1
How do I check whether I have access to/am accessible from Internet2? Google says I should be using Internet2 Detective, but that tool seems to have disappeared.
The host is at an institution that is an Internet2 member. However, the network admins are not sufficiently competent to reliably route over Internet2 when possible. So how would you empirically test Internet2 connectivity?
lid
Posted 2013-05-22T18:36:32.007
Reputation: 859
5
So the first question I would ask is "why do you want to know?" What capability do you think you will get from Internet2 that you wouldn't get otherwise? Not to say that you don't get anything special, but in general, if you are asking this question, you may not need it.
With that in mind, here's an answer to the question you asked.
In general, there are very few Internet2-only hosts; most everything that is Internet2-connected is also connected to the rest of the Internet. As it turns out, though, you are correct that the NDT servers on that list are connected to Internet2, without full internet connectivity.
However...AWS & the rest of Amazon is connected to Internet2 via Internet2's TR-CPS "commodity peering service," which connects Internet2 member campuses to large providers, with the goal of reducing their (more expensive) general commodity Internet usage. So, it's quite possible that you are not on Internet2 per se, but rather that you are connected via some network on TR-CPS. IIRC even one of the Tier 1 ISPs is connected via TR-CPS, I don't recall which one.
So, we know that if you can't see the NDT servers, you do not have Internet2 connectivity; but if you can see them, that doesn't mean you really do have Internet2 in the sense that you are thinking.
One way would be to do a traceroute to a site that is known to be connected to Internet2, and see what path it follows. www.internet2.edu is a good choice, but here in Michigan I actually connect to it via the regional network, Merit, without traversing the Internet2 network. so, I'll choose www.stanford.edu, good and far away. If there is a particular endpoint you're wondering about, well, traceroute to there :).
From umich:
%traceroute www.stanford.edu
traceroute to www-v6.stanford.edu (171.67.215.200), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 v-umce-login.r-aldc-a.umnet.umich.edu (141.211.2.130) 0.325 ms 0.207 ms 0.233 ms
2 d-aldca-fxb.r-fxb.umnet.umich.edu (198.108.11.160) 0.447 ms 0.322 ms 0.341 ms
3 l3-arbl-fxb.r-arbl.umnet.umich.edu (141.211.0.137) 0.540 ms 0.419 ms 0.396 ms
4 l3-barb-rarb.r-bin-arbl.umnet.umich.edu (192.12.80.129) 0.434 ms 0.366 ms 0.341 ms
5 v-bin-arbl-i2-wsu5.wsu5.mich.net (192.12.80.69) 1.736 ms 1.683 ms 1.739 ms
6 v0x1004.rtr.wash.net.internet2.edu (192.122.183.10) 29.499 ms 29.475 ms 29.493 ms
7 ae-8.10.rtr.atla.net.internet2.edu (64.57.28.6) 42.225 ms 42.212 ms 42.217 ms
8 ae-1.10.rtr.hous.net.internet2.edu (64.57.28.112) 65.631 ms 65.566 ms 65.693 ms
9 ae-3.10.rtr.losa.net.internet2.edu (64.57.28.96) 96.622 ms 96.470 ms 96.522 ms
10 hpr-lax-hpr--i2-newnet.cenic.net (137.164.26.133) 79.614 ms 79.579 ms 79.715 ms
11 svl-hpr2--lax-hpr2-10g.cenic.net (137.164.25.38) 87.740 ms 87.784 ms 87.745 ms
12 hpr-stanford--svl-hpr2-10ge.cenic.net (137.164.27.62) 88.241 ms 88.283 ms 88.252 ms
13 boundarya-rtr.Stanford.EDU (171.66.0.34) 88.445 ms 88.470 ms 88.446 ms
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 www-v6.Stanford.EDU (171.67.215.200) 88.673 ms 88.674 ms 88.593 ms
Here you see my home connection, on comcast. Turns out it connects via Internet2 TR-CPS, but, again, it's not really "on Internet2" in the sense you are thinking.
