Finish work on test workstation K6, test and move to GGAO (position L6).
Next telecon
Next telecon will be Wed, 29 May 2002 at 2 pm.
xc:
Steve Bernstein, LL
Jim Calvin, LL
Lorraine Prior, LL
Leslie Weiner, LL
Herbert Durbeck, GSFC
Lee Foster, GSFC
Pat Gary, GSFC
Chuck Kodak, GSFC
Kevin Kranacs, GSFC
Paul Lang, GSFC
Aruna Muppalla, GSFC
Bill Wildes, GSFC
minutes12.doc 5/7/2002
2
Dan Magorian, UMCP
Tom Lehman, ISI
Jerry Sobieski, Max
Richard Crowley, Haystack
Kevin Dudevoir, Haystack
Hans Hinteregger, Haystack
Arthur Niell, Haystack
Joe Salah, Haystack
minutes12.doc 5/7/2002
3
Westford Antenna
Millstone RPE Bldg (Lorraine)
Dedicated no scheduling
GigE
WS/
Mark 5
Summit
1i
1
A2
A1
GigE
8
Alpine
A4
3804
A3
Dedicated no scheduling
28-1A
14
B1
Summit
15
WS/
Mark 5
100 Mb
28-1B
B8
B4
B6
B7
Hub
B10
B9
To HS switch
B3
Corr
Cntl
Cmptr
GlowNet
Congress St
Boston
(~50 km)
Amp
Cisco
1500
Connection made for e-VLBI
E3
GigE
Alpine
3804
E2
E1
D2
Lincoln Lab (Lorraine/Steve/Jim)
Schedule to be
coordinated with LL
E4A
Test
WS
From ISI-E
GigE
E6
E4
GigE
Test
WS
3l (2 GigE + 1 OC-48)
GlowNet
(~100 km)
D1
Bossnet (Steve/Jim)
ISI-E
Scheduling on
Bossnet calendar
E7
Juniper OC-48
1310
M20
E8
GigE
E5
Cisco
1500
GigE
B11
D3
WDM
E5A
WDM
GigE
5i
13
(Shared with LL on
scheduled basis)
C3
16
GigE
GigE
Dell Poweredge 2500
GigE
B5
B2
LL
C2
Haystack Correlator
WS/
Mark 5
Schedule to be
coordinated with LL
C1
MIT
Campus
WDM
F1
E9
155x
Amp
Amp
F2
Bossnet OC-48 currently down
Other users (no control)
To be upgraded to OC-48
Dell Poweredge 500SC
(provided by Haystack)
Figure 1: e-VLBI Path - Haystack to ISI-E
evlbi011.cdr
06 May 02
ISI-E (Tom)
Scheduling on
Bossnet calendar
MAX @ ISI-E (Jerry)
Need details
Alpha
Test
WS
WDM
Switch
G5
G7
Tuner
Bossnet
Summit
5i
GigE
G6
G8
G6
GigE
H5
H1
G12
GigE
MAX performance node;
need details
Test
WS?
H2
GigE
No scheduling;
sufficient capacity
for e-VLBI
H4
Backup plan
OC-48
Trans-
G2
ponder
G1
OC-48
G9
G11
Juniper
M40
G3
OC-48
Borrowed OC-48
interface - may not
be able to keep
G10
H3
H6
MAX/UMCP (Jerry/Dan)
No jumbo frames
H7
Juniper
M160
GigE
H8
GigE
H9
Primary e-VLBI path
Not yet configured for H9 path
J3
Test
WS?
J2
Other users ( no control)
Cisco
4912
Switch
GigE
Summit
5i
H10
GigE
J5
J4
WDM
GigE
on loan from GSFC
H11
2 GigE
LuxN
J6
J1
Need details
OC-48
Juniper
M160
LX (~14km)
GGAO/Bldg 201 (Pat/Chuck)
GSFC/Bldg 28 (Pat/Paul/Kevin/Bill F.)
GigE
K2
WDM
Will try to schedule
either K2 or K3
exclusively for
e-VLBI experiment
G4 Mac with
Yellowdog Linux;
need details
(Bill Fink)
K3
K1
K6
Test
WS
GGAO Antenna Trailer (Bill W./Chuck)
K4
Summit
5i
GigE
LX (~7.25km)
K7
1310
Dedicated - no
scheduling necessary
GigE Summit
L1
5i
(~500m)
L2
K5
Test
WS
GigE
L3
SX
L4
L5
K6A
Windows PC
(Lee Foster)
To be moved to GGAO as soon as possible
Figure 2: e-VLBI Path - ISI-E to GSFC/GGAO
Mark 5
L6
Test
WS
(K6)
evlbi012.cdr
6 May 02