The Report on the "Third CEENet Workshop on Network Technology CEENet '97" in Zagreb, 24.8-1.9.1997 I - The Site of the Workshop The City of Zagreb was the home of the Third CEENet Workshop on Network Technology which took place from August 24 until September 1, 1997. The two venues for the whole event were: the "Cvjetno" campus which provided room and board for the participants, and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (FER) that housed the lectures, the recitations and the entire laboratory work. The workshop opened on August 24, 1997, at the Maximus Hall of the FER with the presence of the Rector of the University of Zagreb, representatives of the Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet), the Soros Foundation, the attendees, and the lecturers. The series of welcome speeches was started by the Professor Lovrak, Vice-dean of FER, Mr. Predrag Pale, The Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of Croatia, Mr. Jonathan Peizer, the Chief Information Technology Officer of the Soros Foundation, Mr. Predrag Vidas, the CEO of CARNet, Dr. Jacek Gajewski, in the name of the Organizing Committee and CEENet, and Professor Oliver Popov, who spoke on behalf of the Programme Committee and lecturers. Mr. Vidas, actually delivered his speech by using the multimedia technology from the offices of CARNet, over a 625 Mbps ATM line. The opening ceremony proved to be an appropriate setting to promote the second publication by CEENet, a selection of the lectures delivered in Budapest, a book under the title "The Gateway to Cyberspace" and dedicated to the lecturers. Zagreb was the place where the Workshop received more attention then any previous one by both the printed and electronic press.The first press conference was with the speakers from the opening session. Indeed, during the whole week of the Workshop, Dr. Gajewski and Professor Popov gave numerous interviews to some of the major Croatian daily newspapers and magazines, radio and TV stations. The workshop in Zagreb was made possible through a generous grant from the Soros Foundation and a donation by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Croatia which materialized in a free housing in the dormitory for all of the participants and reduced prices for the equipment, lecture halls, and laboratories. II The Educational System The educational system of the Workshop was comprised from three different types of activities: the regular scientific program, the presentations given by the sponsors, and finally the evening lectures. 1. The Programme of the Workshop and the Lecturers The Programme was significantly enriched this year with topics and areas pertinent to the latest in network technology. It was due in part to the infrastructure, the implementation of ATM on national basis, and the fact that CARNet relies heavily on the human and technical resources from FER. The basic topology of the Workshop network was already build and software installed, when the first lectures and organizers arrived in Zagreb. It was done by the CARNet technical team, led by Mr. Nevenko Bartolincic. They are to be commended for the outstanding job done before and during the Workshop. Joined by a couple of lecturers from CARNet, most of the CEENet '96 team of lecturers, and lead by the experienced track leaders, Mr. Jauk and Mr Bogusz, was capable of carrying out the demanding programme listed bellow: The Start-up Internet Networking or Names, addresses and domains Technological prerequisites Packet Switching Network Architectures Reference Models Registration and address assignment Network announcement and DNS management Managing the address space (different schemes) Organizational entities (NIC and NOC) Network Technologies Networks (LAN, MAN, WAN, point to point, clouds) Modems (dial-up, leased line, xSDL, cable) Interfaces and Routers Basic Internet Networking Routed Protocols - TCP/IP paradigm Addressing Elementary Routing Internet Sources and Systems Electronic mail RFC 822 (User mail agents, mime, lists, list servers) Mail routing (Sendmail, Qmail) News and FTP Directory services (white, yellow pages and x.500) WWW (A view from a reader and a writer) (servers, clients, structure, organization) WWW site creation and maintenance Cashing and Indexing User support Serial Communications Leased and dial-up links File transfer protocols SLIP and PPP Low Cost Solutions (DOS, WIN 95 and NT, LINUX, FreeBSD, BSD/OS) Connecting Networks Connection and connectionless modes Bridges, routers and brouters Advanced Routing Protocols Network Management Network management architecture Extraction and selection of network data Performance analysis and prediction Fault management Configuration management Accounting and planning Using SNMP, CMIS/CPIP Commercial products /OpenView, NetView, NetManager Fundamentals of Network Security Internal and external security Data encryption (methods, techniques and standards) Secure TCP/IP levels Types of attack Firewalls Security incidents: response and resolution Security issues in services Security on the Network Level ATM Technology Tag Switching A Visit to CARNet The List of