Originally Posted by joglynne (Post 34637304)

Thanks for your post Broadbandings.

So, does this mean we could be cautiously optimistic about what could happen if Virgin Media take some action that they could have taken in the past but didn't?

If so why didn't Virgin Media do this before? Is it a costly procedure to do the necessary configuration ?

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground (Post 34637588)

Yes, thanks for the response. My knowledge wasn't great in that area but you've set a lot straight. Still, its nice to know we might actually get better speeds and both companies might save money in the long run.

Anyway just thought it would be nice for people to know this info, since I know a fair few cableforum users have OVH servers.

Originally Posted by Broadbandings (Post 34637283)

I think you're a bit confused about what LINX is.

LINX is a neutral peering point which ISPs, etc, connect to in order to trade traffic for free. ntl and Telewest were both connected to this for some time.

This does not mean that ntl and Telewest or any other member of LINX donate any bandwidth to other networks, it means that networks can be connected directly across the LINX switches without using an intermediate or transit provider. The connections on LINX are point to point and exist purely for ISPs to trade their own traffic. ISPs peer at LINX, apart from a peering with LINX's collectors for stats.

What's been done there is that OVH have set up a BGP peering session with Virgin Media, both were already at and connected to LINX but the configuration wasn't in place, and are awaiting Virgin doing the configuration on their side, then instead of traffic having to go through Virgin's saturated DTAG link to reach OVH it will just go across Virgin's connection to the LINX LAN and reach OVH directly.

This should resolve issues people are seeing with speeds, so long as Virgin's LINX connections aren't saturated of course ;)

Swift Diagram:

Before:

VM ---- DTAG routers and whatever else--- OVH

After

VM ---(LINX switches)--- OVH

Saves both VM and OVH a few quid / euros as well, not paying DTAG.

Originally Posted by Broadbandings (Post 34637306)

Virgin Media suck moose wang at setting up peerings in a timely fashion, they suck moose wang at managing their external connectivity generally.

To do the necessary config can be done in the time it takes to spend a penny.

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 34637648)

OK ... thanks for that, we're about 80% of the way towards understanding what the OP was on about.

Originally Posted by Chrysalis (Post 34637915)

didnt ntl (pre VM) have linx peering? I remember the old situation where the gigabit ports were constantly maxed and various isps on linx were trying to get ntl to upgrade to 10gigabit.

Originally Posted by BenMcr (Post 34637218)

Virgin Media is and both ntl and telewest were members of LINX for many years

Originally Posted by Graham M (Post 34637159)

Love the grammar and spelling in the email

Originally Posted by dragon (Post 34638113)

OVH are a French company and I believe English isn't Olly/octaves primary language. ;)

Originally Posted by superkey (Post 34638186)

I think you'll find that VM has the highest number of interfaces at LINX - 5 of which are 10G so plenty of capacity. They also already have multiple peering sessions with OVH at Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt and have had those for a number of years.

Also just to clarify, DTAG are not a VM Transit providor but a 10G Peer and there's plenty of capacity on it :-)

Need to bear in mind that VM are still running two ASNs - 5462 and 5089. The prefixes behind 5462 are in the process of being moved onto 5089 which is supposed to be completing by the end of this year. The two ASNs don't neccesarily have the same peering sessions in the same locations.

Originally Posted by superkey (Post 34638186)

I think you'll find that VM has the highest number of interfaces at LINX - 5 of which are 10G so plenty of capacity. They also already have multiple peering sessions with OVH at Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt and have had those for a number of years.

Also just to clarify, DTAG are not a VM Transit providor but a 10G Peer and there's plenty of capacity on it :-)

Need to bear in mind that VM are still running two ASNs - 5462 and 5089. The prefixes behind 5462 are in the process of being moved onto 5089 which is supposed to be completing by the end of this year. The two ASNs don't neccesarily have the same peering sessions in the same locations.

Originally Posted by Broadbandings (Post 34638194)

Morning superkey, start of NMC shift? ;)

You might want to check regarding DTAG being a peer, they don't seem to know that they peer with VM looking at the communities that are set in the routes they hold for you guys, they list you as a transit customer.

Community: 3320:1826 3320:2010 3320:9010

3320:1826 Imported in Great Britain
3320:2010 Imported in Europe
3320:9010 Imported from a customer

As opposed to:

3320:9020 Imported from a peerr

Their mis-spelling not mine :)

I checked on 5462 as well - same thing, no sign of a peering with DTAG and as far as DTAG are concerned has been moved behind 5089.

If VM have multiple peerings with OVH they're either down or were broken by the AS migration, which is far from impossible when noting some of VM's internal routing has been broken by the AS migration. Be quite impressive to break a peering to the extent where you prefer a longer AS path but still from what I've seen 5462's external connectivity has also been largely moved behind 5089 even where it's the better paths.