Overeview of NIBII Project

Chapter 12

Overview of NIB II Project

Contents

• What is NIB II?

 Various Projects in it
 Connectivity Architecture of Project 1, 2.1 and 2.3
 Components of NIB II
 Services in EMS

Objectives

After completion of this module you will be able to know:

• The architecture of NIB II

• The implementation Strategies of NIB II

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12.1 A brief on NIB-I infrastructure:

BSNL’s NIB-I is a TCP/ IP based network consisting of about 436 nodes

covering most of the district headquarters. The network comprises of a
three-tier architecture with 14 A-level nodes, 31 B-level nodes and the
rest C-level nodes.

Among the 14 A-nodes, six of them are interconnected in near full mesh
with link bandwidth of 34 Mbps. These are referred to as A-1 cities. The
remaining A-type cities are referred to as A-2 nodes and are dual homed
to the A-1 nodes with link bandwidths of 34 Mbps. All A-1 cities and
Ernakulam (C type) have International Gateway.

The 31 B-level cities are connected to the 14 A-level nodes in a

hierarchical with link bandwidths of 4 Mbps. The C-nodes are connected
to the B-nodes with link bandwidths of 2 Mbps.

12.2 Introduction to NIB II

The National Internet Backbone (NIB-II) envisages the four Projects namely
Project 1 : MPLS based IP Infrastructure in 71 cities
Project 2.1 : Access Gateway Platform Narrowband,
Project 2.2 : Access Gateway Platform Broadband
Project 3 : Services Platform consisting of Messaging, Provisioning, Billing,
Customer Care and Enterprise Management System.

12.3 Services in NIB-II:

a) Internet Access

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i) Dialup access services/ Leased Access Services
ii) Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access services: Broadband “always-on-
internet” access over copper cables
iii) Direct Ethernet access services: Broadband “always-on-internet” access
using Fiber-to-the-building

b) Virtual Private Network (VPN) services

i) Layer 2 MPLS VPN Services: Point-to-point connectivity between

corporate LAN sites
ii) Layer 3 MPLS VPN Intranet and Extranet Services: LAN interconnectivity
between multiple Corporate LAN sites
iii) Managed Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) Services

c) Value Added services

i) Encryption services: one of the end-to-end data security features

ii) Firewall Services: one of the security features provided to customer
iii) Network Address Translation (NAT) Services: Service that will enable
private users to access public networks

d) Messaging services

e) Data Centre Services at Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai

f) Broadband services through DSL & Direct Ethernet

i) Fast Internet Access services

ii) Terminating Dialup and DSL/Direct Ethernet customers on MPLS VPNs
iii) Multicast Video streaming Services
iv) Video on Demand services

12.4 Node Types

The NIB-II nodes are proposed in 71 cities and categorized as A1, A2, A3, A4, B1 &
B2 nodes. NIB I had B nodes and the same has been further classified as B1 and B2
in NIB II.
The implementation of these projects will mainly include deployment of :
a. Routers, LAN switches – Project 1

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b. Narrowband RAS – Project 2.1
c. BRAS, DSLAM , Tier1 and Tier2 – Project 2.2
d. Servers for different applications like Messaging, Billing, Radius,
LDAP etc. – Project 3.
e. Customer Servers in Data Centers collocated with the backbone
network nodes – at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

12.4.1 NIBII - Project1

The project 1 of NIB II envisages on provisioning of a MPLS VPN network for

corporate networks. For this MPLS VPN nodes will be installed at 71 locations in
India which are called Physical nodes. Additionally, around 200 places have been
declared as Virtual Nodes.

The VPN Service in any of the virtual nodes or any place in India requires physical
connectivity between the customer site and the nearest physical node.

As the demand for MPLS VPN grows, in addition to building connectivity of each
customer site to nearest physical node, option of aggregating the traffic from multiple
sites through an aggregation router was thought of.

In this regard, following norms for the deployment of Aggregation Router for
aggregating traffic from multiple sites of a customer in a particular city/SSA is
followed.
[1] There should be dedicated Aggregation router for each customer for a
particular city /SSA
[2] The option of deployment of Aggregation router be explored under
following conditions.
(a) The number of sites to be connected in VPN for a particular
customer in a particular city / SSA is three or more
(b) The bandwidth requirement at each site under reference is 64 kbps
/128 kbps

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(c) The city/SSA under reference should not be covered under list of 71
cities where NIB-II node is planned.
[3] The Aggregation router can be any normal router with multiple low speed
sync serial ports (upto 128 kbps) and at least one high-speed sync serial port (2
Mbps) for connectivity to nearest physical node.
[4] The Aggregation router thus deployed will act as a Customer Premise
equipment (CPE) for the edge router of VPN network

12.4.1.1 Connectivity of Core router:

The Core routers in A1 nodes viz Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkatta and Bangalore
will be connected on mesh topology on STM16. The Core routers in 9 nodes viz A2
Node (Total 3) at Pune, Hyderabad & Ahmedabad and A3 Nodes (Total 6) at
Lucknow, Jullundhar, Jaipur, Indore, Ernakulam & Patna are connected to A1 Nodes
in dual mesh with link bandwidths of STM-16. The core routers in A4 nodes (Total
10) at Chandigarh, Allahabad, Guwahati, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Raipur,
Mangalore, Nagpur and Vijayawada shall be dual homed over STM-1 links to the
nearest A1/A2/A3 nodes.

