Computer networks connect users internally and externally with the Centre's computing systems. The infrastructure is logically subdivided into IP Fabrics within the data centre, and an Offices network at each duty station.
The IP Fabric
An IP Fabric network is used for the exchange of large amounts of operational data, most of which is hosted within our own data centre. Juniper routers provide connectivity between the supercomputer facility, data handling system (DHS), European Weather Cloud, acquisition and dissemination systems, and all enterprise IT services.
The Offices networks
The Offices networks connect end-user devices such as workstations, telephones and printers together and to the wider Internet.
Fault tolerance and resilience
In the IP Fabric, all devices connected have redundant links. This provides fault tolerance and resiliency.
Internet
ECMWF's Internet connection comprises dual links to local networks at each of ECMWF's sites, including Jisc in the UK, GARR in Italy, and DFN in Germany. These service providers have high-speed connections to the rest of the Internet, especially to the GÉANT network, which provides a high-speed backbone between most research networks within Europe and the US.
The Internet connection is used for a variety of activities:
- Dissemination of forecast products to organisations and non-Member States
- Reception of meteorological observations and satellite data
- Secure access to our compute and data handling facilities
- Support for research and operational activities of ECMWF staff
eduroam is a secure wireless network service that allows staff to use their ECMWF credentials to access the internet at our offices and also when visiting other eduroam participating research, academic and government institutions in over 70 countries around the world, eliminating the need for a wireless guest account. Similarly, any visitor to ECMWF coming from an eduroam participating institution will gain immediate wireless access using their wireless credentials to the Internet without any registration or configuration.
ECMWF is a participating organisation in the eduroam federation and offers the following two services:
- Home users - allows ECMWF staff who are visiting any eduroam member institution to connect to the institution's WiFi network for internet access using their ECMWF credentials. You can read more information about the eduroam service.
- Visiting users - allows visitors to ECMWF, from eduroam member institutions, to gain Internet access over WiFi using their home institution's credentials. It is to be noted that visiting users should contact their home institution's support team for support. This is the standard support model for all eduroam locations.
For additional information on the eduroam service, visit: