Research network engineering (RNE) community group
A community for sharing best practices in building network infrastructures to support cutting edge research.
Facilitated by Jisc
Open to staff from Janet-connected sites involved in network operations or in communities conducting data-intensive science
Monthly meetings via Zoom
About the community
Researchers at Janet-connected sites often have challenging network requirements. One notable case is an ever-increasing need for them to move large volumes of data to other organisations on the Janet Network or beyond.
The systems and network engineering knowledge required to design, build and operate effective platforms for such data transfers is not insignificant.
The broad aim of the RNE community is to discuss and share best practices in research networking, bringing together those with experience in the area with those who may be new to the subject, along with engineers and performance specialists from Jisc.
Topics might include examples of Science DMZ implementations, how to gather network performance measurements, and comparisons of software transfer tools. Ultimately, we hope to enable all Jisc members to make optimal use of their Janet connection to support their research requirements.
Aims of the community
Our aims are to:
- Present and discuss examples of network engineering practices in support of research
- Discuss the tools, software and concepts behind Science DMZ principles
- Arrange and report on data transfer tests in varying scenarios
- Explore new technical solutions
- Foster collaboration between communities, within Janet and internationally
These aims will be discussed and updated at the group's first meeting. The RNE community will meet on a regular, monthly basis to allow members to share and discuss ideas, best practices and any issues they face.
Who should join
The community is open to:
- Network managers
- Campus network engineers
- Campus IT staff supporting data intensive research
- Members of research communities seeking to share large volumes of data
No prior experience in the area is assumed.
Join the community group
To get involved, submit the research network engineering community registration request form.
Next community call
WLCG Data Challenge 2024
Speaker: Alessandra Forti (University of Manchester) and Katy Ellis (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Date and time: Friday 26 April 2024 at 2pm (UK)
Register in advance for this meeting
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Abstract
The Worldwide Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (WLCG) is the distributed computing collaboration that provides computing resources for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In 2026 the LHC will be upgraded over a period of three years and in 2029 the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will commence Run 4 collecting data at significantly higher rates than currently at the LHC.
In February 2024 the WLCG held a data challenge to test out its ability to transfer data at 25% of the rates expected in 2029. This week we have two talks describing the experiences of the two general purpose experiments on the LHC, ATLAS and CMS:
WLCG Data Challenge 2024: ATLAS experience: Alessandra Forti (University of Manchester)
As part of the WLCG Data Challenge 2024 ATLAS exercised its distributed infrastructure pushing 107 PB of data in 12 days with increasing rates and more complex data distribution models. This talk will describe the goals and the outlining steps to achieve them as well as the difficulties encountered to move such a large amount of data in a limited time over several hundreds of channels.
WLCG Data Challenge 2024: CMS activities and outcome: Katy Ellis (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
CMS took part in the WLCG Data Challenge in February 2024, moving around 60PB among ~45 globally distributed storage sites over 12 days. This talk describes the planning, execution of the challenge and results, as well as identifying bottlenecks in our system and lessons learnt.
Past event resources
For access to past slide decks and meeting recordings please join the Teams community.
By request: If you would like a copy of any materials used at any of our RNE community calls, please email Tim Chown (tim.chown@jisc.ac.uk)
Find out more
If you have any questions about the community please email the community facilitators at netperf@jisc.ac.uk
To hear about RNE community news and events, or to discuss ideas or challenges you may have with other members of the community, sign up to the JiscMail list.