Lecturers Anne Villems (Estonia) August Jauk (Slovenia) Track leader Borka Jerman-Blazic (Slovenia) Eugenie Staicut (Romania) George Macri (Romania) Hana Breyer Priselac (Croatia) Iskra Djonova (Macedonia) Jan Haering (Czech Republic) John LeRoy Crain (United Kingdom) Ksenija Furman-Jug (Slovenia) Maceik Krzyzanowski (Poland) Massimo Luccina (Italy) Miroslav Milinovich (Croatia) Oliver B. Popov (Macedonia) Chair Velimir Vujinovic (Croatia) Volin Karagozov (Bulgaria) Wojtek Bogusz (Poland) Track leader 2. The Corporate Sponsors in Action NetSaT Express NetSat Express, a division of the GlobeComis with CEENet for a second year. With the assistance of the Croatian partner, Dr. Gajewski and the two students from Poland, a PC Direct equipment was installed at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The equipment was operational for the duration of the Workshop, and was used by many students to become familiar with the technology. Mr. Jeremy Morison, a marketing manager with the company, gave an hour presentation and distributed plenty of marketing and technical materials. He was available for two more days to provide answers to the participants. Oracle Oracle appeared for the first time at one of the CEENet events. Thanks to Mrs. Donna Portoumayer, Mr. Vasja Herbst and Mr. Stephan Jarnjak, Oracle had a double performance (please see the section on the ELS). Mr. Jelovac gave a complete profile of the Company, the current trends on the DB market and the Internet influence, while also underling some of the future directions in the focus of their interest. As part of the presentation, Oracle gave twenty two folders (one per country) with the issues of their magazine and a CD with a sample of the company's products. Additional ten CDs with both demo and licensed software, five books on data bases, warehouses and information systems were awarded to the participants with the best score in the Internet Hunt and the Routing Problem. Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems are with CEENet workshops since their inception in 1995. The people from Sun have participated in all three types of activities: regular, evening and sponsor presentations. In Warsaw and Budapest, Sun Workstation provided by the respective offices were the basis of the temporary educational network. The Sun team in Zagreb was lead by Mr. Jean-Paul Bergeman from IEC in Geneva, Mr. Saletich, and Mr. Zadravec from the Computech, the Croatian partner. After a concise introduction, where the information about the developments at the Sun have been elaborated, there was a two hour lecture on the Java Programming Language and the Java Machine. Indeed, it was almost a panoramic view of the whole Java computing paradigm, and the associated applications and implications. The lecture tied rather nicely with one by the Oracle on NCA, presented on the night before. Cisco Cisco is another veteran of the CEENet Workshops. As was the case with the previous network technology workshops, Cisco routers were both the heart of the CEENet network and the necessary devices for teaching one of the major subjects, namely local and global routing. However, this year all equipment was provided by FER and CARNet. Therefore, Cisco contributed by providing an enthusiastic lecturer, Mr. Massima Lucchina, on network security, tag switching and, as the last lecture of the evening series showed, almost everything related to the state of the art in networking technology. Netscape Communications The Central and Eastern representative of Netscape Communications, Mr. Patel, two days before the end of the Workshop, made a request to address the participants. An effort was made to give him a spot just after the lecture on the very last day and before the visit to CARNet. He also presented several software packages to the CEENet Workshop staff to be distributed to the participants and made an announcement that Netscape Communications would in a very near future give about 11 000 of licensed software systems for clients and servers to the CEENet community with the approximate value of 70 000 USD. This grant was rather well publicized in the local press. 3. The Evening Lecture Series (ELS) The Evening Lecture Series, which this year attracted a keen interest by all of the participants, was moderated by Professor Popov and Dr. Gajewski. The topics presented as part of the ELS where: Internet and Society After a brief introduction by the moderators, there was a pool of speakers from different countries who elaborated the usage of networking and Internet in various situation and circumstances. The specifics included the on-line information database about the catastrophic flood and the need for emergency relief in Poland, the establishing and the maintenance of Internet connectivity in Albania during the widespread social and political unrest in the spring of 1997. Cables and Cabling Hrvoje Supic A simple, yet an appealing lecture on the cabling techniques, both for a wide and local area networks that included the very latest in the technology. TERENA: Technical Programme and Projects Peter Valkenburg This was a survey of the