The end of 2017 was rich in deployments and new developments at France-IX. Below are the main actions undertaken during the second half of the year:

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1 – New Paris backbone infrastructure deployment

After having performed an intensive POC and fixed a severe bug with Extreme, we finished the deployment of the SLX-9850-8 boxes in the core infrastructure (Interxion PAR5 and Telehouse 2 PoP). This new infrastructure permits to address the increasing demand of 100G customer’s ports on main PoPs.

We have also finalized the deployment of a new active optical infrastructure based on Coriant Groove G30 technology. We have activated 400G of capacity between Interxion PAR5, Interxion PAR2 and Telehouse 2 PoPs. Now, we can easily increase the capacity of our backbone in few days. This new infrastructure replaces the legacy nx10G passive MUXs.

Note that you can find further details of the earlier phases of the Paris backbone renewal here: https://blog.franceix.net/technical-quarterly-update-q217/

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2 – RPKI ROA/IRR filtering

Last November, we organised a vote inviting all active members and resellers to give their opinion on the route servers filtering policy they would like France-IX to adopt.  Members clearly expressed that they would prefer to have strict filtering by default, dropping routes based on their IRR and ROA validation states. Then, France-IX prepared the activation of this filtering that will take place in the next coming days (cf. announced maintenances).

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3 – Automation

Thanks to several new developments, we continue enhancing our workflow for the setup of new customers. We have developed some new pieces in our Information System (based on NetBox) allowing us to automate LOA for new connections for example.

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Key technical numbers for Q3-Q4/2017:

Customer ports connected in the last 6 months:

1G: 10 ports

10G: 31 ports

100G: 1 port

Availability for Q3-Q4/2017:

Paris > 99,99%

Marseille: 100%

Outages:

12/07/2017: Post Extreme migration, isolation between Interxion PAR1 (9 members)/ Equinix PA6 (16 members) and Telehouse2 es2.th2 during 175mins

21/07/2017: Chassis instabilities after having inserted a 100G linecard – Interxion PAR5 – 13 members impacted during 89mins

20/09/2017: Chassis instabilities after some link flapping – PAR5/LC4 – 3 members during 200mins

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Next main actions: 

– ROA/IRR filtering: during the month of February, strict filtering will be activated on route servers (Paris and Marseille).

– Paris Backbone upgrades:

• Equinix PA6 PoP will be replaced with an Extreme SLX-9850-4 in order to provide more 100G ports. Coriant Groove G30 will be also deployed to provide 2x400G of capacity between PA6 and PAR5/TH2 core PoPs
• Equinix PA7 and Interxion PAR1 PoPs will be renewed. Extreme SLX-9540 routers will be installed. These PoPs will become 100G capable. This migration is part of a campaign to make all France-IX PoPs 100G capable. Then, we will be able to deliver a 100G customer port in few days.

– Marseille backbone upgrades:

• In order to address the increasing demand of 100G ports, new 100G LC will be installed in Interxion MRS1 PoP
• Route servers: the physical servers hosting the route servers will be replaced by new ones.