Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the requirements for participating in ACOnet?
How do I become an ACOnet participant?

Is it possible to connect dormitories to ACOnet?
What is the VCampus NightLine?
Which dormitories are connected to ACOnet?

What is "Class of Service" (CoS)?
Is it possible to filter certain IP networks on the ACOnet backbone?
How can I contact the ACOnet Network Operations Center (NOC)?
I have questions about my domain, who should I contact?

What features does the Web Portal offer?
Who can apply for access to the Web Portal?
How can I request access to the Web Portal?

ACOnet is the acronym for "Austrian Academic Computer Network" and represents the Austrian National Research and Education Network (NREN). Its goal is to provide services to (primarily) non-profit institutions in the realms of science, research, education, art and culture. ACOnet runs a powerful and resilient backbone network infrastructure with a special focus on excellent national and international connectivity.  Mission & Purpose

At present, there are about 300 ACOnet participants all over Austria: universities, universities of applied sciences, dormitories, regional school-networks, research facilities, libraries, museums, hospitals, the Austrian Federal Computing Centre, the Austrian Federal Chancellery, various federal ministries, magistrates etc.  List of Participants

In cooperation with participating organizations and partners, ACOnet operates Points of Presence (PoPs) at 22 locations throughout Austria. A diagram of the ACOnet backbone showing the ACOnet PoPs can be found under Topology.

Participation in ACOnet includes access to a number of additional services, such as TLS/SSL Certificates, eduroam, ACOnet CERT, ACOnet Identity Federation, Name Services, and many others. For details please see Services & Tools.

• fail-safe national fiber-optic backbone (100 Gbps technology) with global IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity
• scientific and local data traffic, as well as any uploads, are free of charge and unlimited
• generously sized, flat-rate premium Internet service with DDoS protection, extensive peering at the Vienna Internet eXchange, and up to 16 times the subscribed bandwidth during peak periods
• support for individual or collaborative participant projects
• permanent VPN connections between locations and closed user groups (e.g., GovIX) are possible

The requirements for participation in ACOnet are listed in the German-language documents "Grundsaetze fuer die Teilnahme an ACOnet" und "ACOnet Acceptable Use Policy".  Download

To become an ACOnet participant, please read the German-language documents "Grundsaetze fuer die Teilnahme an ACOnet" and "ACOnet Acceptable Use Policy". Afterwards, please fill in the form "Vereinbarung betreffend die Teilnahme an ACOnet" and send it to ACOnet.  Details & Documents

Yes. The Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research is funding ACOnet connections for Austrian dormitories. For this purpose, the agency running the dormitory needs to apply for an ACOnet connection including commercial internet bandwith under the title of "VCampus". The subsidized bandwidth depends on the number of students accomodations.  Details (German only)

The aim of the VCampus NightLine is to provide student dormitories connected to ACOnet with a better internet connection during nighttime hours and on weekends without additional ACOnet costs.  Details (German only)

Please see our List of Dormitories and their respective agencies.

Class of Service (CoS) is a procedure to mark data packets depending on where they originated. For data packets coming from commodity sources, the limitation of the subscribed bandwidth applies (+ max. 1600% burst capacity). By contrast, data packets originating from other participants' networks are being marked as scientific. The bandwidth of these packets is not limited by ACOnet, but only by the capacity of the last-mile link to the participant.  Details

By e-mail to noc(at)aco.net or during our office hours (Mo-Fr 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM CE(S)T) at the phone number +43-1-4277-14030. Outside office hours, exclusively in an emergency you may leave a voice message for the ACOnet operators. In sufficiently urgent cases we will get back to you.  Other contact options

If your question concerns .ac.at (i.e., academic) domains, please turn to the Internet Domain Administration team of the University of Vienna: domain-admin(at)univie.ac.at. If your question concerns an .at domain, please contact the Austrian domain registry nic.at.

The Webportal provides ACOnet's participating organizations with exclusive access to technical and administrative information and offers insights into the respective participant's network status using statistics.  Details

The Web Portal is only accessible to ACOnet's participating organizations. IT staff of ACOnet participants as well as network administrators of dormitories connected to ACOnet may request a personal account for access to the Web Portal. It is not possible to request group accounts.

Please complete the request form and send it to webmaster(at)aco.net.