Utah Colocation™
801.494.8400800.856.9187
Network Setup Information
The Tier Four Network is designed to provide the highest levels of stability and redundancy available to all Colocation, IP Transit and Internet Customers. The information that follows will assist you in configuring your equipment to correctly interface with the Tier Four IP Network.
General Network Information (Applicable to everyone)
Tier Four operates several common network services servers for use by customers at no cost. Because Tier Four does not charge anything for use of these servers, Tier Four does not guarantee the performance or stability of these services in any way.
Authoritative Name Servers
The Authoritative Name Servers are provided for customers who wish to host their DNS on Tier Four's name servers and for reverse DNS resolution.
- ns1.uvnet.net
- ns2.uvnet.net
Caching Name Servers
The Caching Name Servers provide DNS resolution to all customers who wish to make use of Tier Four's Caching name Servers. For security reasons, the Caching Name Servers are only available to customers located within Tier Four's network and using Tier Four IPs.
- 216.194.124.21 (Located in Orem, Utah)
- 208.53.40.109 (Located in Salt Lake City, Utah)
Colocation Internet Connection (Redundant)
Tier Four customers may purchase Internet connections one of two ways: With or without redundancy. If you have not purchased a redundant connection, please skip down to the section titled "Colocation Internet Connection (Non-Redundant)" below.
Network Connection Setup
- In your rack you will generally have four Category 6 jacks. Two of these are allocated for your Redundant Internet connection, and the other two are for use for cross connections or other purposes. Generally, the two jacks the farthest to the left are your redundant pair of Internet feeds. These two jacks are connected to two different Internet Access routers on Tier Four's network.
The Internet Routers operate on Layer 3 (of the OSI model) only. The two jacks do not connect to a common VLAN. The two routers act completely independently. The interfaces on the Routers are configured in HSRP mode. One of the two interfaces has a higher preempt priority than the other.
In order for redundancy to function properly, the customer must provide a layer 2 network segment in its rack to join the two router connections together such that they can communicate with each other and exchange heartbeat information. Most customer accomplish this by connecting a standard layer 2 switch, or a pair of switches which are connected to each other, to the incoming Internet connections. Then, they connect their firewall or other Internet Facing equipment to the switch (or switches).
When you connect your switch to the redundant Internet jacks, you should have link lights come up almost immediately. If they do not, please check your negotiation and duplex settings to ensure that your switch is properly negotiating with Tier Four's routers.
If you have any questions, or if these two jacks do not come up as expected, please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
- Once your equipment is connected to the Internet Connections, you should verify your IP Address configuration and test your Internet connection. You should have received a provisioning email from Tier Four with your IP information. If you cannot find this email, you may also access this information by logging into the customer portal:
IP Block Data Description IP Address Network Id 208.x.x.224/28 Subnet Mask 255.255.255.240 First Usable 208.x.x.228 Last Usable 208.x.x.238 Reserved for HSRP 1 208.x.x.226 Gateway 208.x.x.225 Reserved for HSRP 2 208.x.x.227 Bits 28 Broadcast IP 208.x.x.239
The two IP Addresses identified as HSRP IPs are reserved for use by Tier Four's routers. Do not use these IPs on your equipment! These are the IPs of the two routers that your equipment is connected to. The Gateway floats between the two in the event of a failure.
You should configure all your equipment with the proper subnet mask and gateway from the IP Block data which was provided to you by Tier Four. Start with the first usable IP Address from your block and work up until you get to the last usable IP. If you need more IPs, request them using the support form, from the Network Operations Center or from a member of Tier Four's sales team. You may be required to sign a new contract in order to change your IP allocation.
Tier four has name servers (see the top of this page) available for Internet name resolution. Feel free to use these as your primary and secondary name servers, to use your own name servers or a combination of both.
- After you have connected your equipment and assigned your first IP Address, perform some basic tests to make sure that your equipment is properly communicating with the Tier Four network.
