 adsldudePremium,Ex-Mod 2003-9
join:2000-11-10
Colorado
kudos:1 | 4DVision Growing Pains FYI...received 1/6/03
Dear Valued Customers,
Over the last few weeks we have been upgrading our network, however you may question that based on the interruptions.
These changes were planned in mid December but we delayed them until after the online buying season.
Here are the areas we are working on or have completed work on.
1. Network Topology
2. Mail Server
3. Radius Server
Therefore, I will try to explain what we are trying to accomplish and why we are doing it. Our previous configuration
of our network essentially involved one large router directly connected to our upstream provider. Simple, efficient,
and effective, but not fault tolerant or scalable.
In order for 4DV.NET to improve through-put we added an additional internet connection and three more large scale
routers to distribute the network load and isolate separate subsystems.
A redundant internet connection requires us to run BGP routing protocol on two of routers one facing our connection
to Yipes Communications and one facing our connection to Cogent Communications. DSL and T1 connections are now on a
dedicated router and our lan is on a third router.
This new architecture will result in better faster more reliable service but it is going to take time to tweak it.
Which we are trying to do as fast and as carefully as possible. Here is a diagram of our network as it now appears.
Cisco 7200 Cisco 7200 Cisco 7200
910 15th St Inverness Inverness
Gateway #1 ---- Gateway #2 ---- Access #1
Cogent 100mb Yipes 100mb Qwest DSL/T1
BGP Protocol BGP Protocol OSPF Protocol
|
----- Cisco 6509/WSMFC--- Lucent Access Routers for Dial
LAN #1 Dial Access Routers 1 thru 3
Hosting/DNS/Mail ISDN/Reg Dialup
OSpf Protocol OSPF Protocol
The 2 Gateway routers discuss over 120k routes with each other and their respective upstream. Soon we hope to have them decide on
best paths to the internet and perform automated failover. ( Remember we only had one router and one connection )
Where are we with all of this? We have it all connected and we are running over the new connection via Cogent. We have some
issues on some routed subnets that have to be cleared up prior to opening both pipes and testing fail over and shortest
path routing.
We have been trying to do most of this during the evening starting at 10:30 to 12:00 in the evening and in some
cases we have been at it until 5:30 AM. Why is taking so long ? Because we have had to move ports between routers
and re address and re-route addresses and implement 2 new high level routing protocols. We know once this is completed it will
improve relaibility and speed. It will also make our network voice capable which is the toughest task as the system has to be
extremely reliable and have no bottlenecks.
So lets move onto the mail server and whats up with that system. We upgraded the system as we discussed in prior mailing
to redundant processors, redundant operating system drives, and a 8 drive "RAID 5" storage array for mail boxes. Unfortunately, we
encountered some problems with the RAID system configuration and that has caused bumps in mailbox access. We believe that
after discussing these problems numerous times with IBM support that we have isolated the problem. The correction has
been applied and it should now be fixed for the time being. We also implemented a back up SMTP(inbound) server which is a
separate machine that receives all in bound mail when our primary is down or just busy.
We still have some customers accounts on the old NTMail Server. This Server will very soon be taken out if service. We need to have
those acounts move to the new server, and we will be setting a deadline on that changeover this month. In addition to greatly
improved reliability, the new server offers web based email access, full Virus scanning and SPAM filtering. This only affects customers
with web hosting accounts started prior to June of 2000. We can individually turn off filtering for any customer who requests it.
As a note I must mention the importance of no one sending out large scale mailings or unsolicited emails using you account as a conduit
to send SPAM out. Even when you send a joke to a large list and someone does not recognize your address we can be listed on a Anti-SPAM
service. We take this seriously as it can affect all of our email yours and ours. Please just DO NOT do it. Also we will disconnect an
account if found to be originating SPAM.
We were encountering Radius server authentication problems (Radius is the software that identifies a customer's account and allows access).
We have reviewed the situation with our software developer and have been able to eliminate these problems. This was an item that took a
few months to get answers on.
What else are we up to and working on? We have just ordered a full set of brand new replacement servers for DNS, Radius, Email(Yes
we have a new one but we are going to make it redundant machines now), and Hosting. New A/c Units for our Inverness location.
New racks and enclosures for added security and ventilation.
I know that once we complete this work we will have a world class system. I guess the bottom line is no pain no gain. I wish it
would happen differently, but it it far too complex to happen without any bumps in the road. We appreciate your patience and
understanding as we will be providing the best product available on the market for a fraction fo the cost as we always have.
We believe that now we are at this point the interruptions will subside.
DSL cutomers please remember that a simple reset of your modem after a period of time will in most cases restore your service.
We had implemented a line for messages only during an outage, but customers continued to call and leave messages on this number. We will try
again starting next week. 303-785-8323 is our network status line. 303-785-8327 is tech support. 303-785-8325 is billing an general sales questions.
Please respond directly to me should you have any questions. Be aware that it will take me some tome to reply to several hundred mails but I will
respond to all email inquiries.
We want your business and we will do what it takes to build your confidence.
Thank you for your support,
Scot Susmann
scot@4dv.net
Principal |