technical projects that are part of the TERENA activities along with the mechanisms making the proposals, the need for multicountry co-operation and the essential attributes that should be part of the each proposal in order to be considered. A Case Study: CARNet Predrag Vidas Mr. Vidas presented a short history of CARNet, the development and the current status, the range of the projects, and the plans for the future. ORACLE - The Network Computer A Network Computer machine was shown to the audience. The lecture, given by Mr. Stipetich referenced both the technical side of the machine, and the possible impact on the development and popularity of Internet. Telemedicine in CARNet Projects CARNet is a national network that initiates and supports a large number of research and application projects. These certainly applies to telemedicine where two specific projects were explained by the researchers from the University of Zagreb. RIPE NCC John LeRoy Crain The formal lecture include a description of the RIPE NCC structure RIPE NCC, the way it operates and deals with customers. After the lecture, Mr. Crain was joined by Mr. Massimo Luccina for a free style discussion on the latest developments with respect to networking technology and Internet. The discussion was well received by the participants and it finished long after the midnight. III The Instructional Facilities and the Accommodation The life of the Workshop was alternating between two places: the campus "Cvjetno" and FER. All of the lecturers, attendees, guest and VIPs were accommodated in the same building, used during the summer as a hotel and during the academic year for graduate and doctoral students. Breakfast was served in the campus restaurant, lunch was (a buffet style) at the Faculty, while dinner was given at "Medvedgrad", an interesting combination of a restaurant and brewery. Evening lectures were in the Conference Hall of the campus with multimedia equipment and Internet connectivity. The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Zagreb, has a long tradition of excellence in research and education. For the workshop, three laboratories were on disposal with a brand new communication and computing equipment . Indeed, the wealth of equipment provided by CARNet and FER was to the delight of everyone involved and it included: - more than sixty places to work for the students and a number of Sun Workstations, which formed the backbone of the Workshop Network; each lab had either a video beam or an LCD panel with OHP. - the White room was reserved for the lectures and had: a Sun workstation, eight personal computers, direct telephone line, a number of network plugs for the laptops of the lecturers, and a copy machine. - two lecture rooms (the Gray Hall for 100 persons, and the Maximus Hall for 600 people that was also used for the joint lectures). Naturally, both halls had an external connectivity, and for the whole week the Gray room also had a unit of PCDirect equipment running. - more than twelve Cisco routers (different models) were on the disposal of the lectures and the students, as well as a large number of hubs, modems and transceivers - a reception desk with heavy duty copy machine - a duplex of rooms with 16 computers and Internet connectivity at the campus, open each day until midnight IV The Human Network As was the case with the previous years, some of the countries well advanced in networking kindly gave their places (either entirely or partially) to the countries with less developed networking (however, the number was smaller than the year before). Special three places were also created for Bosnia. In total there were 77 students, with 37 attending Track I, while 40 were enrolled in Track II. Additionally 16 members of the OSI summit, which overlapped with the workshop, have been listening to the recitations. The recitations were open to the public and have been attended by students of the Croatian universities. The Scientific Programme was carried out by seventeen lecturers, joined by seven more for the Evening Lecture Series. The position of instructorship, established in Budapest, was occupied by Mrs. Riina Reinumagi and Mr. Peter Nedeltchev. While Mr. Nedeltchev was involved in lab exercises concerning UNIX and network management, Mrs. Reinumagi provided also assistance at the lecturer's room by classifying and storing all the lectures and other materials in an electronic form, and helping the Chair of the Programme with the daily administrative duties. She has also put all of the lectures on the EEnet Web Server and is in the process of transferring them to the CEENet server in Warsaw. Mrs. Anne Mardimae was a secretary of the Workshop and a participant. She did a very good job in handling the financial affairs concerning the reimbursement procedures for every participant. Her work started well in advance of the actual Workshop by keeping the data base of the participants and the coordination of the each participant's traveling arrangements with the Globtour agency, minimizing the delay times between the routes and the cost of each ticket. The support of our host CARNet was