By
Camille Davis-Alfs - Associate Director for Network Engineering
Note: This blog has been updated and reposted as an annual reminder for the community.
The Internet2 Network is designed to deliver the trusted performance, capabilities, security, and resiliency that the research and education (R&E) community depends on throughout the year. That includes times when the community is affected by severe weather or climate events.
While these events can impact our collective network resources, Internet2’s commitment to support and transparency remains constant. Our team works closely with members, state and regional R&E networks, and commercial providers to ensure the community stays connected.
As we enter the peak season for severe storms, hurricanes, and wildfires, here are six reminders about Internet2’s network monitoring and support.
1. Support for the Internet2 Network is Available 24/7.
The Internet2 Network operations center (NOC) is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to assist with triage and frontline operations. You can reach the NOC anytime:
2. Internet2 Enhances Monitoring During Critical Events.
When extreme weather events or natural disasters occur, Internet2 activates enhanced monitoring for network services in affected regions and prepares for potential impacts.
The NOC opens an internal ticket at the outset of an event to track activity and correlate member tickets opened due to any subsequent impacts. We also post timely updates about service impacts and outages on the NOC website.
3. Insight Console Helps You Monitor What Matters.
Internet2 Insight Console gives network teams at member institutions self-service access to visualize, manage, and troubleshoot Internet2 network services — all in one place. It’s a powerful resource for staying informed about your cloud connections, virtual networks, real-time routing information, peering details, and more during an event.
4. Internet2 Pauses Maintenance and Coordinates with Vendors for Stability and Readiness.
To reduce risk and maintain network stability, Internet2 may temporarily freeze non-critical network maintenance activities. We also proactively coordinate with commercial providers to ensure readiness for service restoration needs.
5. Additional Resources are Available to Augment Connectivity.
Internet2 maintains transport and switching capabilities in reserve across the network’s 51 points of presence. These resources can augment member networks and commercial internet services in the event of a disaster.
Member support requests are welcome both in advance and after expected events. To the best of our ability, we will coordinate as needed with other state and regional R&E networks and commercial partners.
6. Internet2 is Continuing to Improve Redundancy and Resiliency.
Through collaboration with the community and commercial organizations, Internet2 is working to add routes to its network and provide more paths for R&E traffic. These long-term strategic projects are key for maintaining network operations, even when multiple, overlapping incidents occur.
Be Prepared, Stay Connected
Above all, we encourage community members to follow local emergency procedures, heed official warnings, and prioritize safety. If you have questions about Internet2’s monitoring and support protocols, please contact us at networkdevelopment@internet2.edu.
About the Author(s)
Camille is the Associate Director for Network Engineering with Internet2 Network Services. She has worked in the research and education (R&E) world since 1999. Her goal is to ensure high-quality engineering and support is provided to customers and internal team members.