At the beginning of 2023, DTEL-IX successfully completed the migration of its network core to a new platform. The vendor of the new equipment was chosen as Arista.
Since an internet exchange point is not just a switch, but a multi-component system in which the actions of one member can affect the serviceability for other members, in addition to administrative management tools (e.g. technical regulations), effective software tools are required to support service stability and eliminate potential negative impacts. These very tools are present in the Arista equipment, operating as stated by the vendor in the technical documentation without additional patches or workarounds, making this vendor’s equipment optimal for use at an internet exchange point. For example, tools such as MAC limit, MAC filters and storm control allow for detecting and filtering broadcast storms that may occur due to port misconfiguration by a member.
In addition to replacing equipment, there was also a change in the connection scheme of members to the platform: now all members are directly connected to chassis without using aggregation switches. This connection scheme helps avoid potential compatibility problems between platform software and access switches while also reducing the number of possible points of failure. It is also important that this new scheme significantly simplifies traffic exchange point management since it only requires managing one chassis instead of multiple auxiliary devices.
Another factor contributing to increased stability of DTEL-IX peering services is that on this new equipment there are dedicated buffers on each connection port. Thanks to these buffers, short-term overloads that may occur on a member’s port do not affect other member’s traffic flow. On previous equipment, temporary overloads had a greater impact and addressing such microbursts required more attention from the IXP’s technical team.
One of the new services enabled by the new equipment is Virtual Patchcord, which replaces the classic private VLAN. The main advantage of Virtual Patchcord is that the virtual connection built is completely transparent to the traffic exchanged by members. They have the ability to build interactions between their networks according to their needs without additional intervention from the IXP operator.
A crucial component of successfully migrating over 2Tbps of live traffic to a new platform without service disruptions and loss of network control was also a high level of interaction between DTEL-IX,s technical team and representatives from Arista. At every stage, starting from initial equipment testing to completing the migration, Arista’s team actively provided recommendations and shared their expertise on how to best and most efficiently utilize their equipment specifically for an internet exchange point.
As a result, thanks to this new equipment, DTEL-IX has become even more reliable and resilient as an internet exchange point while also gaining the ability to provide new services that meet modern needs of its members.