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Zaher Qassrawi



INTERNET EXCHANGE POINTS - BEYOND CONFIGURATION ISSUES

Zaher Qassrawi — 24 Mar 2022

ZAHER QASSRAWI

Based in Palestine

Zahir Qasrawi, an information security professional, board member of
ISOC-Palestine chapter, and Member of ISOC Chapters Advisory Council Steering
Committee (ChAC-SC), has a B.Sc. majored in Electrical Engineering, and he also
has M.Sc. in Scientific Computing from Birzeit University in Palestine. Qasrawi
has several certificates and training in computer networks … More

5 min read

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In today's world, the need for a stable and continuous Internet connection is
often a matter of urgency, but infrastructure failures and political conflicts
can cause connectivity interruptions at both the local and international levels.
Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) play an important role in helping maintain
connectivity in emergency situations. While building an IXP is mainly a
technical challenge, its success is not dependent totally on technical
configurations, and it cannot be measured only by the volume of traffic passing
through it.

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An Internet Exchange Point (IXP) is a physical location where stakeholders with
independent Autonomous Systems (AS) connect at a neutral central point to
exchange traffic (peering). Such stakeholders can be Internet Service Providers
(ISPs), Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), academic institutions, financial
service companies, and so forth. The infrastructure of an IXP includes mainly
one or many network switches that are configured to peering the traffic between
the connected partners using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

IXPs allow partner networks to exchange traffic directly rather than using
transit providers. This creates shorter paths and reduces latency, which can
potentially reduce costs. IXPs also provide resilient connections in case of any
international connection cut-down. A single IXP can be connected to another IXP
in the same country or globally (DE-CIX and NL-ix).

The presence of an IXP can serve to enhance the development of the local
Internet system since there is a reciprocal relationship between IXPs and
locally hosted content. This is through enriching the locally hosted content,
which leads to raising the need for IXP development. At the same time,
establishing an IXP can encourage companies to host their services locally.


TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION VERSUS MANAGEMENT POLICY

The governance of an IXP can deeply affect its development. The difficulty of
stating a clear management policy for IXPs is the main challenge that limits the
growth, sustainability and success of IXPs. In the past years, there have not
been enough initiatives that support creating such policies for IXP management.
One of the most important initiatives was published in 2016 by the
multi-stakeholder the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which was described a
Best Current Practice (BCP) for IXPs. The BCP discussed the importance of a
business plan that contributed to the success and development of IXPs. Since
there wasn’t enough effort invested in this issue, this BCP has continued to be
a much demanded resource for entities wanting to establish IXPs.

It is important to work on establishing a clear policy for management that aims
to develop trust, common understanding, and mutual agreements in the local
community, especially as the organisations involved in setting up an IXP are
traditionally competitors. Besides, it should be noted there is no “one size
fits all” policy that can be applicable to all the IXPs, yet it can be
customised to comply with the country’s context and regulations.


IXP MODELS

IXP implementation can be divided into two main models as follows:

 * Nonprofit, which can be owned by academic institutions, governments,
   non-profit associations or research centres
 * For Profit, which can be owned by commercial companies

The non-profit associations model is more familiar in Europe, while the
governmental model is familiar in the Middle East. For example, in Palestine,
there are two IXPs, one launched in September 2015 and operated by the Internet
Society-Palestine Chapter, and the other founded in 2020 and owned by the
Ministry of Telecom & IT Palestine. Being a board member of both of these IXPs
gave me a unique exposure that helped to learn about the pros and cons for the
two models. Based on my experience, here I provide a list of some key
non-technical points that need to be considered before and after building an
IXP.

1. IXP BOARD

The first step in establishing an IXP is the establishment of a board for
management. The board can be formed by including partners, local communities and
government. The diversity in board membership will be an advantage, since this
board will launch the operation and solve any raised concerns. The IXP, whether
it is for-profit or non-profit, needs a work plan that will be set by the IXP
board.

2. IXP LOCATION

The selection of the place at which the IXP will be located is another important
issue. This place must be neutral and can be reached by all partners with
minimum cost. Academic institutions may be a preferable place for hosting an
IXP, as these institutions are regarded as neutral locations.

3. FEES

IXPs have running costs that are usually covered by donations or by annual
membership.

4. CONNECTION AGREEMENT AND PEERING POLICY

Before connecting to the IXP by any partner, an agreement should be signed with
the IXP’s operator. By signing this agreement, the partners ensure the Service
Level Agreement (SLA) that the IXP will provide. Additionally, the IXP’s
operator should confirm if the partner has their own peering policy which
includes if they will peer all the traffic, especially the traffic that is
related to the competitors.

5. REGULATORY APPROVALS

In some countries, establishing an IXP requires a special license with annual
renewal. While in some jurisdictions, no license is required. In some cases, the
government or the large companies may try to make the licensing process
difficult, since large transit networks and international gateway networks can
be negatively impacted, as their profit may decrease from the settlement-free at
the IXP.

6. OTHER SERVICES

Along with the IXP main service, it is essential to decide which other services
to be provided. For example, cloud and content companies can provide their
services at IXP, and these services may be a sort of help for small ISPs and
small businesses.


CONCLUSION

Overall, establishing a successful IXP does not depend merely on technology, but
it relies on the level of the cooperation between the partners and the support
offered by the government. There are some important issues to be considered
before establishing an IXP. Although each country has its context, the basic
management policies are still very similar.

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More information about IXPs can be found in the following resources:

IGF 2016, Best Practice Forum on IXPs, “Contributing to the success and
continued development of Internet exchange points.”

Effective IXP strategies for the Asia-Pacific

routing peering competition internet infrastructure
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zaher Qassrawi Based in Palestine

Zahir Qasrawi, an information security professional, board member of
ISOC-Palestine chapter, and Member of ISOC Chapters Advisory Council Steering
Committee (ChAC-SC), has a B.Sc. majored in Electrical Engineering, and he also
has M.Sc. in Scientific Computing from Birzeit University in Palestine. Qasrawi
has several certificates and training in computer networks and security, such as
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Cisco Certified
Network Associate (CCNA), and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). In
the last 15 years, Qasrawi has worked as a computer networks engineer and
information technology manager in different public and private sectors
organizations. In 2019, he was one of the team leaders of the ISOC-Palestine
project, which was recognized as WSIS Prize 2019 champion in Category 5
"Building confidence and security in the use of ICT”.


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