First, ping the gateway. If you cannot ping the gateway, something is not right and you need to go back to step number 1 and re verify everything. If you're still having trouble after that, please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
Second, ping each of the Caching Name Servers (see above) to verify you can reach them. If you can't reach them, there may be a configuration issue with your connection. Please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
Third, ping some IP Addresses out on the Internet that you know will respond to your replies. If you can't reach them, there may be a configuration issue with your connection. Please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
Colocation Internet Connection (Single Connection)
Tier Four customers may purchase Internet connections one of two ways: With or without redundancy. The instructions that follow are for customers who have purchased non-redundant connections. If you have purchased a non-redundant connection, you should strongly consider ordering redundancy instead. Contact a member of Tier Four's Sales team for details on pricing.
- Most customers with a non-redundant connection are located in Shared Rack Space. You should have received a Category 6 jack assignment. This jack is allocated for your Internet connection. This jack is connected to one of Tier Four's Internet Access routers on Tier Four's network.
When you connect your switch to the Internet jack, you should have link lights come up almost immediately. If they do not, please check your negotiation and duplex settings to ensure that your switch is properly negotiating with Tier Four's routers.
If you have any questions, or if these two jacks do not come up as expected, please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
- Once your equipment is connected to the Internet Connection, you should verify your IP Address configuration and test your Internet connection. You should have received a provisioning email from Tier Four with your IP information. If you cannot find this email, you may also access this information by logging into the customer portal:
IP Block Data Description IP Address Network Id 208.x.x.224/28 Subnet Mask 255.255.255.240 First Usable 208.x.x.226 Last Usable 208.x.x.238 Gateway 208.x.x.225 Bits 28 Broadcast IP 208.x.x.239
You should configure all your equipment with the proper subnet mask and gateway from the IP Block data which was provided to you by Tier Four. Start with the first usable IP Address from your block and work up until you get to the last usable IP. If you need more IPs, request them using the support form, from the Network Operations Center or from a member of Tier Four's sales team. You may be required to sign a new contract in order to change your IP allocation.
Tier four has name servers (see the top of this page) available for Internet name resolution. Feel free to use these as your primary and secondary name servers, to use your own name servers or a combination of both.
- After you have connected your equipment and assigned your first IP Address, perform some basic tests to make sure that your equipment is properly communicating with the Tier Four network.
First, ping the gateway. If you cannot ping the gateway, something is not right and you need to go back to step number 1 and re verify everything. If you're still having trouble after that, please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
Second, ping each of the Caching Name Servers (see above) to verify you can reach them. If you can't reach them, there may be a configuration issue with your connection. Please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
Third, ping some IP Addresses out on the Internet that you know will respond to your replies. If you can't reach them, there may be a configuration issue with your connection. Please check the FAQ below and then ask a member of our network operations staff for assistance if needed.
Once you have passed all of these tests, you should be ready to use your new connection. Good luck, and thank you for choosing Tier Four!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: When I plug into the Internet jack, and the link goes on for a split second and then turns off. What is wrong?
A: Most likely this is caused by a negotiation issue. Your switch and the Tier Four router are not negotiating correctly. If you have the settings on your switch port configured manually (i.e. you have set speed or duplex parameters), try removing those settings from your switch to allow it to auto negotiate. If that doesn't work, try setting your switch port to 10 full, 100 full, etc. Check your switch log for messages indicating incorrect negotiation or duplex mismatches. If you're still having trouble, contact a member of the Tier Four NOC for assistance.Q: I have a redundant circuit. However, I only ping half of the Internet. Why?
A: It sounds like both of the Tier Four router ports are in an active state - meaning that they both have the gateway IP active. This usually happens if you don't have a layer 2 segment connecting the two together. If the layer 2 connection between the routers is not present, and both of the routers have an active link, they will both try to become the primary Internet connection, because each one believes that the other is down. You need to connect them together with a switch.
Q: I have a redundant connection, but when I unplug one port I lose connectivity to the Internet. Why?
A: It can take up to 90 seconds for the fail over to occur. If, after 90 seconds, your connection still doesn't come back up, there is probably a configuration issue with your network. Check your switch first; 90% of customer problems with fail over are switch configuration issues.