~@mx-5% traceroute www.stanford.edu
traceroute to www-v6.stanford.edu (171.67.215.200), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 asus-gw (192.168.1.1) 0.923 ms 0.435 ms 0.396 ms
2 68.61.232.1 (68.61.232.1) 28.641 ms 28.789 ms 21.431 ms
3 xe-9-3-0-32767-sur01.sannarbor.mi.michigan.comcast.net (68.85.48.181) 14.523 ms 9.927 ms 10.828 ms
4 te-0-11-0-3-ar01.pontiac.mi.michigan.comcast.net (69.139.254.89) 16.936 ms
te-0-9-0-6-ar01.pontiac.mi.michigan.comcast.net (68.85.222.166) 14.810 ms
te-0-11-0-3-ar01.pontiac.mi.michigan.comcast.net (69.139.254.89) 24.390 ms
5 he-4-5-0-0-cr01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.221) 20.065 ms 25.476 ms 19.849 ms
6 pos-1-4-0-0-pe01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.86.162) 24.172 ms 21.173 ms 20.791 ms
7 xe-2-2-0.792.chic0.tr-cps.internet2.edu (137.164.130.237) 19.941 ms 25.691 ms 20.555 ms
8 xe-0-2-0.0.sttl0.tr-cps.internet2.edu (137.164.129.2) 77.872 ms 72.813 ms 69.914 ms
9 xe-1-0-0.0.paix0.tr-cps.internet2.edu (64.57.20.222) 79.892 ms 82.818 ms 81.977 ms
10 137.164.131.94 (137.164.131.94) 84.487 ms 81.860 ms 81.483 ms
11 dc-svl-core1--svl-px1-10ge-2.cenic.net (137.164.46.12) 88.455 ms 85.904 ms 87.139 ms
12 dc-svl-agg1--svl-core1-10ge.cenic.net (137.164.47.120) 81.792 ms 81.572 ms 86.826 ms
13 dc-stanford--svl-agg1-10ge.cenic.net (137.164.50.158) 101.479 ms 93.879 ms 82.380 ms
14 boundarya-rtr.stanford.edu (68.65.168.33) 83.739 ms 83.703 ms 84.035 ms
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 www-v6.stanford.edu (171.67.215.200) 83.929 ms 84.631 ms 84.802 ms
Disclaimer (or, perhaps, "claimer"): I used to work for Internet2.
Dan Pritts
Posted 2013-05-22T18:36:32.007
Reputation: 900
The question that motivates all of this is basically: "Am I getting the highest bandwidth and lowest latencies possible?" The normal answer is, "ask your network admins", but I need to be able to verify what they tell me. – lid – 2013-06-15T14:27:08.663
hope this helps. Also, be aware that you need to be aware of both network paths - you might take a different return path than your sending path. The simplest way to do this would be to traceroute in both directions, assuming you can log in to a host on the far end to run traceroute. – Dan Pritts – 2013-06-17T20:25:09.897
0
The Network Diagnostic Tool at http://www.internet2.edu/performance/ndt/ might also help perform the test (installing which requires applying a kernel patch and appears non-trivial).
FWIW, (untested) source and binaries for Internet2 Detective are available for download at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bdr/detective/source.html. One of that tool's stated capabilities is "(provides information about) connectivity to an Internet2 backbone network".
Srinivas
Posted 2013-05-22T18:36:32.007
Reputation: 1
How would it help? I see nothing that indicates that it would check for Internet2 routing. – lid – 2013-06-14T22:40:10.313
setting up an NDT server requires a kernel patch, but just about any system can run the NDT client. – Dan Pritts – 2013-06-14T23:27:16.653
@lid You are correct. I incorrectly assumed that NDT was a replacement for Internet2 Detective before checking it out fully. – Srinivas – 2013-06-14T23:51:50.540
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Maybe this will be of some use: http://www.internet2.edu/performance/ndt/ndt-server-list.html Try one of the host links and see if it let's you through. (Didn't let me through, but then again I don't have access to Internet2)
– Leathe – 2013-05-23T09:34:09.280@Leathe Some initial testing lead me to think those might be Internet2 only hosts. However, I have a AWS EC2 server that can access at least one of those servers, and I'm was sure AWS is not Internet2 enabled. Or maybe it is? http://www.internet2.edu/news/pr/2013.04.23.amazon-web-services-internet2.html
– lid – 2013-05-23T12:39:47.913You are correct, the Internet2 Detective software has gone the way of the dodo. – Dan Pritts – 2013-06-15T00:02:44.387