Internet Routing Behavior on 9/11 (.pdf)
Talk about the importance of strategic disaster planning. One of the presentations I attended at BarCamp Manchester was about BGP (border gateway protocol) and Internet routers. Jim Cowie and Shimon Rura of Renesys gave an overview of how the Internet works on a technical level while discussing Renesys’ work. (Yes, this is the same Shimon who built voo2do and Frassle.) As part of the talk, Jim told us about looking at the Internet router data on 9/11. He’s been collecting Internet router data since about 2000. He and Andy Ogielski published some reports about the Internet on 9/11, including Internet Routing Behavior on 9/11 (.pdf) and National Research Council Report: The Internet Under Crisis Conditions - Learning from September 11.
The damage to New York City on that day also impacted Internet routes and had some detrimental effects even days later. Not only did the collapse of the buildings take out lots of fibre optic cable, but a few days later, generators went down because of clogged filters or a lack of fuel, which impacted the Internet.
It’s one thing to make plans about how to evacuate a building during an emergency, but how can we plan for disasters impacting things like Internet access even a few days after the crisis? Is it possible to plan for absolutely every contingency? More things to ponder …
PS–I think the two best parts of BarCamp were sitting next to Josh because he kept handing me food and listening to someone else’s conversation about changing jobs. The advice and experience of the person who had been working longer was really valuable.
