ABACUS TO MIGRATE TRAVEL AGENTS’ LINK

Systems Design understands that in the not too distant future, Abacus will be migrating the travel agents’ links to IP VPN from the current gateway link at 9600 baud. What it means is that those Abacus PCs at the travel agents’ offices will need to be reconfigured to access the new link. This re-configuration will be done by Abacus or Abacus appointed third party.

The implication of this change is that many travel agents using Abacus PCs to access the RATS server for the back office applications will find that these PCs cannot sign into the RATS server after the re-configuration. As these applications are not part of the Abacus system, the cost to make the Abacus PCs work with the RATS system will not be borne by Abacus. For some travel agents, the implication is even greater because these Abacus PCs also access the Internet,
E-mail, fax servers and printers for the in-house system.

There are basically two ways to go about changing to make the in-house system work with the IP VPN Abacus system. One way is to change all the IP addresses of the in-house system. The other way is to create two separate VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) linked by a Layer 3
Switch.

The first way of changing all the IP addresses in the in-house system may not be feasible with the larger travel agents because the number of IP addresses allocated for IP VPN for a particular site is limited. Furthermore, future expansion of network or addition of network devices may require IP address re-allocation and configuration. Another disadvantage of this approach is that the RATS server will be vulnerable and exposed to external threats like virus or worms from the Abacus network. In the past where the Abacus gateway is linked using Data Link Control (DLC) protocol, it is nearly impossible for virus or worms to come through.

The second way is to maintain two separate networks. There will be minimal changes to IP configurations for the in-house system. IP addresses already allocated for the in-house system can remain unchanged. Getting a 3Com Layer 3 switch will allow the routing of packets from the Abacus network into the in-house system network. Network can be easily expanded. However, those agents with IUR download will need to have some re-configuration on the RATS gateway even with the two virtual LAN approach.
 

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