12.4.1.2 Connectivity of Edge router in A1, A2, A3 and A4 Nodes

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There will be four edge routers in A1 Nodes, three edge routers in A2 Nodes, Two
edge routers in A3 Nodes and one edge router in A4 Node. One of the edge router in
each A1, A2, A3 and A4 Node will be collocated with the Core router in the above
node, connected through gigabit Ethernet Interface. The remaining edge routers in A1,
A2 and A3 nodes will be geographically distributed in each city to serve different
pockets interconnected on a SDH metro-ring fibre network with STM-1 interfaces for
each edge router

12.4.1.3 Connectivity of Edge router in B1 and B2 Nodes:

One number of Edge router will be deployed in 21 B1 nodes and 26 B2 Nodes. The
edge routers in B1 and B2 nodes will be dual homed to the core at A1, A2, A3 and A4.
The core routers in A1, A2 and A3 cities are proposed to be interconnected via the
DWDM systems .
The interconnectivity of core routers in A4 nodes and edge routers in B1 and B2 cities
is via STM-1 links connected through SDH rings

12.4.1.4 Services planned to be offered under Project 1:

The following services shall be offered to customers using the MPLS based IP
networks.
i.) Layer 3 MPLS VPN Services
• Intranet-Managed & Unmanaged
• Extranet Managed & Unmanaged
• Internet Access services
ii.) Layer 2 MPLS VPN Services
• Ethernet over MPLS
• Frame relay over MPLS
• PPP over MPLS
• Cisco HDLC over MPLS (Optional)
• VPLS (Virtual Private LAN service)
• Layer 2 Any-to-Any Interworking (Except ATM)
iii.) Encryption Services

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iv.) Multicast Services
v.) Firewall Services
vi.) Network Address Translation (NAT) Services

The Primary objectives in setting up the MPLS based IP network

 Building a common IP infrastructure that shall support all smaller networks
and subnetworks.

 The platform is intended to be used for convergent services, integrating data,

voice and video and shall be the primary source of Internet bandwidth for
ISPs, Corporate, Institutions, Government bodies and retail users.

 Making the service very simple for customers to use even if they lack
experience in IP routing, alongwith Service Level Agreement (SLA) offerings.

 Make a service very scalable and flexible to facilitate large-scale deployment.

 Capable of meeting a wide range of customer requirements, including security,

quality of service (QoS), and any-to-any connectivity.

 Capable of offering fully managed services to customers.

12.4.2 NIBII - Project2.1

12.4.2.1 Access Gateway Platform (Narrow band)

The NIB-II Access Gateway platform shall provide Internet Access at any time
of the day, from any place, using any device such as PC, analog phone, wireless or
mobile phone, or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The Access Gateway
Platform(AGP) is built around two distinct platforms, one supporting a unified dial
network architecture that delivers voice, data and fax services through an open
programmable gateway and the other supporting a unified always-on Internet Access

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platform on Ethernet-IP. The open programmable dial gateway is dimensioned to
provide 80% plain data RAS and 20% Universal RAS ports.

The solution shall be based on open interfaces that can be configured by use of
network elements of a third party.

NIB-II Universal Access Gateway infrastructure is conceived as an open infrastructure

for carrying following services.

(i) Internet Access service

(ii) Wholesale Dial or port retailing service
(iii) Internet Call Waiting service
(iv) IP based Unified Messaging Service
(v) Teleconferencing Service
(vi) Internet Telephony Service
(vii) Hosted voice services / IP Centrex

12.4.2.2 Components of Narrow Band Access Network

• Narrow Band Remote Access Server

• LAN Switch
• eMS Server

12.4.3 NIBII-Project2.2

This Project is for the deployment of broadband services in 198 cities with 69
important cities where Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) shall be
deployed. The cities are categorized under A1 (3 cites), A2 (3 cites), A3 (6 cites), A4
(10 cites), B1 (21 cites), B2 (cites), and others (129 cities). Delhi and Mumbai will not
have any broadband equipment under Project 2.2 of NIB-II.

