GruntRef na INET'93

[Vladimir Vrabec]

Vazeni pratele,

v obcasniku OMICRON-ECHO-19 jsme Vas informovali, ze pozadame ing. Gruntorada
o text jeho referatu na INET'93 a o text jeho prehledove zpravy na seminari
CESNETu (23/2/94) "Soucasny stav a dalsi plany CESNETu". Jsme radi, ze muzeme
k tomuto e-dopisu pripojit laskavosti kolegy Gruntorada jeho referat na
INET'93. Text jeho prispevku na seminari vysel, i kdyz podle slov
ing. Gruntorada "ne uplne optimalne", v Computer World c. 13/94 (str.4).

Zdravi
       Vladimir Vrabec

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1. Wide Area Networks in the Czech Republic

Computer  users  in  the  Czech  Republic  can  access   the
following Wide Area Computer Networks directly: EARN/BITNET,
EUnet, FidoNet, and Internet. From them, many other networks
can be reached.

EARN, the European Academic and Research Network with its 10
nodes in the Czech Republic, plays an important role in  our
Wide Area Networking: NETSERV and LISTSERV  servers as  well
as an EARN <-> Internet E-mail gateway run  on CSEARN  - the
Czechoslovak  EARN   national  node.   All  other   standard
EARN/BITNET services are also supported.

EUnet, a network of  Unix-based computers,  has 19  nodes in
the  Czech  Republic,  mostly  at  commercial  and  academic
institutions.  Dial-up links are used; E-mail and electronic
conferences are supported.

Fidonet, a network of MS-DOS-based personal  computers, lies
outside the scope of this article.

The most atractive network  for our  users is  the Internet,
the worldwide "network of  networks" which  uses the  TCP/IP
communications protocols  and which  provides some  services
not available in other networks (remote login, etc.).


2. The FESNET/CESNET Project

By the end of 1991, the Czech Technical University Computing
Centre made  a proposal  to build  a backbone  network which
would create a common infrastructure for the whole  academic
and  research  community  in  Czechoslovakia.   The   FESNET
(Federal  Educational  and Scientific  Network) project  was
accepted in  the spring  of 1992  by the  Czech Ministry  of
Education.  Because  of the  breakup of  Czechoslovakia into
the Czech Republic and Slovakia, FESNET was divided into two
independent parts: CESNET (Czech Educational  and Scientific
Network) and  SANET (Slovak  Academic Network).   The CESNET
backbone has been operating since February 1993.

The Internet TCP/IP protocols are acceptable  also for  many
EARN and EUnet computers and so they have  been selected  as
the basic protocols of the academic  backbone network.   The
CESNET   backbone   can   carry   additional  communications
protocols (AppleTalk,  DECnet,  IPX,  X.25,  etc.)   because
multiprotocol routers are used both at  the CESNET  backbone
and at all CESNET nodes.  CISCO  routers have  been selected
for their  good performance  and compatibility  with similar
academic networks abroad.  Institutions which do not require
high  speed  and  multiple  protocols  can  use  much   less
expensive  routers:  MS-DOS-based  computers  running public
domain routing programs (PCROUTE or KA9Q).

The  CESNET  project  tried  to select  those communications
media  with  the  best  price/performance  ratio.    Various
technologies (satellite,  microwave, terrestrial  links) and
tenders from several suppliers (Czechoslovak PTT,  IBM CSFR,
etc.)   have  been  considered.   The  central  digital link
between Prague  and  Brno allows  a 64  kbps speed;  several
other  locations  are  interconnected  by digital  19.2 kbps
links.  For  other locations,  analog 19.2  kbps lines  with
state-of-the-art modems (Motorola Codex 3266 FAST) have been
selected. These  links will  be upgraded  to faster  digital
lines when necessary.

Because  of  the  high  cost of  leased lines  in the  Czech
Republic,  some  smaller  institutions  will prefer  dial-up
connection to  their nearest  nodes (CISCO  terminal servers
will be installed at nine main  CESNET nodes).   The network
should also be accessible from the EUROTEL X.25  Public Data
Network.

The CESNET  backbone connects  the main  Czech and  Moravian
University  sites,  i.e.   Prague,  Liberec,  Plzen,   Ceske
Budejovice, Pardubice,  Hradec Kralove,  Brno, Olomouc,  and
Ostrava.   Several  other  sites  (e.g.,  Cheb,   Jindrichuv
Hradec, Opava, Usti nad Labem, and Zlin) should also connect
during 1993 (see Fig. 1). Large university networks  connect
to  the  CESNET  backbone  in  several  locations; 20  CISCO
routers are used in the Prague Academic Network.

CESNET is already using  or will  shortly use  the following
international  links:  Prague  -   Linz  (ACONET,  Austria);
Prague - Amsterdam (EMPB network); Liberec  -  Zittau  (DFN,
Germany); Prague - Banska Bystrica (SANET,  Slovakia).  Some
of these links are partly or wholly financed by the  country
which we are connected to.

The CESNET backbone has two main network management centres:
at Prague and Brno.  The administrations of each campus-wide
or  academic  metropolitan network  (with their  hundreds or
thousands of hosts) connected to CESNET will be  responsible
for  monitoring  and  managing  their own  traffic.  Network
management programs using the SNMP protocol (especially  the
PSI SNMP version 4.1) running mostly on the SUN workstations
will be used.


3. Services in the CESNET Network

In  addition  to the  usual services  (E-mail, Telnet,  FTP,
etc.), several others are available to the CESNET users. The
most important ones are:

- Interconnected  Academic Libraries (= another grant of the
  Czech Ministry of Education)
- Academic databases (e.g., on Publication Activities of the
  Czech Technical University Academic staff)
- Centralised distribution of Usenet News.

Several working groups have been formed  which take  care of
the  most   important  parts   of  network   management  and
maintenance:

- Network Operations Centre
- Network Information Centre
- E-mail
- News and Archives
- Computer Emergency Response Team

Several other projects connected with the CESNET (using  the
Czech Alphabet  in E-mail,  training the  network users  and
managers, creating data and public domain  program archives)
have been proposed to the Czech Ministry of Education.


4. Access of Non-Academic users to CESNET

There is a significant demand from outside the R&D community
from our country to connect to the Internet.  However, there
are some organisational and legal issues connected with this
task. There is a law in our country saying that everyone who
provides information services using  the PTT-operated  lines
needs a  Government licence.   Negotiation with  the Federal
Ministry of Telecommunications (and with its successor after
the breakup of Czechoslovakia) started  in October  1992 but
no significant progress has been made so far.

Another  main  problem  seems  to  be  the  fact   that  our
connection to Internet is not "policy  free". Therefore,  we
strongly support the activities  of our  Austrian colleagues
which aim to establish an EBONE EBS in Vienna.


5. Conclusion

Building the basic  computer network  infrastructure in  the
Czech Republic  was a  very significant  step in  making the
latest  information  technologies  available  to  the  broad
academic community. Another very significant task that is in
front  of  us  is  to  develop  a  reliable  and  attractive
information services  for our  users. Our  goal is  that not
only computer scientists and specialists from related fields
will use the network. We want to bring the network  services
also to medical doctors,  philosophers, lawyers,  musicians,
linguists, etc. - in short, to the whole academic community.

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