impeccable. Frankly, each participant in Zagreb felt like a VIP, since there was no a single person that was not given lift from or to either the airport or the railway station. There were almost fairy people involved, including - the reception desk at "Cvjetno" - the Computer room and the Conference Hall in Cvjetno - the reception desk and the copying facility at FER - the technical assistance and maintenance of the workshop network and the labs The work of CARNet was galvanized by Mr. Predrag Pale and Mr. Predrag Vidas. The overall coordination of the whole event from the Croatian side was trusted to Miss Maja Cetineo with the assistance of Vesna Vraga (visas and transportation), Zoran Vlah (media coordination and attendance) and Karolina Horvatincic (rooms, board and sporting events). Most of the traveling arraignments and social events were organized by the "Globetour" agency and her director Mrs. Visnja Ceric. The series of social events comprised from - a reception for the lectures, the workshop management and the key CARNet people - a cocktail party between the opening ceremonies and the press conference - a bus tour of Zagreb - one day visit to the National Park "Plitivice" which is under the protection of UNESCO, a place of rare natural beauty truly enjoyed by all the participants, who had an out-door lunch and dinner at the national restaurant in Jastrebarsko (this was the workshop day-off ). - a sporting event with matches in basketball for the gentleman, and volleyball for the ladies between the selected teams of CARNet and CEENet - a small reception and a harp music soiree at the home of Mrs. Ceric for the people involved in the management of the Workshop - a Gala dinner at the Castle of Brezovica, where each participant was presented a small gift by CARNet. In Brezovica there was live music for dancing and a program of Croatian folk music. During the evening the prizes for the most diligent students in both tracks were awarded. The management of the Worship presented to CARNet, as a token of appreciation, an oil painting of the Old Zagreb. Prior and during the Workshop, in the very first few days, there was a an OSI summit headed by Mr. Jonathan Peizer which included OSI Internet coordinators in the CEE countries. A very important part of the social milieu was the CEENet '97 presentation on the CARNet W3, which was initiated about a three weeks before the event started, with the data abbot the Programme, the venue, the tourist information. The W3 was fed with news and information for the whole duration of Workshop. Immediately after each event, the info along with the photos from it were placed on the Web which was due to Mr. Dubravko Jelincic from CARNet. The Evaluation of the Workshop Since there was a major change in the evaluation form for CEENet '96 Workshop, it was decided to keep the format. Only one question, related to the qualification of the support of the host, was added to the questionare. The results of the evaluation form are included at the end of the report as appendix. In general, the grades (with only two exceptions) both numerical and verbal are higher this year. This is also true for the overall grade of the Workshop, which is well above four (very good). Note, that the range goes from one (poor) to five (excellent). Conclusion In the three years of its existence, the quality of the workshop, from the educational, technical and social point of view, has succeeded to improve and gain wide recognition in the networking community, international organizations and vendors of communication and information technology. In Zagreb, the Programme, due to the infrastructure, the additional lecturers from CARNet, and the sponsors we were able to introduce new technologies, to create a demanding and absorbing educational programme, while tending to the social and cultural implications of the technology. In a way, this type of workshop has due to the unqualified dedication, the understanding and the trust of the financiers, and the interest of the sponsors, has possibly reached its pinnacle. As posited in the past, the process of education is a dynamic entity, and a discussions about plausible modifications have already started that will keep the objectives and aims of the whole enterprise going strong in the future. This changes might introduce a third, a sort of "training the trainers", track, a short pre-workshop course on UNIX and TCP/IP, and a three-day special tutorial on Java Network programming. Naturally, these are only initial ideas and reflections. In the months ahead, we expect the arguments about possible changes to be raised with the prospective lectures and track leaders, with the members of the CEENet GA and MC, in order to arrive at the best possible format and content for CEENet '98. As already mentioned, the workshop in Zagreb was financed from a grant of the Soros Foundation and a donation by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Croatia. Hence, we would to express our since gratitude to Mr. Jonathan Peizer and Mr. Predrag Pale who played a significant role in what was clearly a prosperous Workshop. This appreciation