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ClassWorld systems are located in the new state-of-the-art
Verio
Data Center near Denver, Colorado. Verio, a subsidiary
of Tokyo-based NTT Communications, is one of the world's largest
hosting and data services companies.
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- Reliable black-out free power sources.
- Highest bandwidth "pipes" to the
internet.
- Connectivity to multiple networks ensures
low latency "pings".
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Please Note: ClassWorld is not a reseller for Verio, nor
are we otherwise associated with Verio. Our hosting business
is not associated with Verio’s Hosting Division.
About the Data Center
Our Verio Data Center is a "showplace", located
near their corporate headquarters. It features ...
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Reliable Power
- Redundant uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and
switches.
- Redundant back-up diesel generators
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Physical Security
- Fire detection and suppression
- Multiple levels of access security including security
guards, biometric hand scans and video surveillance
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Environment Control
- Redundant air conditioning with separate cooling
zones and humidity control
- Raised floors for even air circulation and secure
cable routing.
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Continuous Monitoring (24/7/365)
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Click
here to take a tour of a Verio Data Center.
Network Connectivity and Bandwidth
ClassWorld's Verio data center is located on a major Point
of Presence (POP) with 2 Qwest OC-3's connecting to Verio
Chicago and Verio Palo Alto, and 2 MCI OC-12's which connect
to the same points. The data center is connected to the POP
using 4 OC-192 connections. Because the OC-192's are already
in place, bandwidth can be upgraded by simply adding hardware
on site. There is no need to wait months for new lines to
be installed.
Click
here to view a zoomable copy of Verio's global Tier-1
network map.
Backbone Connectivity
ClassWorld systems in the data center connect to four Cisco
6509 aggregation switch/routers with multiple connections
via Foundry BigIron4000 Giga Ethernet switches to two Juniper
M20 backbone routers. The Junipers each have multiple connections
to the backbone OCn's.
The data center itself has connections to many different
Internet backbones including UUNet, Sprint, Cable and Wireless,
CRL, Qwest, Exodus, Agis and Net Axs. We also have private
and direct peering DS3's set up between our location and that
of American Online and PSI-Net. The data center also operates
its own DS3 to Mae East to peer with many of the smaller Tier
One providers as well as operating another DS3 to the ATM
switch located there.
By connecting to multiple backbones, the data can be distributed
through many sources. This architectural design also means
that the network connections are not dependent upon any single
Internet backbone. Thus when problems occur, traffic rerouting
is automatic, thereby ensuring the integrity of the network
and continued access for our high-speed server clients. This
takes the term "multi-homing" to a whole new level.
Presently bandwidth utilization is 25% during peak traffic
times. Therefore, the network is very flexible. If one of
the backbone connections experiences problems, the traffic
can simply be re-routed over other paths, thereby ensuring
that users receive fast access times to sites hosted on our
network.
In addition, the network runs Border Gate Protocol (BGP4).
BGP is used at a provider with more than one access point
to the Internet. It helps create a truly redundant network.
In fact, in an ideal situation, a lease line failure should
result in the BGP routing session to close on the bad leased
line and the router on a working circuit should then begin
to accept the additional traffic.
In other words, traffic from a down circuit is re-distributed
across other circuits, thereby maintaining network integrity.
Providers that are multi-homed and correctly setup can actually
be more reliable than a single backbone provider because they
have multiple paths to multiple providers.
Internal Connectivity
A provider's local area network is not often enough being
seen as a point of latency. The two main sources of latency
for a full-time Internet connection are the user's local area
network and the Internet provider's local area network. The
local network in our data center is anchored by Cisco 5500
Series ether switches and high-end Cisco routers (like a Cisco
7513). This top-of-the-line network hardware ensures that
data requests get to their destination and back out of the
network as fast as possible. We use ether switches instead
of hubs because of their speed and their security capabilities.
Whereas only one computer plugged into a hub can talk at one
time, all the machines connected to a switch can talk at the
same time. This means more data can travel through a switch
and each server acts as its own node on the network. Furthermore,
since each servers is its own node on the network, it is difficult
for hackers to trace data packets with sensitive information
(i.e. passwords) to a particular server.
Servers on the network do not share a single path (T3). Instead,
the servers are connected into a high-speed ethernet switch.
This switch is connected to the core router at the data center.
From the core router, data is sent back to the end user across
the fastest available path. Whereas statically routing traffic
over one path creates a single point of failure, this distributed
architecture ensures that users can access data extremely
quickly and have multiple paths both into and out of our network.
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