so this is the emf network operations
center this is where we've been building
and staging and then deploying the
network from all week this is where the
switches get configured everything
tested sent out with the wi-fi access
points decked base stations the gsm team
come along later and add their gsm base
stations as well this all then goes out
to the dart and cloud the dks we call
them on site
so let's start where people come where
they get the internet
so we have blanket wired and wireless
coverage most people prefer wireless
because they don't have to run a cable
but it is there there's
uh dart and cloud within 40 meters of
pretty much every tent unless you've
camped in a very strange area
uh these darts
it's uh it's german for data toilets and
we use them because they're basically
portable toilets portable loose
and inside each is a switch
deck base station we used to keep the
access points inside but now we have
them mounted on poles we find them super
convenient because um they're basically
a waterproof box and there is the
potential for
things to get wet on a campsite
so if we take a wonder up here maybe and
take a look inside this one
so we put padlocks on the outside just
in case but once you get inside it's
pretty hard to confuse them for a
working toilet
there we are an access switch for those
who wish to connect by wired ethernet it
then also connects to our access point
uh deck base station gsm base station on
the roof
we also have a light
so it's a sequence of individually
addressable leds that change color
depending on art net broadcast messages
so apart from looking cool they're
actually a really useful way to see if
the network at a glance in that dart and
cloud is running or not
so one can look across the field and see
ah the power may be out there the switch
may have a problem and head over and
sort it out
so from here
is a complex distribution network of
fiber complex physically
not so complex logically
each switch in each of these dart
enclosed directly connected to our core
switch
but that's a lot of fiber to run so what
we actually do is we run a fiber from
each one to a kind of hub darting quote
and we use lc couplers
just to patch the fiber onto another
fiber with more cores
and i've picked the wrong one i know i
haven't
so this looks like an underground splice
closure because it actually is an
underground splice closure
this runs underground three ducts all
the way back to our lock dc our data
center on site
these pop out at a couple of locations
on site and we just patch on with
couplers to provide
a connection to the switch or to the to
a switch in a nearby dk
if we walk down here i can show you
where they all connect logically back to
the nog dc so we had two plans for this
event one was
our normal plan which is to run fiber
along the ground and along the festoon
lighting which runs through the site
that was our plan b our plan a which we
really wanted to do because we like to
do something a bit challenging and a bit
different every year was to run fibre
through the ducts on the site and i'm
very glad we pulled that off because
it's so much neater and so much easier
to get where you need to go a challenge
on any field is to
cool and
protect the servers and the switches
that we use to build the network with
are not dc unlocked data center this is
this is the solution we've come up with
in 2012
it was a large scouting tent with a
literally a 19-inch rack down one end
but it kept getting covered with bits of
field grass and the like
2014 we had a
reefer a refrigerated shipping container
which was massive and really cold the
problem was it was too cold you couldn't
set the set point high enough
and it condensed so much liquid it was
water blowing all over the servers tarps
covering everything not really good
so 2016 we decided we'd just rent the
same kind of refrigeration unit that the
bar used to keep the beer cold
which uh
worked out really well the the built-in
chiller that comes with it wasn't quite
enough because it's designed to keep
food cold rather than remove two and a
half kilowatts worth of heat
so we do actually run our own air
conditioning
inside
so if i can talk you through what we
have in here we have our core switch
which is uh
this arista here these fibers coming in
here
are coupled literally onto the
underground fibre that we've run through
the site
so that's our core switch core router
this is access for the devices in the
data center and on the roof of the data
center
these are our wireless lan controllers
redundant pair of those
ups is very heavy ups's automatic
transfer switch
and some servers that run as a virtual
machine cluster that provide all the
services that we provide on site so dns
dhcp
network monitoring that we use
configuration management ticketing that
kind of thing
is all this clothing or is this people
how does this work so the container and
the air conditioner are rented in
but pretty much everything else here is
on loan from either a vendor or an
organization called event infra which
some of our teams set up in the
netherlands to kind of hold donated
equipment from vendors and store it
insure it ship it out to each of these
events so it's really convenient to know
long in advance that we don't have to
start flagging through equipment from
the vendors
so there's pretty much no flat surface
on this site including right here which
is why we put a sign saying non-slip map
between every device and it's why we
have this little bodge here to make sure
that the air conditioner doesn't topple
over and crush all the servers and
fibers and switches
we have two ups's redundant pair and we
have an automatic transfer switch for
any servers that can only take one power
supply
but as far as i'm aware
we haven't actually lost power at all in
this area
these are our underground fibres one
goes off down the site and into those
underground closures that are currently
in darden clay the other one goes well
over a kilometer through other ducts all
the way to a green cabinet that we've
installed right by the street and that's
where our circuit actually terminates we
tried to make it as easy and as
pain-free as possible for them to bring
the circuit in and it worked out really
well in the end this will stay here and
uh if we return in 2020 we hope to use
it again we hope it will be in good
condition we've uh we've done all we can
to protect it i'm taking you a very long
way
all the way back to the main entrance of
the entire deer park right by the main
road
a rap about a raspberry pi
that couldn't have been better i came on
the thursday to install the camera up on
the hill to do a time-lapse video of the
build
and then we started receiving deliveries
friday morning uh just before 7am
a week later it's unrecognizable
we're using single mode fiber which can
go 10 kilometers and this is about 1.2
it's a bit shorter as the crow flies but
we have ducting that we have to follow
through
this may look like a darting glow it may
look like a portable toilet but is also
neither this is actually part of our
emergency response plan the mobile
signal on site is so bad if the internet
connection goes down and we can't get a
call out to 999 someone could be sent
down to this gate that has a hard line
phone inside i'm very proud of this this
area
all the way up to the toilet up there or
the not toilet up there we dug this up
in the freezing cold in january
installed ducts installed power
underground we installed other ducts out
to the road literally to the property
line here
leaving ducts and ropes for the provider
to come and pull their fiber through
later we installed a concrete plinth and
then the following weekend we installed
this
a proper street cabinet so what we have
in here is some power that is
permanently on so not fed from our
generators kindly provided by easton
castle
we have fiber coming in from our
provider
which is then patched into their network
terminating device so this is what they
use to monitor and manage the circuit in
case there's a problem
uh this is the little device we were
using for testing this is how we were
able to see a month ago that the circuit
was done and then we could get a full
gigabit it was so reassuring to know
that this was going to be ready when we
finally got on site
but what actually happens now is this
fiber the access port fiber
goes into this coupler
and
directly onto the same fiber we just saw
up at the knot dc and we also have a ups
down here just in case something happens
with the power supply it gives us a bit
of warning because we actually have that
still connected via a different fiber so
we know that if that goes down but this
still has power then we've lost power
and it's just running on the ups so
we've got about 10 minutes to get down
here with the generator to make sure the
uplink stays
2012 we ran wireless point to point 2013
em wave we ran wireless point to point
shorter distance in docklands but still
point to point 2014 another wireless
point to point 2016 we were so lucky uh
to find the
internet provider of the nearby business
park and make friends with them and they
were so helpful but this is ours we
built this this will stay here and
hopefully we'll be back in 2020 to use
it again i think from a network
standpoint there are a lot more ducts on
site and a lot more manholes that we've
only discovered while we've been doing
this buildup so there's a lot more
options to put more fiber in to make it
easier to set up next time and in the
future so be great to get some in there
[Music]
once you get inside it's pretty hard to
confuse them for a working toilet to get
from
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