Virgin Media to possibly peer with LINX (London Internet Exchange)

AbyssUnderground · 12-09-2008, 19:29

Hello all,

After some ongoing problems with OVH servers, so many people were complaining to the providor about Virgin Media connections being slow to their datacenter, that they e-mailed Virgin Media and asked them if they would consider peering with LINX, the London Internet Exchange.

The following quotes are from "oles" aka "octave", the OVH manager. If anyone can get something done, its this guy.

http://forum.ovh.co.uk/showthread.php?t=742&page=2

Quote:

Thanks. Email sent to ntli

Dear NTLI,
Your customer contact us before the connexion is slow.
I think you don't accept our prefix and you send us the
trafic thought transit upstream DTAG.

We have a peering on Linx, Amsix, Decix and Sfinx. The best
would be Linx I think.

Thanks in advance
Regards,
Octave

http://forum.ovh.co.uk/showthread.php?t=733&page=6

Quote:

I've already send an email about it. We don't know why Virginmedia uses transit to reach Ovh and not peering. They seem to be full on DTAG transit. We aren't full on DTAG. They don't answer the emails. It's not "our side" network problem, but on Virgin side (they manage the outcoming trafic as we do, but we can't manage incoming traffic). If you have the NOC contacts or/and the phone number of virgin media NOC, it could help. If you have a looking glass from Virgin it could too, since I can check if I can change something to manage the incoming trafic ... It's more difficult but it can help.

http://forum.ovh.co.uk/showthread.php?t=733&page=7

Quote:

got answser from virgin. peering is setup on my side. waiting for
the setup on virgin's side. then all problems are resolved

This is great news for anyone who uses OVH servers but also better news because it means VM will be connected to LINX, and have access to peering networks we never had before. Remember that peering is free, so it does not cost VM anything to connect except the hardware to do so. It does mean however that VM will act as peering for other networks as well as using the other networks peerings themselves. Its all about sharing (a bit like p2p really!).

I hope this makes a huge difference to browsing in Europe as well as speeds to the Roubaix OVH Datacenter.

AbyssUnderground · 14-09-2008, 00:43

114 views and no replies or comments? Sheesh!

Graham M · 14-09-2008, 01:09

Love the grammar and spelling in the email

joglynne · 14-09-2008, 01:17

I would have made a comment, honest, but I'm still Googling to try to understand what your post was about.

I take it this is something that we should be happy about?

**Maggy** · 14-09-2008, 03:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

114 views and no replies or comments? Sheesh!

Well better to have comments from the well informed surely?

smackheadz · 14-09-2008, 03:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by joglynne

I would have made a comment, honest, but I'm still Googling to try to understand what your post was about.

I take it this is something that we should be happy about?

me too

BenMcr · 14-09-2008, 04:10

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

Ken Underwood · 14-09-2008, 05:17

well i think this is very interesting INDEED! I don't properly understand it either but if it speeds stuff up that can't be bad.

---------- Post added at 04:17 ---------- Previous post was at 04:10 ----------

Would this speed issue affect all communications using Virgin network?

|Kippa| · 14-09-2008, 05:42

I have an OVH server and could only ftp upload at roughly 70ksec to it, but can upload to other people at 90ksec. Does this mean that I'll be able to upload faster?

Tarantella · 14-09-2008, 06:59

If VM were ever to announce they were running a fibre optic cable from my socket direct to the battlenet servers in Europe I might raise an eyebrow in interest.

Ignitionnet · 14-09-2008, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

This is great news for anyone who uses OVH servers but also better news because it means VM will be connected to LINX, and have access to peering networks we never had before. Remember that peering is free, so it does not cost VM anything to connect except the hardware to do so. It does mean however that VM will act as peering for other networks as well as using the other networks peerings themselves. Its all about sharing (a bit like p2p really!).

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.

joglynne · 14-09-2008, 12:48

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 ?

Ignitionnet · 14-09-2008, 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by joglynne

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 configuration necessary?

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.

joglynne · 14-09-2008, 15:26

In that case I guess it's advisable not to hold my breath then.

Ignitionnet · 14-09-2008, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by joglynne

In that case I guess it's advisable not to hold my breath then.

Depends if you're trying to do a David Blaine or not.