is extended to everyone, who in any conceivable way, contributed to the success of CEENet'97. Zagreb, September 3, 1997 Dr. Jacek Gajewski Appendix Results of the CEENet '97 Workshop Evaluation A) The learning environment(program, instructors, teaching) A1) The relevance of the program content with respect to your expectations: Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.13 Budapest 3.97 Comments: - I think that I needed this kind of program. - But all experiments should be do. - A need for more technical matters - A large variance in the technical details. - Too many particular details, should be more general concepts, such as protocol engineering and their comparison. - Some of the security stuff was boring. - Very good, but four because there was almost nothing about Win NT - Should cover more advanced networking areas, and less beginners stuff - Would like to have the book earlier - Excellent A2) The quality of teaching: Numeric grade: Zagreb 3.81 Budapest 3.61 Comments: - very different, very good and very, very good - excellent - could be more interactions - some had difficulties with their English - add more time for practice - good tectonics are not always good teachers - a joke during the lecture will be fine - no objections - some lecturers are really boring - more contacts - depends on the lecturer, some where excellent - some teach better, some slides from a distance hardly readable, some copies from slides hardly readable - different teachers teach at different quality - some lecturers very good, but almost all sometimes talking about little things not important for the teaching process A3) The instructional facilities (equipment and labs) Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.83 Budapest 4.23 Comments: - I have never seen labs like those in Zagreb - computer classrooms should be open 24 hours, since very time of the day and night are needed both for - - participants and lecturers - everyone must do the labs by himself - the international connections were too slow - the proxy server of CEENet not work good - equipment excellent, but more control should be exercised on the students during lab hours - more lab time - very well - excellent, even more - Euro-news, no comment, they showed themselves - fantastic CARNet team and labs A4) The suitability of distributed materials: Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.34 Budapest 4.08 Comments: - sometimes hard copy materials were missing - excellent - sometimes late - some materials have to be more detailed - from time to time there were not enough materials - some printouts were not readable, but it is very good they existed - we should have the book from the previous year from the very first day - some materials were not readable on paper - some copies not readable due to color background slides - we should have the previous year book in advance A5) How useful were the Evening lectures: Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.79 Budapest 3.53 Comments: - very good lectures for Cisco, RIPE NCC,... - how to make a "workable network", Win NT, - too late - dynamic HTML, integration of DB and WWW - Win NT platform - comparative protocol studies, also EIGRP - more of the state of the art technology - I would like to here something also about commercial Internet products, not just public domain - wireless communications technologies, radio, satellite - almost all topics were covered - the beer was good - maybe a general overview of the current Internet situation in different countries, political, economical, technical points of view - network administration from a software point of view - routing protocols, security and ATM - more on Web technology, Win NT - electronic education - like telemedicine A6) Was the Sponsor's spotlight worthwhile time spent for you? Numeric grade: Zagreb 3.96 Budapest 3.50 Comments: - Taide, Microsoft for the next year - yes, very good - some more useful, than the others - it is very good A7) What should be improved and/or changed in the Program and its execution in the future: Comments: - some topics of net management should be included in T1 - participants should get more detailed schedule including the names of the lecturers in advance - on -line lectures, or may be additional 2-3 on -line workshops in addition to the real one - take into account the different levels of the participants - more labs - make third track for WWW administrators - more practice in the labs - the schedule is too busy... perhaps reserve more days with some more relaxed schedule - more attention to general concepts - should have better info desk - more lectures evening style and perhaps more time for recreational events - more technical details - may be it is not needed to keep people so strongly into tracks, but just offer parallel courses/lectures. I know it is making planning more complex - may be extend the duration of the w/shop if it is possible - more lab exercises, and working on mini projects during the w/shop - may be small exhibition of the sponsors - nothing - more labs on security, more lectures on ATM, more sponsor's spotlights: