Tech
Blueyonder notifies customers of upgrade progress
Published Sunday, Apr 1 2001, 20:52 BST | By James Welsh
Blueyonder has sent a mass email out to subscribers informing them of progress on network upgrades.
The highlights:
USA bandwidth
The team at blueyonder would like to take this opportunity to advise of
the latest status in the ongoing programme of upgrades being made to the
service.
The last 13 months have been a very exciting challenging time for us at
blueyonder with the launch of the SurfUnlimited unmetered dialup product
in February 2000, followed by the launch of our broadband service at the
end of March. The details below outlines further the steps we are taking
to ensure blueyonder provides our customers with the best Internet
experience possible and illustrates our continuing commitment to meeting
the needs of our customers.
Network Upgrades
On March 26 we brought online a new STM1 [Synchronus Transport Module]
link to the USA, which will increase throughput and improve performance
on using websites and other Internet services based in the USA. This is
an interim measure being deployed until we bring online our new STM4
link later in the year. This has been necessary as there is a
considerable lead time in getting these links in place from downstream
providers.
With the closure of the old MAE East NAP [Network Access Point] in New
York at the end of February, and its subsequent relocation, we have
moved all our equipment and put a higher capacity circuit live at the
newly located NAP. Our bandwidth through this router has been increased
from a 45MB DS3 to a 155MB STM1 link, effectively doubling pur direct
bandwidth to the USA.
This will reduce our dependency on the Carrier 1 transit link we use,
which was taking the MAE East traffic between the closure of the old MAE
East and our setting the new circuit live.
The STM4, when it goes live [currently around May this year], will give
us a 622MB pipe.
We will be completing a similar upgrade [also from 45MB DS3 to 155MB
STM1] to the MAE West NAP in San Jose shortly, and for the Sprint NAP -
also to STM1 from DS3.
We are also implementing a range of European upgrades. STM1 lines from
London to Paris and London to Amsterdam are on order and expected to be
in service in mid April. These 155MB lines will replace the existing
circuits.
A secondary interface to the Telehouse [UK] router to effectively double
our UK bandwidth is going in place in the next few weeks. The current
interface is 622MB so this should improve throughput significantly.
We are trialling some new Transit providers with our contract at LINX
[London Internet Exchange] coming up for tender, and undertaking a full
review of our peering arrangements in order to give the best performance
possible. As well as reviewing this with speed in mind we are also very
conscious of the effect our peering arrangements can have on the ping
times experienced by our gamers. As such we shall also be working to
ensure these are also optimised.
Modem Racks
Our CVX modem racks are continuing to be rolled out nationwide, and we
are adding capacity as we go along, in recent weeks we have added 870
further dialup modems to our local POPs [Points Of Presence] - Avon
(60), Birmingham (90), Scotland (240), North East (90), Southend (30),
Midlands (360). These are redistributed 3COM modems that are made
available as the 3COM racks are replaced by the CVX racks.
We are aware of some performance issues with the CVX racks as opposed to
the 3COM racks. We have raised the reports that we have had on these
issues with the providers [Nortel Networks], however we would urge
customers to report any further performance problems with the CVX racks
to our local newsgroup blueyonder.support.access.dialup [with your modem
type and version of firmware] so that we can escalate these.
Caching
We have now rolled out caches throughout all our local regions, and all
HTTP [web] traffic to the Internet is now transparently cached.
Caching is a simple idea with powerful benefits that the blueyonder team
has implemented. When you access a website a copy of that page is kept
locally on a caching device within the blueyonder network.
After this point, when the next person requests this page it comes from
the local server rather than having to traverse the internet to find the
information and deliver it back to you. Because of our use of NetApp
caches, we can therefore provide web pages to you far faster and improve
your experience of the Internet.
However, our caches will not store secure pages [those starting
https://] such as online banking information or e-commerce credit card
purchases, and sites that contain constantly updating information like
news stories and sporting results.
There have been some issues with the rollout of our caches that are
being traced and resolved by our engineers in association with our
network providers. Although initially attributed to the caches
themselves, these issues have now been found to be originating from the
configuration of the network infrastructure around them. We are working
hard with the vendors concerned to resolve this and maximise the
performance of the caches.
We are also looking at installing some 'parent' caches in Telecity
[Docklands, London] to improve the performance of the serving of web
pages for all users. Parent Caches enable us to maintain a large amount
of cached traffic within our network which the local caches will access
in preference to traversing the Internet.
