China: H3C Provides Gigabit-to-desktop Network for Beijing Foreign Studies University

Background

Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) is one of the key universities directly under the Ministry of Education. With a time-honored history, BFSU has long enjoyed an excellent reputation for the quality and quantity of its language teaching programs, some of the best amongst the foreign language institutes nationwide. BFSU library IT construction project is a key part of the campus network IT construction project. The stored books and e-documents are important resources for the students. The network system determines whether the university can effectively manage and allocate the library resources. A good library network system can significantly promote teaching in the university.

The reconstruction of the library network mainly involves upgrading and replacing the existing equipment, and analyzing the services of the library. In order for the network-wide upgrade of relevant products, the core equipment is required to support 10GE uplink. The layer 2 networking mode will be used for the network architecture. The VRRP dual link mode will be used between the access and the core layers. Such a design ensures safety, stability and high performance of the office network.

With its deep understanding of the requirements and because of its strong product and technical features, H3C created an ideal solution for the BFSU library network system featuring high performance, high security, and superior scalability.

Technical Solution

The solution of the BFSU library network system is designed in a modularized manner, offering high performance, reliability, security, superior scalability, manageability, unified network management system, and reliable multicast.

This project aims to carry out a network-wide reconstruction to improve the performance and bandwidth of the library network. Two core nodes are planned in the network system, where the S8508 (H3C S9508) 10GE routing switches are used. The two core switches are interconnected through one or more 1000M links. The entire network adopts the VRRP protocol and flat 2 layer network architecture to further improve the reliability and performance of the core network. The high-density 1000M access switch S6506 (H3C S7506) will be used at the access layer. All the servers can connect to the two core nodes in the two 1000M dual-homing mode. H3C used one box-shape layer-3 1000M switch S5648 to support the network access at the first floor of the library, and a stack group comprised of one S5648 layer-3 1000M switch and one S5624 switch for user access at the rear of the library.

Benefits:

1. Flat Networking

The scheme adopts a flat networking mode without a convergence layer. Such a networking mode reduces network complexity, facilitates maintenance, and improves network stability. In addition, it reduces the capital investment and increases the performance over price ratio. The flat networking mode also enables superior scalability.

2. High Security

The library holds many important materials, including featured holdings, precious materials and a large quantity of academic papers. To ensure the safety of these important materials, a firewall module is designed on the S8508 (H3C S9508) core switch to protect the core switches from various network attacks. In addition, two sets of H3C D500 intrusion detection systems are installed in the network to detect illegal intrusion, and block the intrusion through cooperation with the switch to protect the library network system.

3. High Bandwidth

In addition to the “Gigabit-to-desktop” feature, both S8500 (H3C S9500) and S6500 (H3C S7500) series switches support the 1-port, 2-port and 4-port high-density 10GE boards, enabling high-density 10GE networking mode and smooth upgrade to a 10GE network. The “Gigabit-to-desktop” feature meets requirements from the various current services and the new services that will appear in the near future. This facilitates the support of the new network services and smooth capacity expansion of the network.

4. High Reliability

Without the convergence layer, the flat layer networking mode reduces failure points and avoids the traffic bottleneck caused by convergence. The high bandwidth perfectly suits the multi-service non-blocking switching and simplifies the equipment configuration and maintenance. Network administrators therefore do not need to configure different QoS strategies for different services. The reduction of traffic classification strategy and QoS strategy significantly improves the forwarding performance and stability of the network equipment, improving the performance and stability of the entire network.

5. Layer 3 to Desktop

The scheme supports the “layer 3 to desktop” feature as well as “Gigabit-to-desktop”. Through reasonable configuration of VLAN and IP address, the threats from layer 2 broadcast and layer 2 attacks can be avoided, thus enhancing security for the user and the robustness of the network.

An ideal BFSU library network system has been produced after the network construction. This new network system will undoubtedly promote the library services and facilitate teaching and scientific research as well as training of foreign language students.