Network topology changes

[hobbes]

It appears FQ has undergone a change in network topology/providers, or at least the ToS & Features have recently been updated. I realize that this is all behind the scenes, but can you provide some additional details? Thx.

[mromero]

It appears FQ has undergone a change in network topology/providers, or at least the ToS & Features have recently been updated. I realize that this is all behind the scenes, but can you provide some additional details? Thx.

What parts of their terms of service have been changed and when?

[hobbes]

Changes in bandwidth & disk space usually result in a ToS change, so that would have been the Jan 1st update. The network update occurred earlier today. There's a last changed date at the bottom.

[Terra]

Yes - we have updated our network map to reflect the recent re-organizational work that was required to raise bandwidth limits for Christmas 2009...

The main changes are:
Remove: Internap (45Mbit/s)
Add: Savvis (100Mbit/s)
Increase: Level 3 (45 => 100Mbit/s)

Internap was removed as the highest we could go with that circuit was 45Mbit/s (DS-3) due to the long haul from Orlando ==> Miami... This alone made egress bandwidth balancing difficult at best...

Savvis was added as they have a reputable network and we had an interconnect opportunity within our building... With this transit, we were finally able to drop that long haul local loop to Miami which has helped to increase overall network reliability... Savvis was brought online 3/24/2009 in a very limited fashion... Over the next few months, as we gained trust with the link's reliability we then progressively meshed it in with our border transit fabric... By 11/2009, it was elevated from a 2nd class backup line, to a 1st class carrier line...

Overall, this re-organization paid off and was done to prevent a repeat of the network problems we had last year in December (2008) due to the increased network utilization that occurs during the holiday season...

[hobbes]

Thanks for the response. Too bad we can't say we're powered by OC-3s anymore :wink:

[Terra]

I am glad the OC-3 circuit is finally gone, it was nothing but a problem ever since it was brought into our facility from a Linux + hardware interfacing standpoint... The only reason it existed was in the event of a catastrophic failure of the other uplinks... In the end, it was never needed to be brought up as there has never been a parallel >2 link failure...

The OC-3 (155Mbit/s) capacity has been folded into the 300Mbit/s burstable Level 3 uplink (100Mbit/s CDR) which is a little less than double of the prior backup circuit...