Boosting Internet Access Resilience, ISP Multihoming Explained

 

Abstract

Internet access for organisations today is no longer about connectivity for email and web browsing. A stable Internet connection is a vital component in the chain of IT systems required to conduct business. Typically, in the past, the focus around Internet connectivity has been on cost, with vendors providing solutions allowing organisations to spread their traffic across consumer and enterprise products. This approach is all good and well, and can provide significant cost savings, especially when employee traffic is directed over low-cost consumer products such as ADSL, however, when you are conducting B2B business through front end servers hosted in your DMZ, resilience becomes a major concern. In this scenario, a dead Internet link can mean loss of revenue and even, potentially more serious, brand damage. In this paper we discuss a number of methods that can be used to improve the resilience of an Internet link. While this sounds like it should be a simple case of connecting to multiple Internet Service Providers, the devil as they say, is in the detail.

Mission critical Internet

Business networks have been mission critical for some time now and the focus on resilience and business continuity has always been top of any CIO's mind, however, the general areas of interest for this focus were restricted to internal networks and systems. With more and more business being conducted either directly via the web or via B2B over Internet links to systems hosted in DMZ's, it is simply no longer permissible for an Internet link to be down. Loss of access to the Internet can have a direct impact on revenue generation, especially today as the business operating models begin shifting towards off site cloud computing and software as a service.

A solution to the problem 

Multihoming is essentially a method whereby a company can connect to more than one ISP at the same time. The concept was born out of the need to protect Internet access in the event of either an ISP link failure or an ISP internal failure. In the earlier days of Internet access, most traffic was outbound with the exception of email. An Internet link failure left internal users with no browsing capability and with email backing up on inbound ISP mail gateways. Once the link was restored so was browsing and email delivery. The direct impact to the business was relatively small and mostly not revenue effecting. Early solutions to this problem were to connect multiple links to the same ISP, but while this offered some level of link resilience, it could provide no safeguards against an internal ISP failure.

Today, however, most organisations deploy a myriad of on-site Internet accessible services such as VPN's, voice services, webmail and secure internal system access while also making use of business critical off site services such as software as a service (SaaS) and other cloud based solutions. Furthermore, while corporate front-end websites are traditionally hosted offsite with web hosting firms, the real-time information on the corporate websites and B2B sites is provided by back-end systems based in the corporate data centre or DMZ. Without a good quality Internet connection, these vital links would be severed.

Varied requirements and complexity

That said, the requirement for multihoming are varied and could range from the simple need for geographic link diversity (single ISP) to full link and ISP resilience where separate links are run from separate data centres to different ISP's. While the complexity varies for each option, the latter forms the most complex deployment option, but affords the highest availability, with the former providing some degree of protection, but does requiring a higher grade of ISP.

A major component of the complexity comes in around IP addressing. The way the Internet IP addressing system works is that each ISP applies for a range of addresses from the central Internet registrar in their region. They would then allocate a range of IP addresses, called an address space, to their customers from this pool. It goes without saying that no two ISP's can issue the same address space to a customer.

Why would this be a problem? Simply put, it's all about routing. Routing is the process whereby the Internet finds out how to get traffic to your particular server. It's a bit like the Google map for the Internet. For somebody to find your server, a "route" or path needs to exist to the IP address of your server. Since you are getting your Internet service, and hence your IP address space, from your ISP, they are responsible for publishing the route to your server across the entire Internet. They are effectively the source of your route and nobody else can do that for your particular address space. You can see how things can go wrong if the ISP suffers some form of internal failure. If your particular route disappeared, your server would simply vanish from the Internet, even if your Internet link was up and running. This is precisely the kind of issue multihoming tries to solve, but for completeness we will start at the more simple options and work our way up.

Single Link, Single ISP, Multiple address spaces

While not a multihoming solution in the strictest sense of the term, the single link, multiple address option can be useful for small sites. In this scenario the publicly accessible host is assigned two IP addresses from two different address spaces. You would, of course, need two address spaces from your ISP for this to work. Thus, theoretically, if a routing issue occurs that impacts one of the address spaces the other may still be available. The single physical ISP link is of course a single point of failure and this option would seem to offer little in the form of real resilience.

