Technical Library

EBS is a value added service offered with leased line accounts that have access to customer support.

EBS is available in two flavors, analog and ISDN. You can take advantage of the analog or 1B-channel ISDN backup service. Those with leased line connections of 128K or greater also have the option of utilizing a 2B-channel ISDN backup service where available.

Equipment is not provided for this service. Those customers with managed services where we own and maintain the router do not get EBS equipment as part of their service. Any additional equipment that is necessary must be purchased, configured and maintained by you. The equipment requirements are similar to those for our Dial Access accounts: a router capable of PPP with PAP, a modem or ISDN device and all necessary cabling. In addition, you will need to have either an analog or ISDN phone line.

EBS will be activated when needed. If you experience a prolonged outage (lasting 4 or more hours per the terms of the contract), you can choose to utilize this service. Support Engineers have the details on activating the EBS account.

Steps in implementing and activating EBS

• Contact Customer Support to configure and test the EBS equipment and configuration. The configuration and testing should be done prior to any outages for the smoothest operation of the EBS account should it ever be required.
• In the event of an extended outage, you will work with Corporate Support to activate the EBS account. This backup connection will be utilized until the leased line connection is fully repaired.
• Once the leased line account is back on-line, Corporate Support will work with you to switch from the backup connection to the leased line connection.

Guidelines

• The leased line connection and EBS account cannot be active at the same time. The routing announcements for your network(s) will conflict and traffic will not route properly.
• The switch over to EBS should not be setup to happen automatically. If so, it may hinder our ability to recognize and repair the problem with your leased line connection.
• EBS accounts are temporary, dial-in connections. Consideration must be made regarding what traffic is essential and should be routed over the EBS account.
• EBS accounts are to be used only when your installed, and previously functional, leased line is not operational.
• You must contact your local telephone company to assure that the phone number that your EBS router is dialing is not long distance. You are responsible for any long distance charges.
• Periodically check our Phone Numbers web page to verify that the dialup phone number is still valid.

While the leased line is up and operational, all traffic from your network will travel to the Internet via the leased line router. At this point, the Dialup Router is inactive.

Should something happen to your leased line connection or your Leased Line Router, you should work with Corporate Support to have your Emergency Backup Service account activated. During this time, we will perform initial troubleshooting on your leased line connection.

We prefer to restore connectivity through the leased line connection. If it is determined that the outage is going to be extended, your EBS account will be activated. Until this account is activated, your site will be without connectivity.

Once your EBS account is activated, traffic from your network travels to the Internet via the Dialup Router. Due to the bandwidth limitations of a dialup connection, you should analyze your network and determine which services and machines are vital.

These machines should be allowed access to the Internet via the dialup connection while non-vital machines should be temporarily denied access to the Internet.

This type of a decision can be implemented by putting the vital machines on one network and the non-vital machines on a separate network as illustrated in the following picture.

Once connectivity is restored via your leased line connection, turn off the EBS Dialup Router to restore traffic flow through the Leased Line Router.