MNET Services>Telecom Data Networking>>Using EUCC Services

The Enterprise Unified Collaboration and Communication (EUCC) services offered by MN.IT are delivered in two differeent ways. EUCC services include electronic mail, desktop video, instant messaging, and Sharepoint.

Access Paths

If the user is accessing the EUCC services from a point on MNET, the traffic is carried on the MNET backbone, then over dedicated links to the EUCC servers. The paths are designed to be high-performance and low-latency and the traffic is fully secured throughout the entire length. MN.IT's contract with Microsoft specifies performance targets that must be met when using this path.

If the user is accessing the EUCC services from any other place on the Internet, traffic is carried over the Internet directly to the EUCC servers. While the EUCC servers are connected to the Internet using high-capacity links, the user's traffic will be competing with all other EUCC customers and, of course, other Internet traffic along the way. Because the Internet path is outside of MN.IT and Microsoft's control, there are no performance targets when this path is used: it is "best-effort."

How Paths are Selected

The Domain Name System (DNS) is used to select which path is used.

If the user is accessing the EUCC services from a point on MNET, the DNS servers will normally[*] return "on-network" adddresses for the EUCC servers. These addresses are mostly in the 10.77.0.0/16 range.

If the user is accessing the EUCC services from any other place on the Internet, the DNS servers will return "off-network" adddresses for the EUCC servers. These addresses are in Microsoft's address range.

[*] If the user is on MNET and is not receiving these addresses, please contact Service.Desk@state.mn.us. MN.IT staff can work with you to identify and resolve any issues with the DNS service.

Routing to the 10.77.0.0/16 Addresses

MNET has managed "net-10" space for many years. The specifics are covered in the Private Address Space page. If the user is accessing EUCC, you will need to follow that policy. Specifically, this means:

• In your internal networks, only use addresses in these ranges:
  • 10.0.0.0/11 (10.0.0.0 - 10.31.255.255)
  • 192.168.0.0/16 (192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255)
• Point your default route to your MNET router

For EUCC users, these points can be stretched a bit. Things should work fine so long as you:

• Avoid using the 10.77.0.0/16 range internally, and
• Route the 10.77.0.0/16 network to your MNET router (along with the default route, of course)

Some places have added host entries for the EUCC hosts to their internal host tables and used the Internet-facing address of the EUCC server. We do not advise that solution for these reasons:

• The traffic will not follow the protected path: users may experience connectivity problems due to Internet-level issues.
• The list of "EUCC servers" will change from time to time, without notice.
• The Internet-facing IP addresses of the "EUCC servers" will change from time to time, again without notice.