Multiple links, Single ISP, Single address spaces per link

This scenario, generally called multi-attached, is a variation on the above where the site now connects through multiple links each with a different IP address space, but still via single ISP. If one of the links fails, its IP addresses would become unreachable, however the other IP address on the remaining link will still be available and your server would still be reachable. Internet Service Providers use a control protocol to manage their IP routes called Border Gateway Protocol or BGP. This protocol is used to manage the traffic re-routing over the live link. BGP can be complex and demands at lot from the equipment it runs on. Of course, with complexity comes cost, however, the BGP deployment for this scenario is not as onerous as with a fully multihomed site and should not attract too much attention from the CFO. While the deployment is a simpler version of full multihoming, it does restrict the corporate to a single ISP, which may not be part of the strategic intent of the business.

Multiple Links, Multiple ISP, Single address space

This scenario is what is generally meant when discussing multihoming. The BGP protocol is used to manage the visibility of the single address space across the multiple links and ISP's and, thus, maintain the routes. The BGP protocol communicates between the corporate routers and those of the two ISP's with the protocol being able to detect link failure and divert traffic to the functioning link even if this is via a different ISP network.

What's the catch?

There is always a catch, and in this case there are actually a number of them. To run true dual ISP multihoming and BGP as a corporate you would need your own Provider Independent (PI) IP address space and you would need to apply for a unique BGP Autonomous System Number (ASN). The AS Number is used to identify your site as a valid Internet location in the eyes of BGP. While applying for an ASN is not an onerous undertaking, it does place some significant responsibility squarely with you instead of the ISP. Deploying BGP effectively brings your organisation one step closer to the Internet by making you responsible for advertising your own public IP address spaces and, thus, your routes. It also means that any operational mistakes you make will ripple through the entire Internet in spectacular fashion.

Address space considerations

Most large organisations that operate true multihoming already have their own Provider Independent address space. This is an address space that they requested directly from the local Internet registrar themselves some time ago, before IP version 4 (IPv4) addresses started running out. Today it is virtually impossible to be allocated a PI address space from the IPv4 pool. It is possible to run a multihomed scenario by using ISP provided IP address spaces, but the network configurations become considerably more complex and at some point start defeating the end goal of increasing resilience. In the real world, increased complexity seldom equates to improved resilience.

Scaling

A true BGP enabled multihoming deployment (often known as running defaultless) will require hardware that is capable of storing IP routing tables of Internet scale. This is desirable as it protects the organisation from an internal ISP failure, however requires the routers on-site to be of a "carrier grade", in other words, big and beefy. The Internet routing tables are massive and vast amount of processing power and memory will be required to run defaultless. It is possible to run in a reduced route mode where only local prefixes are stored on the routers, but given the effort and expense of deploying a full multihomed solution, compromise should not really be part of the conversation.

Summary

While there are definite advantages to full multihoming, there are also some significant caveats. Complexity and scaling aside the real reasons and costs for considering multihoming should be carefully considered.

That said, for a highly Internet dependent organisation there is no better way to ensure high availability and performance than through true multihoming. A Provider Independent IP address space will be required as well as carrier grade routers configured in a geographically diverse manner and supported by suitably qualified support staff. The benefits can outweigh the costs when direct revenue is generated through the Internet, and multihoming can, thus, be seen not only as a strategic business initiative, but also something that can help CIO's sleep well at night.

All About Your 3G Internet Service

 

In the technology circle, there is much hue and cry about 3G internet services. It is a known fact to everyone that 3G stands for "3rd Generation", but very few are aware of this technology from its core. Basically, it's an initiative taken by the International Telecommunication Union to create a global wireless standard for mobile internet access. However, it requires a minimum mobile internet access speed which is comparable to DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) internet speed. To meet the technology standards, there needs to be high-volume voice services.

Unlike its predecessor 2G (2nd Generation) technology, which was evolved around voice applications including talking, call-waiting and voicemail, 3G technology emphasizes on internet and multimedia based applications that facilitate web browsing, music downloads, video conferencing etc. However, to access 3G network, your device need to support an information transfer rate of at least 200 Kbit/s. With the increased demand for high-speed internet services, the popularity of 3G is also surmounting. The technology has multiple benefits to offer, some of which are discussed below:

High-speed Internet on the Go: Before the advent of this technology, it was almost a dream to get access to high-speed internet on the go. Modern developments in mobile technology coupled with 3G has created great opportunities for users to surf internet at a blazing fast speed, even while they are travelling.

Reaches Remotest Corners: It's easy to find 3G access at places where wired connectivity is difficult to install. This helps minimize the gap in internet access in rural areas or areas with limited connectivity. The speed sometime exceeds the speed of dial-up internet services.