12.4.3.1 Services of Project 2.2

• Primary source of Internet bandwidth for retail users for application such as Web

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browsing, e-commerce etc
• Multicast video services, video on demad etc through Broadband Remote Access
Server (BRAS).
• Allow wholesale BRAS ports to be assigned to smaller ISPs through the franchises
model wherein the later has a separate network of DSLAMs, AAA, LDAP through a
revenue scheme of BSNL.
• Dialup VPN (VPDN) user connects to NIB-II through the Narrow band RAS and
connected to its private network through a secure L2TP tunnel established between
Narrowband RAS and Broadband RAS.
• Support for both prepaid and postpaid Broadband services.

12.4.3.2 Components of Broad Band Access Network

• Broad Band Remote Access Server (BBRAS)

• Gigabit and Fast Ethernet Aggregation Switches (LAN Switches)
• Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs)
• SSSS/SSSC (Subscriber Service Selection System/ Centre)
• Servers for AAA, LDAP at Pune
• Provisioning and configuration management at NOC
The city-wise deployment of DSLAM is given in Table below.

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12.4.3.3 Network Architecture of Project 2.2

The Customer premises equipment (CPE) will be aggregated at

DSLAMs.The DSLAM will be collocated with the exchange (MDF), either in the
same room or as close as possible to MDF. The DSLAM traffic will then be
aggregated through a Tier 2 LAN Switch Aggregator through Ethernet on dark
fibre. The traffic from Tier 2 LAN Switch Aggregator will be further
aggregated through a Tier 1 LAN Aggregator through Ethernet on dark fibre.
In B cities, since there is no Tier1 LAN Switch Aggregator, the Tier 2 LAN
Switch Aggregator will be connected to the nearest Tier 1 LAN Switch
Aggregator of A cities through Ethernet on SDH. The BRAS will be connected
to the Tier 1 LAN Aggregator on Gigabit Ethernet Interface.

1. All 198 cities will have DSLAMs and Tier2 LAN switches (for aggregation of
DSLAM).
2. All A cities and Noida (Total 23 cities) will have one BRAS, one SSSS and
one Tier 1 LAN switch.
3. There will be no BRAS, SSSS and Tier 1 LAN switch in any other cities. All
DSLAM are initially aggregated using Tier 2 LAN switch, through one pair of
dark fibre.
4. The 240 port DSLAM will have two numbers of FE interfaces.
5. The FX or GBIC module in DSLAM and LAN switch should be capable of
driving up to 10kms on a single mode fibre. The SX or GBIC module in LAN
switch used for connecting Tier2 to Tier1 will support 40kms distance.
6. In bigger cities like A1, A2, A3 and A4, one BRAS per city will be deployed.
There will be no BBRAS at B1 and B2 cities.
7. The DSLAMs in B1, B2 and other lower hierarchical cities will be aggregated
through Layer 2 switches, and will be connected to the nearest BRAS of A
cities on Ethernet over SDH.
8. The BRAS shall terminate the PPP sessions initiated by the customer and
extend the connection further to MPLS VPN/Internet as desired by the
customer.

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9. The DSLAM will in general be colocated with existing PSTN exchange,
which provides last mile access to customers over copper wire up to average
span lengths of 3 kms.
10. All DSLAM will be aggregated through Fast Ethernet (FE) interface except
480 port DSLAM, which will be aggregated through Gigabit Ethernet (GigE)
interface.

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Tier 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Switch Planned along with Interfaces per Switch

City Type No of GE aggregation Switch per city

GE
Cities Qty FE
* A1 3 1 26 24
A2 3 1 22 24
A3 7 1 16 24
A4 10 1 14 24
Total Gigabit Ethernet LAN Switch Required

•GE: Gigabit Ethernet Interface (1000 Mbps)

•FE: Fast Ethernet Interface (100 Mbps)

The number of ports requirement in Tier 2 Switch can be calculated using the following formulae:
•480 port DSLAM require one number of Gigabit Ethernet Interface (GE)

•240 port DSLAM require two numbers of Fast Ethernet Interface (FE)

•120 ports, 64 ports, 48 ports and 24 ports require one number of FE

•In addition two Gigabit Ethernet ports are required for interconnecting Tier 2 LAN Switch to

Tier 1 LAN Switch Aggregator (for A cities)

•In case of B cities, one Fast Ethernet is required for interconnecting Tier 2 LAN Switch to

Tier 1 LAN Switch of A city.

