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  1. #1

    Some unmetered questions

    I'm trying to decide what type of dedicated plan I need. I go through a good amount of bandwidth, I'll peg it around 10tb-15tb a month right now, and it'll only increase I'm sure.

    Right now I use a series of servers. I burn through the alloted bandwidth on one, move on to the next. I do this because I can get cheap servers with a good amount of bandwidth. I don't need any other high specs, just the bandwidth for hosting some videos. Right now this method seems to be more cost efficient, but there is another reason I do it and that's because I have spikes in traffic. I can get 100mb ports on all these machines and it gives me room for the waves of traffic I get.

    From looking around it seems I might be able to get a 50mb port and have some times where my traffic gets capped. The price would be around the same for my current servers, but I'd have almost zero room to grow. After that, it's just bumping up to 100.

    I've seen my RTG graphs temporarily ride at 60, spike at 70. What would happen to me on a 50mb unmetered machine? Would it just slow down connections or would some just get blocked? Having the 100mb ports is key to me right now, but I don't need 100mb steady unmetered connection since my traffic slows down a good amount sometimes.

    Am I missing a way to do what I want with any sort of cost effectiveness, or am I in a spot where it's just single servers like I'm doing until I reach a point where I add enough of them to match that 100mb unmetered machine?

    I guess a "loose" 50mb port would be best. I've seen burstable plans, but they're generally on par with just getting a larger unmetered solution.

    My situation can't be that unique (a lot of bandwidth in waves), I just thought there'd be more options. Maybe I'm just missing something. Any host suggestions?

  2. #2
    So why not look into 95th percentile burstability?

    Most people in your situation just look at their highest sustained usage (not small spikes) and get a server with that amount of bandwidth either capped or unmetered.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bay Area
    Posts
    1,320
    There are different ways of buying bandwidth.

    - Per GB, that is what you have been doing
    - Limited by speed (For instance a 50Mbit cap)
    - On the 95th percentile rule

    That last one might be an option for you. This is roughly how it works:
    They take your MRTG graph, cut of the 5% highest spikes. (For instance the 60/70Mbit ones. The highest available spike that is left over (For instance 50Mbit) is what you are billed for.

    More info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burstab...5th_Percentile

    I myself also burn quite some bandwidth with a couple of files, and I do it probably about the same you do now:
    One 'main' server. If somebody downloads a file he is redirected to one of the download-servers that has bandwidth left. Those are simple servers with a 3TB limit each.
    Important for this to work though, is that content is synced over all download servers. Which might not be possible with all content.

  4. #4
    I have to admit I'm not too familiar with it. I thought it was something mostly for colo plans and never really looked into it, especially since the price seemed so undefinitive. I'll search here and the offers forum for 95th, see what I come up with, thanks.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    1,405
    The 95th percentile rule is best for you, but remember that the cost of this way will higher than the capped port, and the monthly fee is unkown!
    Tommy Tran - tommy @ vinax.net ::: VINAX, LLC ::: http://vinax.net ::: Since 2004
    Premium Dedicated Servers and Colocation in downtown Chicago (350 E. Cermak Rd)
    Premium Bandwidth, 100% Network & Power Uptime SLA, 24/7 Prompt Tech Support

  6. #6
    Its not THAT "unknown" you can easily guess what your usage will be

  7. #7
    I don't know, my usage fluctuates a good amount, but there are months it drops, and I guess that's good. Is there any thread here with a sample pricing model so I can get a better visualization, or is it just done per mbps and the 95th is grabbed end of month and multiplied against it?

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