Affordability: 3G standards benefited the rural people to a great extent. While it's expensive to set up wired connections at homes, the wireless internet costs less and offer better speed to the users. With the development of this telecommunication technology, users can now get high-speed connectivity even on their mobile devices.

Multimedia Usage: Both corporate and personal consumers benefit from the service as it facilitates the use of diverse multimedia applications and enhances the wireless internet experience. It enables real-time video conferencing, music download at a faster speed, uploading and downloading files at a speed that equals to wired broadband services.

Stay Entertainment: Internet offers multiple ways to keep the users entertained. For lightning fast internet speed and seamless network availability, users can enjoy online gaming, listen to their favorite music or watch movies online with their 3G internet connection.

Though, 3G internet technology is getting momentum both in urban and rural areas, there are still some places where this technology is not as effective as metropolitan cities like New York and San Diego. While telecommunication experts are hopeful to enhance the reach of both 3G and 4G (4th Generation) networks and make the services more affordable for the users, the increased traffic and the usage of mobile devices are the two main issues of concern for the tech experts. Moreover, to sustain a balance in the environment, there needs to take more precautions, as wireless rays often cause harmful radiation, which have adverse impact on the environment.

Advantages of Getting Internet Connection From Broadband Internet Service Providers

 

These days, more people are becoming aware of the broadband internet connections through cable or digital subscriber line which is also known as DSL. In fact, it is becoming the more common types of internet connection in businesses and even households. Internet users have their own reasons for considering purchasing a broadband connection which could be any of the following:

Faster Connection Speed 

One of the advantages of broadband over dial-up is the manner of connecting the PC or laptop to the internet. With the dial-up service, the internet connection is made through the phone line and whenever the user has to connect to the internet, the modem sort of, calls the Internet Service Provider or ISP and connects at a speed of 56kbps, at the most. But with broadband, internet connection is made through the cable or DSL at a speed of up to 5Mbps.

Fewer Interruptions 

Since internet connection is made through satellite, cable or unused wires in the existing phone line, fewer or even no disruptions are experienced while being connected to the internet. Dial up connection can be inconvenient when a user is in the middle of chatting with someone or making an important research online and somebody has to use the phone at the same time. In this unfortunate situation, it's either the internet user has to make them wait or they make the internet user stop from surfing the internet.

Convenient and Cost-Efficient 

With dial-up, downloading files around 10MB is a joke. Since broadband connection is way much faster, viewing videos, downloading huge files, opening email attachments, playing online games, etc., can be made possible and at a faster pace.

As for the cost, dial-up connection's rates per hour may be cheaper. However, in the long run, overall costs can be lesser with broadband connection. With dial-up, since the connection speed is slower, users will tend to be online for a longer period of time. This is because, it will take them longer to open emails, download files, open websites, etc. It enables you to do internet related tasks faster which also means, you need to be connected to the internet for a shorter period of time. Also, these types of connection are becoming more affordable and there are internet providers who are offering this type connection at a lesser cost compared to dial-up.

In spite of these advantages, broadband connection also has its downside which can be attributed to its 'always on' connection. With broadband, once the PC or laptop is connected to the internet, it continues to be connected unless, the line is disconnected. This means, a single IP address is retained throughout the internet connection unless the user requests the ISP to have it changed. Having a constant IP address can make it easier for hackers to attack the computer but internet users can always get a reliable antivirus and firewall protection. There are even free ones that can be downloaded online.

Now, after understanding these advantages and how to get deal with the setbacks, you may want to search for the best high speed internet provider that you can find. After having your broadband connection, the way you surf the internet will change significantly, you would never want to surf using dial-up again.

50 Amazing Facts About the Internet

 

Did you know that internet took only 4 years to reach 50 million users? It took 38 years for radio, while TV made it in 13 years. Here are some interesting facts and information about the World Wide Web:

1. Worldwide Web was developed in Objective C programming language.

2. The "www" part of a web site is optional and is not required by any web policy or standard.

3. Twenty per cent of the world's population, 1.17 to 1.33 billion people, now use the Internet. North America (72%) has the highest penetration, Africa (5%) the lowest.

4. The term Internet and World Wide Web are often used in every-day speech without much distinction. However, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same. The Internet is a global data communications system. It is a hardware and software infrastructure that provides connectivity between computers. In contrast, the Web is one of the services communicated via the Internet. It is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.