MS. DEC, IBM,... - NT server-very interesting topic - more hands-on demonstrations - better organization of the labs - nothing, everything was OK B) The Living Environment(travel, housing, food, social events) B1) How was your room accommodation: Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.45 Budapest 4.83 Comments: - the bathroom problem, and not network plugs - Zagreb is my home town - good - bathroom shared with four people - better than I expected - no radio, not TV in room - every room has to have its toilette - sharing the toilette is not a very good idea - should have telephones - I do not like shared bathrooms - nothing missing B2) How would you rate your meals: Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.08 Budapest 3.60 Comments: - the best food on conferences I ever had. But, more fruits. - excellent - little more tables at FER - excellent salad bar - Bravo for the salad bar and the beer - less meat - more vegetables in the morning - cheap beverages should be included into dinner - more attention to vegetarians - breakfast-excellent, lunch-poor, dinner-good - the food was like my mom - breakfast-excellent, lunch-less meat, more fruit, dinner-good - less meat please, and the waiters should learn to smile B3) The Travel arrangements were: Numeric grade: Zagreb 4.29 Budapest 4.24 Comments: - Globetour should not have sent their suggestions for buying tickets without consulting the OrgCom, their information contained errors. - travel information was excellent - more then excellent - very good job - excellent - poor B4) Social events (organization) Numeric grade: Zagreb 3.82 Budapest 3.91 Comments: - more, and add music - the Croatian press was not allowed to go to Plitvice - excellent - really excellent - minus for the visit to Plitvice - very impressive trip to Plitvice. Some delays due to organizational errors. - Plitvice-too much directions, people handled like pupils. Gala dinner should be in style reach, less official. - very good social events B5)Social Events (number) Numeric grade: Zagreb 3.68 Budapest 3.38 Comments(includes other ideas): - more sporting possibilities are needed - more social events at the beginning of the w/shop so everybody should get acquainted - more cultural events - one has to sleep from time to time - we need more sports - much more common activities - a half day free time should be included into the programme so one can walk into the city and do some shopping - may be optional possibility to go to theater and concert - small shop at the place of living for chocolates, candies, and so on, and also and exchange office at the reception desk or info desk - more music, dances and ... - if I have them I will send them by e-mail - excellent - add music - classical dances competition B6) From a logistic point of view in the future, I would prefer certain things done in a different manner. For example, - use smaller room for lecturing - add one more track to train the trainers - no suggestions - nothing to say, it was well organized and fully functional - Novice participants should have more detail guidelines and materials. May be a book with all materials next time - more time for individual use of Internet. Cvejtno lab was never opened on time, but I am grateful we could use it anyway. - the lessons should be shorter, 1 hour perhaps. - more time for labs - more info about CEENet - excellent - in my opinion you should not try to improve anything, the risk of screwing something else up is too big. It was almost perfect, so it should remain the same. - CEENet and CARNet staff did a great job. I do not think one can improve much more. - include games - no complaints - the time table with the details should be also delivered to the participants. - the access to the terminal room should not be restricted, and also better international links. - very good C)Additional issues: C1) Do you think that your country might be a good candidate for CEENet W/shop. Please, explain - candidates that are ready now: Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bosnia, Albania - in a few years: Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Macedonia,... C2) How would you rate the suport of the "local" national network which is also a memebr of CEENet? - the support of CARNet-very good to excellent and outstanding D) What more would you like to tell us? Comments: - thank you - see you at the next workshop - good luck in future workshops - thank you for very interesting and useful workshop - thanks to all lecturers, organizers, assistants who tried to do their best for the success of this workshop - it was a very good workshop - I am very satisfied and thankful. The workshops must go on. - thanks a lot for the organization of this w/shop - wonderful organization, very close support and high knowledge and professionalism of the lectures - very glad to see you on the next workshop - continue in doing this very good job and just do not give up. Good luck. - it was very nice. I will try to come next year also. - I think that this kind of w/shops are essential for the development of the national networks - very satisfied, good job done.