Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : DI bandwidth Shaping

[DaveC#]

Hi,
I am with DialtoneInternet with dedicated linux box some of you may know me from elsewhere:

DI is a great host- I like both their servers and network.

My problem is this:

My primary domain http://www.cpfc.org suffers from bandwidth peaks during UK office hours 9am-6pm GMT: The actual site only transfers a maximum of 45 gig of bandwidth a month however DI bills me for around 120gig due to the 95th percentile:

Now I don't wan't to get into a 95th percentile debate I am more intrested in what I can do to reduce my bills with DI:

Unless someone can tell me otherwise my only real option is to utilise their bandwidth shaping service:

Here are the questions:

1) Does anyone else use this service and if so what has been your experience:
2) Does anyone have any gut feelings about how placing a 65gig limit on my traffic will effect performance? Will it make a huge difference?

Any other advice gratefully recieved :)

[Félix C.Courtemanche]

you can actually place yourself a cap on your bandwdith, there are some nice apache modules for that (mod_bandwidth)

However, this is going at a speed cost. It means that when you reach a certain speed, you will not go any higher, data will be slowed down and request queued if needed. That mean that at peak hour your site will generally be twice or much as slow as it used to be because you limit it.

Either you pay more, either you limit the usage... I understand the host to charge for it that way, since they must have the pipe ready for you, even if you use it only a few minutes per day.

[diyoha]

If all you are going to use the dedicated server is for one website then I would suggest using dedicatedhosting.com

they provide 100gigs transfer in their lowest plan.

And for a decent machine you pay in the $225/mo range

Might be worth looking at
(plus their pricing is negotiable)

later

David

[Félix C.Courtemanche]

hmm diyoha, that was not really the question

[diyoha]

True ... I simply provided an alternate option

he said he was being billed for 120 gigs a month so I pointed in the direction of a low priced high bandwidth provider

later

David

[Jordan]

Dave,

Your solution is to either pay the extra with DI, or find another provider that charges by the gig, and not on the 95th percentile. Ie, you have full burst upto 100mbit/sec and are charged per gig.

Using mod_throttle and mod_bandwidth with apache sound like viable options, we have tested them out ourselves actually, and they really don't work as well a proper traffic shaping via a good switch.

A bandwidth cap @ DI is a possibility, but as was said above, it will slow your site down significantly.

[DanielP]

I'll eloborate about what my partner said.

Regarding the apache bandwidth tools, I'll give you an example.

We limited a porn server of ours to a cap of 3 to 3.5mbit.

Well he gets so much traffic during the day that half of his pages time out, or half load using mod_throttle ....


Its an ok option and it *works* but if your getting too much traffic a lot of your visitors will end up getting some sort of error page.

[Chicken]

I don't think this is a very good option. If you are getting killed by bandwidth fees, I think it might be better to set up another server somewhere else, and once it is correct, kill the old one. Or maybe call DI and let them know that this method of billing isn't working out for you.

[DaveC#]

Yeah it looks like a new dedicated host is what I need: I just looked at by bandwidth chart for this month and it looks like I will be paying more for bandwidth than the actual server

I have contacted DI about this and recieved a template email that they send to everyone who complains.

[romero]

Dave,

I think the least you have to worry is about bandwidth arges, instead you got the bandwidth, see if you can make some money with advertising, thanks the lord for the traffic: go to 247media.com, or any other
banner brokerage and make some more money -)

We have been on the same path, and I can name at least 50 serious providers that uses the 95% percentile method, any provider not using that may be small or they will hit you somewhere else.

I can tell you that if you average 50 GB every day you will be bill for that, the problem is that you may
be bursting for 4 consecutive days to about 280GB or 1Meg, at that stage, aren't you using bandwidth resources from other customers?. I think what you should do is get a couple of their $170/mo of their servers and tell them to put a small switch in front of your 3 servers and combine 195 GB into one report. In fact if you talk to your sales advisor they will help you find solutions.

I think the bandwidth shaping may hurt the speed of your server, so this may not be good from UK.

Here is how I compare (What I think) the top 3 dedicated providers on a similar servers with bandwidth overage the order do not matter,:


>>>>>>>

Dialtone Internet Server 1:

CPU: PIII 650
Memory: 128 ECC MB
Disk: 9.1 SCSI
Bandwidth: 65 GB
$285 per mo
$0 start up

>>>>>>>

Rackspace Server custom:

CPU: PIII 650
Memory: 128 ECC MB
Disk: 9.1 SCSI
Bandwidth: 175 GB
$821 per mo
$352 start up


>>>>>>>>

Digital Nation Server 1:

CPU: PIII 550 (It looks like they do not have 650)
Memory: 128 ECC MB
Disk: 9.1 SCSI
Bandwidth: 50 GB
$250 start
$375 per mo
>>>>>>>>>>



Now let's say that you use 102 GB average but with Dialtone you got 165GB 95 percentile, but again I think this is not even fair to say, but for this example and maybe for me to see too, let me see it.

First of all, with DI and DN you can burst without committing to bandwidth, with RS you have to pre buy the bandwidth, so you will pay the following with the 3 companies:

>>>>>

Dialtone:

$285 server
$300 additional 100 GB bandwidth at $3 per GIG
-----
$585 total

>>>>>

Rack:

$821 server and (150GB of bandwidth included)
-----
$821 total

>>>>>

Digital:

$375 server
$300 additional 52GB bandwidth ($150 blocks of 50)
-----
$675 total


Again, this is just me comparing, but I think ultimate you should make your own decision....Make your judgement on other stuff too, like security, speed, pricing, service, etc.

Good luck body...

Romero

[DaveC#]

Thanks for the responses guys:

FYI we are now looking at moving to another provider whom incidently will definately not be rackspace

[eva2000]

hey Dave fancy seeing you here as well

[DaveC#]

Like the beachboys I get around baby

[romero]

Dave C,

Who is your new dedicated hosting provider?

Romero

[DaveC#]

Originally posted by romero
Dave C,

Who is your new dedicated hosting provider?

Romero

I eventually got some movement from Dialtone which would be indiscreet to disclose here. Suffice to say I am 'happier' with the bandwidth situation.

I am still ploughing ahead with my Ultra5 colocated though