Network Services

The LONI intranet consists of 100baseT and Gigabit ethernet as well as an IEEE 802.11a/b/g-compliant wireless network. Three 6500 enterprise-class Cisco Catalyst switches provide redundant routing and non-blocking packet switching. The laboratory is connected to the vBNS backbone of Internet2 via a fiber optic Gigabit line. While UCLA Campus Telecommunications Services (CTS) is responsible for the network and provides fault tolerance, network monitoring and load balancing, the redundant uplinks ensure that the facility's network connectivity will be maintained in the case of a single router failure. Furthermore, the laboratory has an extensive library of communications software for transmitting data and for recording transaction logs. The library includes software for monitoring network processes, automatically warning system operators of potential problems and restarting processes that have failed. The facility has a Cisco PIX firewall providing network security. LONI has implemented virtual private network (VPN) services to facilitate access to internal resources by authorized users. A VPN connection establishes an encrypted tunnel between client and server, ensuring that communications over the Internet is secure.