Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the requirements for participating in ACOnet?
How do I become an ACOnet participant?

Is it possible to connect a dormitory to ACOnet?
What is the VCampus NightLine?
Which Dormitories are connected to ACOnet?

What is "Class of Service" (COS)?
Is it possible to filter certain IP networks on the ACOnet backbone?
How can I contact the ACOnet Network Operations Center (NOC)?
I have a question regarding a domain name, where should I ask?

What features does the web portal offer?
Who can apply for a portal account?
How can I apply for a portal account?

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

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

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.

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.

• 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

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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