[27755] in resnet
Re: Netflix
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Warner)
Sun Jun 10 15:14:39 2012
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Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:12:40 -0700
Reply-To: Resnet Forum <RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu>
From: Jim Warner <warner@ucsc.edu>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
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Peter Morrissey from Syracuse asked:
Wow. That is a lot of traffic where I come from. I knew it was high but
> would not have guessed it was that dramatic.
>
> What did you use to measure it with?
> Pete M.
Thanks. It helps foster the illusion that we run these networks rather
than the other way 'round when we can report to management something that
helps explain what's happening on the network.
The talk on Content Distribution Networks gave the ASN that Netflix sources
traffic from. We get full routes and can select netflow data at the campus
border by source ASN. That showed some of the traffic, but not all of it.
Netflix does not use the commercial CDNs like Akamai. Instead, they
distribute their own CDN appliances -- described in the NANOG talk. Our
regional network (CENIC) has two of these appliances and their IPs are the
source of most of our Netflix traffic. About 95 percent of the Netflix
traffic is served from the appliances and 5 percent is "cache misses" that
go back to the repositories at Netflix. The raw flow files for the campus
are about 24 Gigabytes per day. These are collected and processed by the
Flow Tools collection of programs written by Mark Fullmer to make the
graph. I actually ran the two days separately and then photoshopped the
plots together to make a 2-day display.
This would be a different problem (more difficult) if Netflix used the
commercial content distro networks. It would be much harder to find the
definitive list of IPs that source the content. And because the CDNs serve
lots of clients through the same collection of machines, traffic from all
their customers would appear to be mixed together.
The advantage of having your own appliance is that you time shift the
arrival of a significant amount of traffic into a slack period (for us: 3
to 5 a.m.) Whether that helps your network depends on where the appliance
is relative to your choke point. If you're using the service provided by
Internet2 and your Internet2 connection has headroom, that's a good deal.
But you have to look to see if that helps.
Traffic to/from the Sacramento Netflix appliance hosted by the CENIC
regional network is shown at:
http://cricket.cenic.org/grapher.cgi?target=%2Futilization%2Fcenic-backbone%2Fdc-routers%2Ftri-core1%2Ftengige0_2_0_6;view=Octets
Green is traffic to clients; blue is refilling the appliance.
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<br><br><table border=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"2" cellspacing=3D"0" width=3D"10=
0%"><tbody><tr><td nowrap valign=3D"top" width=3D"10%"><br></td><td valign=
=3D"top"><br></td></tr></tbody></table>Peter Morrissey from Syracuse asked:=
<br>=C2=A0<br><br>
<blockquote style=3D"margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204=
,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class=3D"gmail_quote"><p class=3D"MsoNormal"><s=
pan style=3D"font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-se=
rif";color:#1f497d">Wow. That is a lot of traffic where I come from. I=
knew it was high but would not have guessed it was that dramatic.</span></=
p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><span style=3D"font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Ca=
libri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">What did you use to measu=
re it with?</span></p>
<span style=3D"font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-=
serif";color:#1f497d">Pete M.</span></blockquote><div><br>Thanks.=C2=
=A0 It helps foster the illusion that we run these networks rather than the=
other way 'round when we can report to management something that helps=
explain what's happening on the network.<br>
<br>The talk on Content Distribution Networks gave the ASN that Netflix sou=
rces traffic from.=C2=A0 We get full routes and can select netflow data at =
the campus border by source ASN.=C2=A0 That showed some of the traffic, but=
not all of it.=C2=A0 Netflix does not use the commercial CDNs like Akamai.=
=C2=A0 Instead, they distribute their own CDN appliances -- described in th=
e NANOG talk.=C2=A0 Our regional network (CENIC) has two of these appliance=
s and their IPs are the source of most of our Netflix traffic.=C2=A0 About =
95 percent of the Netflix traffic is served from the appliances and 5 perce=
nt is "cache misses" that go back to the repositories at Netflix.=
The raw flow files for the campus are about 24 Gigabytes per day.=C2=A0 Th=
ese are collected and processed by the Flow Tools collection of programs wr=
itten by Mark Fullmer to make the graph.=C2=A0 I actually ran the two days =
separately and then photoshopped the plots together to make a 2-day display=
.<br>
<br>This would be a different problem (more difficult) if Netflix used the =
commercial content distro networks.=C2=A0 It would be much harder to find t=
he definitive list of IPs that source the content.=C2=A0 And because the CD=
Ns serve lots of clients through the same collection of machines, traffic f=
rom all their customers would appear to be mixed together.<br>
<br>The advantage of having your own appliance is that you time shift the a=
rrival of a significant amount of traffic into a slack period (for us: 3 to=
5 a.m.)=C2=A0 Whether that helps your network depends on where the applian=
ce is relative to your choke point.=C2=A0 If you're using the service p=
rovided by Internet2 and your Internet2 connection has headroom, that's=
a good deal.=C2=A0 But you have to look to see if that helps. <br>
<br>Traffic to/from the Sacramento Netflix appliance hosted by the CENIC re=
gional network is shown at:<br><br><a href=3D"http://cricket.cenic.org/grap=
her.cgi?target=3D%2Futilization%2Fcenic-backbone%2Fdc-routers%2Ftri-core1%2=
Ftengige0_2_0_6;view=3DOctets">http://cricket.cenic.org/grapher.cgi?target=
=3D%2Futilization%2Fcenic-backbone%2Fdc-routers%2Ftri-core1%2Ftengige0_2_0_=
6;view=3DOctets</a><br>
<br>Green is traffic to clients; blue is refilling the appliance.<br><br></=
div><br>
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<p>
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