Q: Who can connect to OttIX?
A: Anyone can. ISP's, telcos,
large businesses, government, research labs, etc. In cases where it doesn't
make sense to connect a small organization, it might be best to convince your
Internet supplier to connect to OttIX.
Q: How much does it cost to
establish a connection to OttIX?
A: Connecting to OttIX is free.
The capacity of your link and it's demarcation is between you and your
backhaul provider. In other words, the real cost is whatever you use to
connect to OttIX, from the local-loop to all the bits and pieces needed to
activate it.
Q: What facilities are available
at OttIX?
A: OttIX connectivity is
available at the following POPs:
- 151 Front Street, Suite 602
- This is a specially hosted switch within
Standard Connection's suite. Storm provides a 100Mb/s PVC for OttIX use.
- 250 Albert, Suite 205 NPA-NXX 613-230
- This OttIX switch is located
at the Telecom Ottawa rack. Rogers and Telecom Ottawa fiber and services
available.
- 264 Albert, Cage 18
- Co-located with the Federal GigaPOP, within a
Rogers facility. Both Rogers and Telecom Ottawa fiber and services
available.
- 1760 Courtwood Crescent, NPA-NXX 613-727
- Storm provides a POP for
folks requiring the use of Bell facilities back into the OttIX switch located
there. Other providers are also available.
Q: What does my backhaul
provider need to know to install the connection?
A: OttIX is located at 250 Albert
St., Suite 205 in the downtown Ottawa core. You can establish
any type of connection you like, as long as it eventually terminates to RJ-45.
We do recommend that the connection be 10Mb/s ethernet or greater.
Always contact peering -at- ottix.net first!
Q: What routes traffic at OttIX?
A: At OttIX, there are two
choices:
- A member can choose to peer with another member directly using BGP, or;
- A member can peer with the OttIX Route servers, so that the member can
obtain all the routes heard there, which means, a) hearing every member's
routes heard there, and b) minimizing the amount of work needed to establish
a BGP peering session at OttIX.
In either case, BGP version 4 is required for all peering sessions. Using a
protocol such as IS-IS or OSPF (or even IGRP, EIGRP or RIP) is NOT recommended
for both Internet operations and security reasons.
Q: Will you allow transit?
A: Depends on how you define the
word "transit":
- If you mean announcing your customer's prefixes across to other peers,
and having your peer's customer's prefixes announced to your customers,
then of course.
- If you mean buying Internet bandwidth from another provider that happens
to be at OttIX, then yes, by all means, go ahead. However, it's STRONGLY
recommended that transit connectivity be established between your co-located
router and your provider's. This is because there's no guarantee that
you'll get the bandwidth you negotiated with your upstream across the OttIX
switch fabric. It cannot be stressed enough: OttIX makes no bandwidth
guarantees just because you have one from your transit provider. Use
private interconnects.
In short, yes absolutely!
Q: Will I be able to co-locate a router at OTTIX?
A: There is limited access to
rack space at OttIX. OttIX peers will be given free rack space within reason.
The use of a PC as a router is strongly discouraged, as there is no room at
OttIX for storing a monitor, keyboard, and other accessories.
Q: Will I be able to co-locate a
server at OttIX?
A: As stated above, there really
is limited space at OttIX. But, one of OttIX's goals is to promote the
interests of its members, and to that end, if you really want a server
co-located, why not choose an OttIX-connected ISP instead?
Q: Does OttIX have a backup power source?
A: Only the OttIX switch and
route servers will be backed up by UPS. However, providing a UPS for you (and
perhaps others) to use is always welcome.
Q: What protocols can I run over
OttIX?
A: You can run anything you
like. OttIX currently has IPv4, both unicast and multicast traffic (yes,
MBONE access is available) as well as IPv6 unicast and multicast. Please note
that running an IGP protocol such as OSPF is not encouraged.
Q: What applications will work
over OttIX? Will VOIP work?
A: You can run anything you
like. It doesn't matter what the application is, as OttIX doesn't filter
content nor does it ever intend to. Content filtering and application
filtering thus becomes the domain of the member ISP, as it's meant to be.