News [Usenet]
Our news server has been relocated from our Woking server farm to Hayes,
so that it no longer impacts on the Woking router [and hence the
blueyonder website for all and DNS services for dialup users].
Once the move was completed the true nature of a further issue, which
had been initially attributed to the bandwidth issues experienced when
the server was located at Woking, became clear. This is due to the speed
that the server itself can communicate with the network mounted (NFS)
disks that store the news articles. This results in the news service
being slow and performing poorly in peak periods.
After investigating the full nature of the fault with Sun Engineers, we
have decided to immediately replace the NFS storage solution with direct
Sun storage for our news service. Our news team are making every effort
to obtain the new hardware as quickly as possible, and we hope to have a
server running that performs as it should do within the next few weeks.
Other News
We are undertaking a review of DNS [Domain Name System] to bring the DNS
servers for both dialup and hi-speed together.
DNS maintains a database of names [e.g. www.blueyonder.co.uk] and the IP
addresses to which these names point to [e.g. 193.38.113.24 &
193.38.113.25]. The Internet works by resolving these names to IP
addresses and networks and servers communicating using these addresses.
The faster the response time of 'DNS lookups', the quicker you get
served web pages and other Internet services.
We are also reviewing a number of our other services to upgrade them and
launch new services in order to meet growing and changing customer
demand.
The new broadband version of the blueyonder website is still on track
for launch later this year, and will be the start of a number of
exciting web based services that will continue to be launched throughout
2001 and later.
Finally we are pleased to announce that we now host a website created by
users, for users. This can be accessed at: http://users.blueyonder.co.uk
and is highly recommended. Many thanks to the original Carton123 user
group, now the "by-Users" user group for all the long hours they've put
into this site.
The team at blueyonder
The highlights:
USA bandwidth
- Interim measure: new STM1 link in service, superseded by STM4 later in 2001
- Relocated MAE East Network Access Point upgraded to 155MB STM1 link
- STM4 to go live in May; 622MB pipe
- MAE West NAP upgraded to STM1
- Sprint NAP also upgraded to STM1
- STM1 lines from London to Paris and London to Amsterdam expected mid-April; replaces existing circuits
- Secondary interface will be added to Telehouse router, doubling the bandwidth
- Trials of new transit partners at LINX underway; speed and latency top priorities
- Continued rollout of Nortel CVX modem racks
- 870 further modems added to local POPs
- All local regions now have NetApp transparent caches, HTTP traffic cached
- Possible installation of parent caches at Telecity, London
- News server relocated to Hayes
- New file access access systems to be implemented soon, improving access times
- DNS servers for dial-up and broadband may be merged
- New broadband portal for the Blueyonder site to be online shortly
- by-Users group website at http://users.blueyonder.co.uk/ now online
The team at blueyonder would like to take this opportunity to advise of
the latest status in the ongoing programme of upgrades being made to the
service.
The last 13 months have been a very exciting challenging time for us at
blueyonder with the launch of the SurfUnlimited unmetered dialup product
in February 2000, followed by the launch of our broadband service at the
end of March. The details below outlines further the steps we are taking
to ensure blueyonder provides our customers with the best Internet
experience possible and illustrates our continuing commitment to meeting
the needs of our customers.
Network Upgrades
On March 26 we brought online a new STM1 [Synchronus Transport Module]
link to the USA, which will increase throughput and improve performance
on using websites and other Internet services based in the USA. This is
an interim measure being deployed until we bring online our new STM4
link later in the year. This has been necessary as there is a
considerable lead time in getting these links in place from downstream
providers.
With the closure of the old MAE East NAP [Network Access Point] in New
York at the end of February, and its subsequent relocation, we have
moved all our equipment and put a higher capacity circuit live at the
newly located NAP. Our bandwidth through this router has been increased
from a 45MB DS3 to a 155MB STM1 link, effectively doubling pur direct
bandwidth to the USA.
This will reduce our dependency on the Carrier 1 transit link we use,
which was taking the MAE East traffic between the closure of the old MAE
East and our setting the new circuit live.
The STM4, when it goes live [currently around May this year], will give
us a 622MB pipe.
We will be completing a similar upgrade [also from 45MB DS3 to 155MB
STM1] to the MAE West NAP in San Jose shortly, and for the Sprint NAP -
also to STM1 from DS3.
