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A CoralReef monitor is just a PC computer with network cards that
can listen to a type of network connection. The specs provided
here reflect what we know to work. The hardware you choose must
also be compatible with the type of UNIX you wish to use for
running CoralReef (at the moment, drivers for FATM and POINT monitor
cards only work under FreeBSD, and drivers for DAG cards work under Linux).
We are likely to be able to support questions
regarding these specifications, but unless the question is very
general, we will not be able to answer questions regarding PC
hardware.
The machines which we use follow the following specs:
- 1 A high performance motherboard such as one of the
Tyan Thunder series.
It is now quite common to find high performance motherboards
that support 2 CPUs. None of the components of CoralReef are
directly multithreaded. However, since the performance
bottlenecks are not directly CPU related multithreading is not an
issue. Multiple processor motherboards can be useful in
monitor boxes since the second CPU can cover
operating system overhead and run analysis tools, while
the primary CPU is dedicated to data collection.
- 1 400+MHz PII/III/IV or equivalent CPU(s).
- 1 Ethernet card (on-board on many Tyans and other motherboards)
(Any FreeBSD compatible card will do)
- 1 6GB or larger hard drive. Practically speaking, some sort of
Ultrawide SCSI drives are required for any link that is close
to full utilization. An OC3 link at full utilization is 155
Mb/sec. Even removing overhead, it will outstrip the Ultra
ATA-100 limit of 100Mb/sec. The current generation of
Ultrawide SCSI is Ultra160 or 160Mb/sec. Due soon is
Ultra320 or a SCSI interface capable of 320Mb/sec.
- 1 VGA AGP video card (any brand, as long as it can do console)
- 1 Case/power supply suitable for your production/monitoring
environment. We use 19 inch Industrial Rack-mount Computer
SERIES, Model No. 566i2.
- 1 Memory: We recommend at least 256MB. We find the error detection
and correction features of ECC useful. As one would
expect, performance will improve with more memory.
- 1 A hard disk controller consistent with your drives. Since
SCSI is backward compatible, getting a control which
supports the latest SCSI standards is a wise investment.
CAIDA has had good success with
Adaptec controllers.
- 1 The monitor machine will need all the standard computer
compliment (keyboard, cables, etc.,) but a mouse will not be
necessary unless you wish to run X-Windows applications at
the console.
This is specific to the link which you would
like to monitor. The cards supported by CoralReef are:
- 1
ForeRunner 200E, by
Marconi (formerly Fore)
- OC3 ATM (fatm driver for FreeBSD only.)
- 1 POINT, by
Applied Telecom - single-mode OC3 and OC12 ATM ("point" driver
for FreeBSD only.) Unfortunately, Apptel has acquired by
Conexant and
renamed
Mindspeed. Mindspeed has discontinued production
of the POINT products.
- 1
DAG, by the
WAND group
at the University of Waikato
- OC3 and OC12, ATM and POS (DAG driver for LINUX only)
It is essential that you get a splitter which matches the
link that you are tapping. It is possible to use a
multi-mode splitter on a single-mode interface, but it
introduces additional attenuation. The best combination is to
match single-mode splitters with single-mode links and
multi-mode splitters with multi-mode links.
The ForeRunner card is multi-mode; the
Apptel POINT cards are single-mode, but both kinds of cards
should be able to work with both kinds of links.
CAIDA uses two kinds of splitters from
ADC.
- 1 The specifications for single-mode are: wideband, 1x2,
10/90 ratio, 1310nm and 1550nm, small ruggedized package,
3mm diameter reinforced cable pigtail option, angled
polish SC/APC connector option.
- 1 The specifications for multi-mode are: multimode, 1x2,
50/50 ratio, 850nm, small ruggedized package, 3mm
diameter reinforced cable pigtail option, standard polish
SC/PC connector option
You can feed a single-mode signal into a multi-mode receiver if the
splitter is 80/20 or 90/10, not 50/50.
Unfortunately, CAIDA is not aware of any source for the POINT card.
IRQ conflicts pose the same problems for monitor boxes as they
would for any PC - basically, the machine will not run reliably
(if at all) until all conflicts are resolved. The PCI bus tends
to get very cluttered and your various cards are conflicting.
This is really a PC hardware problem and not a CoralReef issue.
We can suggest clearing the PCI bus and reseting the BIOS. If
this does not help try playing with the different PCI related
settings in the BIOS. Turn off all unneeded ports which require
IRQ (like USB, Parallel printer etc) and try again.
A CoralReef monitor is just a PC compatible machine. Because we
purchase equipment from many vendors, we cannot recommend any one in
particular.
If you follow the hardware list it's just a question of putting the
machine together, installing FreeBSD on it and the CoralReef
package.
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