How much difference will it make for the servers connected to OC12 as compared OC3.

May be this is a very silly question, but I am evaluating some webhosting companies for my first dedicated server. Some offering OC12 others OC3, I cannot makeup my mind, as I am not a technical person. Any examples will help me decide/choose the right platform.

Domingo

Well it all depends upon how much each pipe is utilized an OC3 with 25% utilization would have better performance than an OC12 at 90%. But if they are both within good utilization limits you woudldn't know the difference.

Also, you should ask how much of the OC is "lit". Some hosts will tell you they have an OC12 line but may only have a OC3 capacity "lit"

Jay is right, it's really about utilization. That's the important question.

Whats the normal practice of utilization, do webhosts usually go beyond 90% or whatever reasonable.

This is a really interesting thing. I see ads day after day from some questionable hosts who will say "Dual OC 192" knowing that there is no way they are pushing that kind of traffic.

However, the statement "Dual OC 192 Connectivity"could be a true but misleading statement.

Here's an example. Everyones Internet facility is LIT with dual OC192s. We do not, however, have all of that for upstream bandwidth. Much of each OC192 is used for transport to other facilities, other carriers for other reasons, and for the PRIs that server our dialup customers.

Of that dual OC 192s, we advertise or claim that we currently have 2 OC3s and 2 DS3s for upstream connectivity. In this case, we have contracted for the full pipe.

It is, however, common for ISP and hosters to purchase a DS3 (capable of 45 MBPS) yet only contract for a smaller part of that pipe for their bandwidth. This smaller part could be anywhere from 3 MBPS to almost the full thing. The same thing can be said about an OC3, and OC12, or any pipe.

It is also possible that a hoster or ISP has purchased a pipe (DS3, OC3, etc) with a minimum speed and has the option to burst. This scenario is much less common as the per MB for a burst is generally much greater than for a committed speed/capacity.

I'd suggest checking out any provider that you are considering by taking a look at their network utilization graphs. Many are afraid of providing this information because it is then easier to tell what their network really looks like. Others will and do publish it (we do) although you may have to ask for the url as they do not generally make it public.

Good luck on your quest!

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Everyones Internet facility is LIT with dual OC192s

Are you saying that you can go from oc3 to oc192 without having to do anything? This includes upgrade your network, routers, etc.. to handle the OC 192. That is what is meant by "lit". Right now there is not a colo provider out there pushing enough bandwidth to lite OC 192's. (If there is, let me know, from my research I have yet to find any.)

It would be like having a garden hose hooked up to a fire hydrant. Sure you can handle garden hose amounts of water, but the minute the fire hydrant is fully opened your hose would blow. The way to fix this is to pay to have your hoses and connections preparted for this amount of water.

To me "lit" means "lit". That it is "on" and moving traffic. It sounds more like you have a OC 192 pipe capacity for future use, but that means nothing until you actually are using it.

There is one host one this board who talks about "their" dual OC 192's all the time. This annoys the crap out of me because they are lit to OC3 and they colo in an MCI facility. I guess if you can say OC 192s, you can also start advertising dual P4 processor servers. Because"in theory" you can upgrade our servers to allow for this if CPU use gets high. :D

Our fibre is multi-use. It is not just for bandwidth. It is actually lit to OC-192 with dual strands for redundancy. This does not mean we have OC-192 for upstream connectivity. :(

The OC-192s from Time Warner deliver a variety of services including upstream connectivity. At this point, only 2- DS3 and 2-OC3 of this is full pipe upstream. One of the DS3s (for TW Internet) will be upgraded to OC3 from DS3.

Roughly 11-12 DS3s of this bandwidth delivers PRIs, 3 DS3 cover our Texas network (to Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio), 2 DS3 hook us into our other local POP, and 1 DS3 hooks us into a managed modem provider that serves the smallest of the Texas Markets. I may have missed one or two.

So, technically speaking, we do have LIT OC-192s. However, you won't find that description on our site or advertising because I think it to be a little misleading as we have only (as of Tuesday) 510 MBPS of LIT Internet transport. Still, in my humble opinion, quite a bit!

The moral of the story is .... how much REAL capacity does a provider have NOT what kind of fibre services their facility.

I hope that I'm making sense.

Robert Marsh
Head Surfer Rackshack.net

Thanks for replying to the thread, but where does it leaves me. Will any dedicated web hosting provider come forward and post the following.


1. What connection they have ? OC48, 12 or 3
2. Whats the percentage of utilization
3. What portion a dedicated server gets.


I may be asking too much :D

domingo ho much are you planning to buy / use/ or what ever..

Unless you are planning to use 3000 gigs a month, I wouldn`t worry. If plan to be buying 50 gig package I would`t even see a point at asking about oc3`s, maybe a T1 /

Originally posted by domingo
Thanks for replying to the thread, but where does it leaves me. Will any dedicated web hosting provider come forward and post the following.


1. What connection they have ? OC48, 12 or 3
2. Whats the percentage of utilization
3. What portion a dedicated server gets.


I may be asking too much :D

It depends on your needs. Like William said it depends alot on what your requirments are.

We have dual OC3's at about 1/3 utilization. We could upgrade at anytime if we need to that is not a problem, and I am sure most hosting companies are the same way. I know of one who just uses a t1(he is having another one installed next week too) and does fine, but he doesnt have any sites/servers that need a lot of bandwidth.