•In addition one Gigabit Ethernet and Two number of Fast Ethernet be kept as spare

So, for e.g if a particular Tier 2 LAN Switch in say A1 city aggregates seven number of 480
port DSLAM, six numbers of 240 port DSLAM, five numbers of 120 port DSLAM and two
numbers of 64 port DSLAM then the total port Requirement for this aggregation comes to
Gigabit Ethernet = 7*1+2 + 1 (spare) = 10
Fast Ethernet = 6*2+5*1+2*1 + 2 (spare) = 21
 While planning the deployment of Tier 2 LAN Switch Aggregator, it is to be ensured
that the distance between Tier 2 LAN Switch Aggregator and any of the connected
DSLAM should be less than 10 K.m.
 The distance between the Tier 1 LAN Switch Aggregator and any of the connected Tier
2 LAN Switch Aggregator can be maximum 40 K.M.
 If the distance exceed sthe specified limits, the connectivity will be through a
medium with optical to electrical converters at both the ends.

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12.4.4 NIBII-Project3
Enterprise Management System (EMS)

[Messaging and Storage Service Platform, Provisioning, Billing & Customer care,
Enterprise Management System (EMS) and Security System.]
Brief Description of the Messaging and Storage Service Platform:
1. This shall envisage design and up gradation of the current messaging system to grow
from the existing infrastructure in NIB-I supporting 650,000 users to support the
increasing user base.

2. The Core messaging system shall be the heart of NIB-II that will enable BSNL to add
users across varied value added services. The salient aspects of the projects are
summarized as follows:

(i) Setting up proven, robust, scalable Messaging Solution with best in class security
components.
(ii) Roll out across the country supported by 5 Messaging & associated storage
systems at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
(iii) Designed with High Availability architecture with no single point of failure

12.4.4.1 Components of the Solution:

The proposed solution shall consist of the following components with the items of
functionality listed below:

(i) Messaging
a) DNS, AAA
b) MMP
c) LDAP (Consumer, Replicator Hub, Primary and
Secondary)
d) SMTP IN & OUT
e) Messaging Servers
f) Address Book Servers, etc.

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(ii) Storage
a) SAN Switch & SAN Storage
b) Tape Library
c) Staging Servers, etc.

12.4.4.2 Storage platform

Various Applications servers placed at the 5 Messaging Storage locations like LDAP, AAA,
EMS, Messaging, UMS & Billing etc. would require Data Storage Capacities for storing
User’ mailboxes, Billing data etc. Such huge storage requirements need to be met with the
Fast, Reliable & Scalable Storage Devices that would be deployed as “End to End High
Performance Switched Architecture Fiber Channel SAN (Storage Area Networks) providing
No Single Point of Failure”.

Such Storage Device should be compatible with all the Servers of major companies such as
HP, IBM, SUN, Dell etc. so that choice of Application Servers Platform remains independent
of the Storage Device.

Brief Description of the Billing & Customer care, Enterprise Management System
(EMS) and Security System:

The system is an integrated provisioning, billing, customer care and accounting platform and
shall support billing for the complete range of IP based services mentioned & meet next-
generation requirements as well.
Customization as and when required by BSNL is possible.
Besides meeting comprehensive, future-ready rating, billing and data collection requirements,
it shall take care of activation, suspension, deactivation and change in the subscribed services.
The system is designed to support:
(i) On-line services such as internet, pay-per-view TV and video on demand or a
combination of all or some of the above.
(ii) Periodic charges, such as telephone line and cable TV rental.
(iii) One-time costs, such as connection fees.

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(iv) Events, such as telephone calls, data service usage, pay-per-view TV selections,
home shopping purchases, utility metered usage – such as electricity supply (live
site example)
(v) Financial services
(vi) Telephony services.
(vii) Enterprise Backup Systems.

The billing system shall be capable of:

i. Providing electronic versions of bills to customers over the Internet.
ii. Creation/modification of service.
iii. Processing Service requests in real time and non-real time and accounting in
real time.
iv. Producing flexible billing depending upon the use of service.

12.4.4.3 Security Systems.

a) Load Balancers
b) Firewall Appliances
c) Intrusion Detection System
d) Antivirus system, etc.

12.5 Network Operation Center (NOC)

The NOC shall provide facility for centralized Network Management and end-to-end
Provisioning of multiple services, giving a single view of the entire network services being
delivered countywide.
The servers for the NOC shall be connected through a Gigabit Ethernet link from Core router
with three zones of firewall within the Centre.
The network shall be centrally managed from Network Operation Centre NOC located at two
sites, one of them being master and the other the disaster recovery site. The main NOC is at
Bangalore with Disaster Recovery is at Pune. Interface to the NMS back-office facility shall

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be provided along with Firewall security in the Data Centre. All customer databases shall
reside centrally at NOC.
The NMS of NIB-II project 1 is the comprehensive NMS for entire NIB-II including NIB-I,
MPLS VPN, Project 2.1, Project 2.2, which will support entire F (Fault), C (Configuration), A
(Accounting including Access/Inventory), P (Performance) and S (Security functionality).

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