We are also implementing a range of European upgrades. STM1 lines from
London to Paris and London to Amsterdam are on order and expected to be
in service in mid April. These 155MB lines will replace the existing
circuits.
A secondary interface to the Telehouse [UK] router to effectively double
our UK bandwidth is going in place in the next few weeks. The current
interface is 622MB so this should improve throughput significantly.
We are trialling some new Transit providers with our contract at LINX
[London Internet Exchange] coming up for tender, and undertaking a full
review of our peering arrangements in order to give the best performance
possible. As well as reviewing this with speed in mind we are also very
conscious of the effect our peering arrangements can have on the ping
times experienced by our gamers. As such we shall also be working to
ensure these are also optimised.
Modem Racks
Our CVX modem racks are continuing to be rolled out nationwide, and we
are adding capacity as we go along, in recent weeks we have added 870
further dialup modems to our local POPs [Points Of Presence] - Avon
(60), Birmingham (90), Scotland (240), North East (90), Southend (30),
Midlands (360). These are redistributed 3COM modems that are made
available as the 3COM racks are replaced by the CVX racks.
We are aware of some performance issues with the CVX racks as opposed to
the 3COM racks. We have raised the reports that we have had on these
issues with the providers [Nortel Networks], however we would urge
customers to report any further performance problems with the CVX racks
to our local newsgroup blueyonder.support.access.dialup [with your modem
type and version of firmware] so that we can escalate these.
Caching
We have now rolled out caches throughout all our local regions, and all
HTTP [web] traffic to the Internet is now transparently cached.
Caching is a simple idea with powerful benefits that the blueyonder team
has implemented. When you access a website a copy of that page is kept
locally on a caching device within the blueyonder network.
After this point, when the next person requests this page it comes from
the local server rather than having to traverse the internet to find the
information and deliver it back to you. Because of our use of NetApp
caches, we can therefore provide web pages to you far faster and improve
your experience of the Internet.
However, our caches will not store secure pages [those starting
https://] such as online banking information or e-commerce credit card
purchases, and sites that contain constantly updating information like
news stories and sporting results.
There have been some issues with the rollout of our caches that are
being traced and resolved by our engineers in association with our
network providers. Although initially attributed to the caches
themselves, these issues have now been found to be originating from the
configuration of the network infrastructure around them. We are working
hard with the vendors concerned to resolve this and maximise the
performance of the caches.
We are also looking at installing some 'parent' caches in Telecity
[Docklands, London] to improve the performance of the serving of web
pages for all users. Parent Caches enable us to maintain a large amount
of cached traffic within our network which the local caches will access
in preference to traversing the Internet.
News [Usenet]
Our news server has been relocated from our Woking server farm to Hayes,
so that it no longer impacts on the Woking router [and hence the
blueyonder website for all and DNS services for dialup users].
Once the move was completed the true nature of a further issue, which
had been initially attributed to the bandwidth issues experienced when
the server was located at Woking, became clear. This is due to the speed
that the server itself can communicate with the network mounted (NFS)
disks that store the news articles. This results in the news service
being slow and performing poorly in peak periods.
After investigating the full nature of the fault with Sun Engineers, we
have decided to immediately replace the NFS storage solution with direct
Sun storage for our news service. Our news team are making every effort
to obtain the new hardware as quickly as possible, and we hope to have a
server running that performs as it should do within the next few weeks.
Other News
We are undertaking a review of DNS [Domain Name System] to bring the DNS
servers for both dialup and hi-speed together.
DNS maintains a database of names [e.g. www.blueyonder.co.uk] and the IP
addresses to which these names point to [e.g. 193.38.113.24 &
193.38.113.25]. The Internet works by resolving these names to IP
addresses and networks and servers communicating using these addresses.
The faster the response time of 'DNS lookups', the quicker you get
served web pages and other Internet services.
We are also reviewing a number of our other services to upgrade them and
launch new services in order to meet growing and changing customer
demand.
The new broadband version of the blueyonder website is still on track
for launch later this year, and will be the start of a number of
exciting web based services that will continue to be launched throughout
2001 and later.
Finally we are pleased to announce that we now host a website created by
users, for users. This can be accessed at: http://users.blueyonder.co.uk
and is highly recommended. Many thanks to the original Carton123 user
group, now the "by-Users" user group for all the long hours they've put
into this site.
The team at blueyonder
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