5. The Internet was called the 'Galactic Network' in memos written by MIT's JCR Licklider in 1962.

6. Researchers consider that the first search engine was Archie, created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

7. It was once considered a letter in the English language. The Chinese call it a little mouse, Danes and Swedes call it 'elephant's trunk', Germans a spider monkey, and Italians a snail. Israelis pronounce it 'strudels' and the Czechs say 'rollmops's... What is it? The @ sign.

8. Did you know that the original URL of Yahoo! was akebono.stanford.edu

9. Google got its name from the mathematical figure googol, which denotes the number 'one followed by a hundred zeros'.

10. Yahoo! derived its name from the word Yahoo coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. A Yahoo is a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human!

11. The prime reason the Google home page is so bare, is due to the fact that the founders didn't know the HTML and just wanted a quick interface. In fact, the submit button was a later addition and initially, hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life.

12. The word 'e-mail' has been banned by the French Ministry of culture. They are required to use the word 'Courriel' instead, which is the French equivalent of Internet. This move became the subject of ridicule from the cyber community in general.

13. The first ever ISP was CompuServe which still exists under AOL, Timer Warner.

14. Did you know that symbolics.com was the first ever domain name registered online?

15. According to a University of Minnesota report, researchers estimate the volume of Internet traffic is growing at an annual rate of 50 to 60 per cent.

16. If you want to sell your book on amazon.com you can set the price, but then they will take 55 per cent cut and leave you with only 45 per cent.

17. Almost half of people online have at least three e-mail accounts. In addition the average consumer has maintained the same e-mail address for four to six years.

18. Spam accounts for over 60 per cent of all email, according to Message Labs. Google says at least one third of all Gmail servers are filled with spam.

19. Anthony Greco, aged 18, became the first person arrested for spam (unsolicited instant messages) on February 21, 2005.

20. The first web site was built at CERN. CERN is the French acronym for European Council for Nuclear Research and is located at Geneva, Switzerland.

21. The World Wide Web is the most extensive implementation of the hypertext but it is not the only one. A computer help file is actually a hypertext document.

22. The concept of style sheets was already in place when the first browser was released.

23. The address of the world's first web server is info.cern.ch/ The URL of the first web page was nxoc01.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. Although this page is not hosted anymore at CERN, a later version of the page is posted at w3.org/History/199921103hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.

24. The first browser that made the web available to PC and Mac users was Mosaic. It was developed by National Center for Supercomputing (NCSA) led by Marc Andreessen in February, 1993. Mosaic was one of the first graphical web browsers and led to an explosion in web use.

25. April 30, 1993 is an important date for the Web because on that day, CERN announced that anyone may use WWW technology freely.

26. Microsoft released Internet Explorer on 1995. This event initiated the browser wars. By bundling internet explorer with the Windows operating system, by 2002, Internet Explorer became the most dominant web browser with a market share over 95 per cent.

27. The development of standards for the World Wide Web is managed by the W3C or the World Wide Web consortium. The W3C was founded in October, 1994 and headed by Tim Berners-Lee.

28. Only 4 per cent of Arab women use the Internet. Moroccan women represent almost a third of that figure.

29. YouTube's bandwidth requirements to upload and view all those videos cost as much as 1 million dollars a day and drawing. The revenues generated by YouTube cannot pay for its upkeep.

30. According to ATT vice president Jim Cicconi, 8 hours of video is uploaded into YouTube every minute. This was on April 2008. On May 21, 2009, YouTube received 20 hours of video content per minute.

31. Around 75 per cent of the music that is available for download has never been purchased and it is costing money just to be on the server.

32. Domain registration was free until the National Science foundation decided to change this on September 14th, 1995.

33. It is estimated that one of every eight married couples started by meeting online.

34. Iceland has the highest percentage of the Internet users at 68 per cent. The United States stands at 56%. 34% of all Malaysians us the Internet while only eight per cent of Jordanians are connected, 4% of Palestinians; 0.6% of Nigerians and 0.1% of Tajikistanis.

35. Employees at Google are encouraged to use 20 per cent of their time working on their own projects. Google News, Orkut are both examples of projects that grew from this working model.

36. The technology behind the Internet began back in the 1960′s at MIT. The first message ever to be transmitted was LOG.. why? The user had attempted to type LOGIN, but the network crashed after the enormous load of data of the letter G. It was to be a while before Facebook would be developed

37. According to University of Minnesota report, researchers estimate the volume of Internet traffic is growing at an annual rate of 50 to 60 percent.

