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last change: March 01, 2021

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


General

What is ACOnet?

ACOnet is the acronym for "Austrian Academic Computer Network" and represents the Austrian national research and education network (NREN). It's goal is to provide services to (for the most part) non-profit institutions in the realms of research, education and culture. ACOnet runs a powerful and resilient backbone network infrastructure with a special focus on good national and international connectivity.  Concept & Aims

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Who is connected to ACOnet?

At the moment there are about 200 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

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What are the locations of ACOnet's equipment?

ACOnet is situated at 18 locations all over Austria. A graphical view of the ACOnet backbone and the ACOnet PoPs (Points of Presence) is shown in the topology map.

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Which services does ACOnet provide?

Participation in ACOnet provides 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.

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What advantages does ACOnet have in comparison to commercial Internet Service Providers?

  • fail-safe high-performance infrastructure
  • unlimited data transfer between ACOnet participants and with participants in the international reseach network association (GÉANT)
  • not overbooked, flatrate premium internet service, temporary extension of up to 1200% over subscribed bandwidth possible
  • support and cooperation with individual participants' projects
  • VPN and Closed User Group-Services (e.g. GovIX)
  • global IPv4/IPv6 connectivity

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Participation

What are the requirements for participating in ACOnet?

The requirements for participation in ACOnet are detailed in the German language documents "Grundsätze für die Teilnahme an ACOnet" und "ACOnet Acceptable Use Policy".  Download

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How do I become an ACOnet participant?

To become an ACOnet participant, please read the documents "Grundsätze für die Teilnahme an ACOnet" and "ACOnet Acceptable Use Policy". Afterwards, please fill in the form "Vereinbarung für Teilnahme" and send it to ACOnet.  Details and documents

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Dormitories

Is it possible to connect a dormitory?

Yes. The Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy is funding ACOnet connections for Austrian dormitories. For this purpose, the institution 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)

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What is the VCampus NightLine?

If the physical bandwidth of a dormitory's ACOnet connection exceeds the booked (commercial) bandwidth, it is possible and accepted to use higher bandwidths during night hours and on weekends, at no additional cost.  Details (German only)

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Which dormitories are connected to ACOnet?

Please see the list of all connected dormitories including their agencies.

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Technical

What is "Class of Service" (COS)?

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. 1200% 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

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Is it possible to filter certain IP networks on the ACOnet backbone?

Yes and no. In emergencies (i.e. DDoS attacks or other technical problems that affect the connection of an ACOnet participant or the ACOnet backbone) we can set up temporary filters to protect the infrastructure. Permanent ACL filters on the backbone, on the other hand, are not possible, as they would cause a lot of extra work in configuration and troubleshooting. Moreover, such filters would contradict our principle that each participating organization should be in control of its own set of rules and traffic flow.

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How can I contact the ACOnet Network Operations Center (NOC)?

By e-mail to noc(at)aco.net or during our office hours (Mo-Fr 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM UTC) at the phone number +43-1-4277-14030. Outside working 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.  Contact information

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I have a question regarding a domain name, where should I ask?

If your question concerns .ac.at (i.e., academic) domains, please turn to the Internet Domain Administration department of the University of Vienna: domain-admin(at)univie.ac.at. If your question concerns an .at domain, ACOnet is not competent. Please refer to the Austrian domain registry nic.at.

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Webportal

What features does the Webportal offer?

The Webportal provides ACOnet participants exclusive access to technical and administrative information. It contains connection statistics and a network monitor.  Details

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Who may request a Webportal account?

The protected login area is only accessible to ACOnet participants. ACOnet participant staff may request a personal portal account. Moreover, network administrators of student dormitories can request a limited account. It is not possible to request group accounts.

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How can I request a Webportal account?

Complete the Webportal account request form and send it to webmaster(at)aco.net.

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