Version: 5

Issued: 21 February 2018

Reference: GEN-DOC-003

Document Owner(s): A. Cormack / I. Shepherd

Introduction

1. The purpose of this guide is to provide information about the issues that should be considered by an organisation considering use of its Janet network connection as part of its business and community engagement (BCE) activities.

2. In this guide the term “BCE Host” is used throughout as shorthand for any university, college, research institution or other publicly-funded organisation considering use of the Janet network to support its business and community engagement activities.

3. In this guide the term “Partner Organisation” is used to refer to an organisation to which the BCE Host is providing services, as described in paragraph 6 below, according to the BCE Host’s business and community engagement policy.

Documents Referenced in this Guide

4. The following documents are referenced in this guide:

• The Janet Network Acceptable Use Policy
• The Janet Network Security Policy
• Use of the Janet Network in Business and Community Engagement: Managing State Aid Issues (factsheet)
• Guest and Public Network Access (factsheet)
• Terms for the Provision of the Janet Network Service

Copies may be found in the Jisc community website document library

Janet Network Services Available to the Partner Organisation

5. Currently, only the Janet network IP service (including the DNS services necessary to support the IP service) is available for the BCE Host to provide from Jisc to the Partner Organisation. Other Jisc services are not available under this BCE scheme.

6. There are two main ways in which Partner Organisations might use the Janet network:

• Type 1: uses a Janet network connection to receive ICT services from the BCE Host; and
• Type 2: uses a Janet network connection to receive connectivity for its own use.

Figure 1 - Partner Organisation Types

Contractual Issues with the Partner Organisation

7. It is strongly recommended that the BCE Host puts in place a legally binding agreement with the Partner Organisation. This is essential to protect both parties’ interests in the event of a dispute, and also to provide legal protection for the BCE Host should there be misuse of the Janet network by the Partner Organisation.

8. Jisc does not advise on the form or wording of specific agreements but suggests that the agreement should cover at least the following areas:

a) The Service Being Provided: A formal service level agreement may not be appropriate in all cases but there should exist, as a minimum, a description of what is available and when, and the procedures to be followed in the event of unavailability or other problems.

b) The Charges: The nature and level of these charges are at the discretion of the BCE Host as the service provider, however it is vital that the charge takes account of the state aid legislation (see the section on state aid below).

c) Use of the Services: The conditions under which the BCE Host has access to the Janet network are described in the Acceptable Use Policy, the Security Policy and the Terms for the Provision of the Janet Network Service. The BCE Host should ensure that the Partner Organisation is also bound in a similar way to the relevant parts of these documents and that the BCE Host has the right to temporarily or permanently disconnect the Partner Organisation from the network in certain circumstances (as Jisc has the right to do to the BCE Host’s connection). This ensures that the BCE Host’s obligations are backed-off as appropriate onto the Partner Organisation.

Communications

9. The BCE Host is responsible for all communications with the Partner Organisation and should ensure that suitable arrangements are put in place for this. Jisc will not normally deal directly with the Partner Organisation.

Security Issues

10. Jisc’s Janet network Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) handles the detection, reporting, investigation and eventual resolution of security incidents occurring on the Janet network, and on our customers’ networks and provides advice and education on computer security related issues.

11. The BCE Host must ensure that it has in place suitable mechanisms and contact points to deal with security issues on its own network and to handle issues arising from its Partner Organisations. CSIRT will normally expect to deal with the BCE Host not directly with the Partner Organisation.

IP Addressing

12. Each Partner Organisation that is a separate legal entity from the BCE Host must have IP address space assigned specifically for its use (these are the rules from the RIPE NCC the organisation responsible for IP registrations in Europe). The BCE Host must apply for that address space (either IPv4 or IPv6) through the usual mechanism of sending an email request to ipaddress@ja.net which will result in login details being provided for a web based form on which the full details of the request must be provided. Further information is available on the Jisc website: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/ip-address-assignment. 

13. If the Partner Organisation terminates its agreement with the BCE Host then the assigned Janet network address space must be returned for re-assignment.

State Aid

14. BCE Hosts should refer to the fact sheet Use of the Janet Network in Business and Community Engagement: Managing State Aid Issues for the details of issues regarding state aid.

15. The state-aid guidance requires us to make available a “market rate” for ISP services in the UK. Our advice is that an institution should charge at least this market rate for Janet network IP bandwidth to avoid distortion of the ISP market and possible challenge.

16. Jisc periodically obtains quotations, via publicly available online services, for ISP services (the access circuit and the provision of an IP service to the Internet) from a number of providers, and for a selection of example locations across the UK.

17. The current ISP market pricing is available, on request, by contacting the Janet network Connectivity Product Manager via connect@ja.net.

Domain Names

18. Jisc can provide .ac.uk domain names for the Partner Organisation at the request of the BCE Host and with an associated fee (please note that there are particular requirements for eligibility for these domain names).

Public Network Access

19. BCE Hosts should be aware that the Janet network cannot be used to provide direct internet access to the public. Subject to certain conditions, an encrypted point-to-point tunnel may be used to backhaul public traffic to a partner internet access provider. This is further discussed in the fact sheet Guest and Public Network Access.