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  1. #1
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    Which is Better? - Lower Pings or Less No. of Traceroute Hops?

    Hello Guys!

    I'm currently in the process of ordering another VPS. I tested to two IPs of different DCs of a Provider.

    IP #1 - The ping times are lower by 20 ms than IP # 2 however, the Traceroute Hops are 19

    IP #2 - Ping times are higher by 20 ms than IP # 1 but, no. of traceroute hops are 14 as compared to IP #1

    So, which is better for me? I will be running a Joomla+vBulletin Forum on the VPS.

    Thanks in Advance and Happy Holidays!
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

  2. #2
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    I would say #1, you should consider the ping response. You can also try something like just-ping.com to see response from other geographic locations too, which may be helpful.

    Good luck!
    Exceptional VPS Hosting. With love, 6sync.

  3. #3
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    Well considering what you are running, either one would probably suffice. That being said I'd go for the lower latency (as such would potentially implicate that the network transit being used is a bit better).

    Amount of Hops/routers you run across isn't really a big deal either way unless it is a substantial amount - to where the latency would possibly spike more often. The issue is certain applications are more latency aware/affected. Being that you're running a forum application latency of only 20ms difference shouldn't cause much of a problem.

  4. #4
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    Thank you RavC and Justin for your quick responses. Your inputs are highly appreciated.

    OK - I'll go for IP #1.

    Thanks and Happy Holidays!
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

  5. #5
    The number of hops shown in a tracert can be very misleading, because most NSPs hide large chunks of their network through MPLS. You should always look at these three metrics in preference to the number of hops:

    - RTT time ("ping time" or "latency" to the endpoint)
    - Jitter (fluctuations in RTT across multiple test runs)
    - Packet loss (as seen across multiple test runs)

    Traceroutes can also be misleading because oftentimes a hop in the middle will show a high latency that does not affect later hops, simply because the corresponding router was performing a BGP update or other activity that required core CPU and caused it to delay its ICMP TTL-expired replies -- which would not affect traffic flowing through the router.
    John
    President, NFOservers (Nuclearfallout Enterprises, Inc.)
    High-performance (Xen) VPS hosting, game servers, Ventrilo/Murmur/Mumble/TS3 servers, and dedicated servers

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by edge100x View Post
    The number of hops shown in a tracert can be very misleading, because most NSPs hide large chunks of their network through MPLS. You should always look at these three metrics in preference to the number of hops:

    - RTT time ("ping time" or "latency" to the endpoint)
    - Jitter (fluctuations in RTT across multiple test runs)
    - Packet loss (as seen across multiple test runs)

    Traceroutes can also be misleading because oftentimes a hop in the middle will show a high latency that does not affect later hops, simply because the corresponding router was performing a BGP update or other activity that required core CPU and caused it to delay its ICMP TTL-expired replies -- which would not affect traffic flowing through the router.
    Thanks for the detailed explanation. Much appreciated.
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

  7. #7
    Also, please note that routers on the way seem to lose packets at traceroutes, because most providers have CoPP (control plane policy) set up. Basically you should care only about what edge100x said, and not care at all about what's on the way there.

  8. #8
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    The number of hops in a traceroute is largely irrelevant, in fact sometimes multiple hops within a hosters own network is a good thing because equipment has been arranged in a redundant manner.
    Andrew Ogilvie | Xtraordinary Hosting | AS30827 | Member of LINX
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  9. #9
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    Thanks. I've ordered my VPS which has lower ping timings.
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

  10. #10
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    Ping lower is better for you.

  11. #11
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    MOD please close this thread. My Query has been resolved. Thanks. Happy Holidays.
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

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