"Solaris will be an eternal challenge to the man," wrote Stanisław Lem, an outstanding Polish science-fiction author, futurologist and philosopher. He would probably be pleased that the National Synchrotron Radiation Centre in Cracow, the city to which he was related for the majority of his lifetime, was named after his most famous novel. Because we are most definitely proud that the most powerful research device in this part of Europe is using Extreme networking solutions!
The Jagiellonian University's centre, officially opened in September 2015, is located on the Jagiellonian University's 600th Anniversary of the JU Renewal Campus in the southern part of Cracow. The facility hides a powerful research device inside, which can make it possible for scientists from all over the world to make groundbreaking discoveries, and who knows, maybe even to receive a Nobel Prize. But... what does it actually do?
You could say it's a kind of a powerful flashlight or a scalpel. It allows us to look deep into objects, cut through some bonds in molecules, stimulate new reactions or conduct material engineering on an atomic and molecular scale
Professor Marek Stankiewicz, Director of the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre
Synchrotron is a type of accelerator, i.e. a device in which electrons are accelerated to a speed close to that of the speed of light in vacuum. Unlike linear accelerators, however, the particles move here on a closed path, completing more than three million laps in just one second!
Twelve blocks of electromagnets are responsible for the circular path of their motion, which produces electromagnetic radiation with exceptional properties – Including extreme intensity and a wide spectral range, from infrared to X-rays. Thus obtained, the synchrotron light is then led outside – first to research lines and then to measuring stations, where it is used for scientific research.
By using perfectly collimated (focused in a narrow beam of parallel rays) light, scientists can explore both surfaces and interiors of different materials in many different ways, learning more about their chemical composition and electromagnetic properties.
A place of great importance
The size of the device itself is a proof that we are dealing with something extraordinary – the diameter of the ring in which the electromagnets are placed is as much as 96 meters. Thus, it is not only the largest research infrastructure in Poland, but also one of the largest in the entire Central and Eastern Europe. The hall area alone (including the ring) is as much as 3,000 m2. That's as much as a medium-sized office building.
In addition to the purely engineering and constructional aspect and the deep application of physics and mathematics, the entire machinery and measurement lines can work thanks to advanced software-controlled motorised solutions. All the mirrors, diffraction gratings and screens are set in motion by 220 physical and virtual motors and nearly 150 controllers of motorised devices. The responsibility for all this lies with the network, comprising “only” over 2750 devices and over 100 applications! The current "backbone" enabling communication, data acquisition and readout from devices consists of 60 network switches, 2 physical Wi-Fi controllers and 20 access points, as well as... 55 km of UTP cable and 22 km of fibre optic cables.
It is difficult to tell which switch was first. At the beginning, the IT "team" consisted only of me, and my duties included preparing the network architecture, designing the cabling of the future centre, as well as the first purchases and support for employees. It was a time of hard work, but also of incredible euphoria resulting from laying the foundations for a place of such great research importance
Michał Ostoja-Gajewski, Head of the Control and IT Systems Department.
One of the electromagnetin the SOLARIS synchrotron storage ring (Photo: NSRC SOLARIS)
A tried and tested solution with the most valuable experience
Among the biggest challenges for the designed computer network architecture, the Centre's employees mention:
- ensuring the shortest possible response time for devices and servers,
- ensuring stable operation of the PLC system with a very strict delay threshold,
- building a network model, which over time will be able to handle more and more connections with increasing data transmission (e.g. data from CMOS and CCD cameras or ultimately the transmission of measurement data performed by many research teams),
- ensuring network security for synchrotron and measurement lines while maintaining real-time communication.
SOLARIS engineers found the answer to all these requirements and challenges in network solutions offered by Extreme Networks, and the key to making the decision was the Jagiellonian University employees’ previous experience with this brand.
PEEM end-station (Photo: NSRC SOLARIS)
Benefits visible almost at the speed of light
At the moment, the data transmission ecosystem of the National Synchrotron Radiation Centre consists of many elements in the form of switches, firewalls, management systems, reporting and analysis systems as well as backup. All of them have been adapted and refined through many years of experience of the on-site IT team to the possibilities and functionalities offered by Extreme Networks solutions.
Systems operating within the SOLARIS computer network require full hardware compatibility. According to the policy, all ports within the central management remain disabled by default – the port is switched on when the device is connected and switched off as soon as it is disconnected. The system provides the possibility of remote configuration of VLANs and ports, as well as diagnostics with the use of native ExtremeXOS operating system tools.
– In our everyday work we use our own scripts for both management and diagnostics of the entire network environment. Extreme solutions with EXOS system allow for their automation, which reduces the costs of daily administration. In our network we actively use advanced QoS mechanisms available in Extreme devices and uniform access policies to particular security zones, based on static and dynamic ACL rules. Homogeneity of the environment enables us to manage and administer more efficiently – explains Mirosław Burzyński, Senior network specialist.
The monitoring systems used collect current port traffic statistics in a procative manner and the configuration of all network switches is stored daily in the central backup.
– Within our network environment, we use switches in x460-G2-48p and x460-G2-24p versions. The service warehouse built on the basis of them allows us to react quickly in the event of any failure, and the interchangeability of elements and devices within the entire environment allows us to maintain internal SLA, reduces the costs of fixes and significantly contributes to increasing the efficiency of network operation. The homogeneity of the network environment also means for us an easy scalability in the future, without the need to change all policies, ACL and topologies – Mirosław Burzyński adds.
"Solaris will be an eternal challenge to the man."
The National Synchrotron Radiation Centre has a great growth potential. In the coming years, further lines will be made available to researchers to enable research using photoemission spectroscopy (PHELIX) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (SOLABS), protein crystallography and structural studies of monocrystals in extreme conditions (SOLCRYS), microscopy and IR imaging (SOLAIR), multi-modal X-ray imaging (POLYX), as well as scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (XMCD).
It is worth noting at this point that works on the next lines do not affect the operation of the Centre's IT systems. A very efficient and flexible backbone network based on Extreme Networks solutions allows the IT team to easily handle increased number of connections and more intensive data transmission, thanks to which switches and access points can be freely added. The technologies made available by Extreme allowed to build a fully flexible and scalable network.