Best of the ISP-Lists

General

Slow Dancing to the Baltimore Waltz

Members of the ISP-Tech list pass the time in late July discussing the architecture of the Internet as tragically revealed by events in Baltimore that included a train wreck, toxic fumes, and a burst water main.

[August 3, 2001]

On the ISP-Tech list in July, PI opened up a can of worms:

"Is it just me, or is the Internet slow today?"

[JP agreed] "We seem to be having difficulties also. We are getting horrible ping times from our servers, and can't get to some sites at all. Thought it was just our provider."

A number of respondents had been keeping an eye on the news:

[SY noted] "I called UUNet to check the recording of network outages, and they have an outage in the Miami area, and also an outage for the Northeast US. A fiber line was cut in the Baltimore area; I'm figuring between that train wreck in the tunnel and the water main break they have, one of them is more then likely responsible for that cut."

[JA agreed] "Apparently a train derailed in Baltimore and dumped hydrochloric acid everywhere. This train accident took out fiber for a bunch of upstream Internet providers, mostly UUNet. UUNet can't get access to fixing the fiber, because the local/state authorities will not let them get near the accident site. We've shut down UUNet upstream connectivity, but there will be continued general sluggishness of many sites that use UUNet as an upstream provider."

JM was surprised at the vulnerability of the system:

"I thought IP was supposed to be more robust than this. If a single train accident can cause major problems, can you imagine how easy it would be sabotage major portions of the 'net by simultaneously chopping a few select fiber routes that run along easily accessible train tracks?"

Others noted that this really can be a serious issue:

[RS explained] "IP is robust, but it's overextended. It was never intended to support the speeds and bandwidth we use today, and the capacity to distribute re-routed traffic is insufficient. Ah, I can almost hear the whine of overloaded routers…"

[DR agreed] "Overload is overload; I guess you missed the major East Coast outage a few years ago. A train derailed outside of Atlanta, knocking out communications from Florida to New York and more; even long distance was affected."

[JL added] "Robust as the Internet is, it does have several 'Achilles heel' physical locations, mostly major peering points and 'squeeze' situations like that Baltimore tunnel, which, if physically damaged, could wreak instant chaos—at least in huge local areas. It's really a subject probably best not discussed further, although it might make a great movie plot…"

—End