N-1-1-040.50 Cooperation Among Network Operation Centers - A Beginning, by Elise Gerich*, In the summer of 1988, when the NSFNET T1 backbone became operational, the NSF mid-level networks and the NSFNET management team discussed the need for the distribution of real-time information about the status of the NSFNET backbone. The mid-level networks provide direct support to the network users within their region or organization. The users call the mid-levels when they perceive a problem reaching someone or some machine via the network. The network is and should be perceived as one entity; the multiple component networks that provide the path from one destination to another should be transparent to the user. Therefore, the network operation centers which are responsible for various portions of "the network" need a way to share information about the health of their portion of the network. The result of these discussions was the creation of a mailing list, network-status-reports (nsr@merit.edu). For the last three years the Merit Network Operation Center has posted notices of scheduled backbone activity and disruption of service on the backbone to nsr@ merit.edu. The mid-level networks agreed to create distribution lists for the network status announcements. The Merit Network Operation Center used this mailing list to apprise the NSF regionals of the status of the NSFNET backbone. Some of the mid-levels, notably JVNCnet, also started to use nsr as a vehicle to notify other network operation centers of activities within their regional network. However, the list has primarily reported information about the NSFNET backbone. As more and more networks accessed the NSFNET and the NSF regionals, the original distribution list has expanded to include more network service providers, for instance, CA*net, SWITCH, and EASInet. At the Network Joint Management working group meeting at the last IETF in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the usefulness of sharing information concerning the status of the Internet was discussed. From all reports, the working group agreed that the network operation centers need to know what is happening in remote parts of the Internet that may impact the ability of their users to access some destinations. This sharing of information permits the network operation centers to more efficiently debug problems reported by their constituents. The working group also agreed that while the nsr mailing list acts as a good vehicle for dispersing operational information to other centers, it is inappropriate to use that vehicle as a forum to discuss meta issues. The integrity of the mailing list should be maintained so that network operators can keep the real-time network messages separate from other topics. A second mailing list should be used for on-going discussions concerning cooperation between network operation centers. The working group proposed that the njm@merit.edu mailing list is the appropriate forum for other topics concerning distributed management of the Internet. Network Operation Centers are encouraged to use nsr@merit.edu to notify other NOCs of scheduled maintenance and other service activities for which they are responsible. Accurate and timely postings by NOCs to nsr will benefit all of us in serving our users. *Merit/NSFNET