38. Ever since the birth of the Internet, file sharing was a problem for the authorities that managed it. In 1989, McGill University shut down their FTP indexing site after finding out that it was responsible for half of the Internet traffic from America into Canada. Fortunately, a number of similar file indexing sites had already been made.

39. Google estimates that the Internet today contains about 5 million terabytes of data (1TB = 1,000GB), and claims it has only indexed a paltry 0.04% of it all! You could fit the whole Internet on just 200 million Blu-Ray disks.

40. Speaking of search - One THIRD of all Internet searches are specifically for pornography. It is estimated that 80% of all images on the Internet are of naked women.

41. According to legend, Amazon became the number one shopping site because in the days before the invention of the search giant Google, Yahoo would list the sites in their directory alphabetically!

42. The first ever banner ad invaded the Internet in 1994, and it was just as bad as today. The ad was part of ATTs "you will" campaign, and was placed on the HotWired homepage.

43. Of the 247 BILLION email messages sent every day, 81% are pure spam.

44. 35.6% of internet users are Asia. With average of 389 million of internet surfers each month, Asia is the largest internet crowd among other world regions. In Asia, 10 out of 100 surf the Internet.

45. Only 16.6% of world population surf the internet. Amount of internet surfers in Asia (389,392,28 mil) is 11 times the population of Australia (34,468,443 mil). 19% of internet users are from United States (210,080,067 mil). Around 18 countries still doesn't have Internet connection. North Korea's internet penetration statistics is not publicized.

46. The first Internet worm was created by Robert T.Morris, Jr, and attacked more than 6000 Internet hosts.

47. According to The Economist magazine, the first truly electronic bank on the Internet, called First Virtual Holdings, was opened by Lee Stein in 1994.

48. The 'Dilbert Zone' Web site was the first syndicated comic strip site available on the Internet.

49. Did you know that domain names could be sold at high prices? The most expensive domain till date, 'sex.com' was purchased by Escom LLC at $14 million, in January 2006. Another was 'business.com', which was sold to eCompanies for $7.5 million in 1999.

50. The Internet is the third-most used advertising medium in the world, closely catching up with traditional local newspapers and Yellow Pages.

5 Convincing Reasons To Start Internet Marketing

 

I was excited when I first learned how to use the internet to look for business opportunities. I was amazed when I realized that the internet is indeed a powerful tool for anyone who is passionate about making lots of money online. However, it is not without hard work, commitment and interest if you are to reap profit in the long-run.

Here are the 5 convincing reasons to start an internet marketing business:

1. The World Is Your Market

We have reached a stage where we cannot do without internet access, whether it is at work or in our social life. Big and small corporations cannot ignore the impact of internet in the business world today. When you target the world market, you are reaching out to over 2 billions of internet surfers.(source: internetworldststs.com) Besides, the number of internet users is still growing every year. There is huge potential in internet marketing globally.

2. Increase In Online Shopping

Although internet has been around since the 1990s, the number of internet users have been increasing more rapidly since 2002(source: internetworldststs.com). As more people are internet savvy, there are more products and services being offered in the internet market. Over a period of time, purchasing products online has become more prevalent. It is a common sight for people to shop online nowadays.

3. Business Deals Are Done With A Click

With the internet, the business world has become 'smaller'. It's amazing how people all over the world are able to do business with a click of a mouse regardless of country or time zone they are in. Your business is running 24/7, 365 days a year. You are making money even when you are sleeping!

4. Easy And Cheap To Start

Internet marketing business is easy and cheap to start.The initial capital outlay and overheads are minimal as compared to traditional business. Anyone can start an online business as long as you have a computer, internet access and a credit card/debit card. A person who has very little or no computer knowledge can learn the essential things about doing business online. With passion/interest, commitment and hard work, you can have your own internet business.

5. Don't Need To Have Your Own Product

You don't need to have your own product to get into internet business. You can always look for products to sell from the internet and register as an affiliate marketer. There are countless of companies and individuals who want third parties to sell their products. As an affiliate marketer, you will promote the product and earn a percentage of the sale.

There are many resources available to help you get started. However, you have to be very selective and choose resources that meet your needs. Read the features and benefits of the products before you purchase anything online.

It is important to get good resources to help you with your internet marketing business. Perhaps you are struggling and wondering why you have insufficient sales? With good resources, it will be easier to learn and direct more of your energy and time to come up with ideas to generate sales.

To learn more about internet marketing business, go to http://www.inboxeasycash.com/ and claim your free eBook instantly.