network interface speed/live video streaming

By default, each Linode's UPLOAD speed is capped to 50MB(it?)/s. Open a ticket if you need more.

@rsk:

By default, each Linode's UPLOAD speed is capped to 50MB(it?)/s.
50Mbit.

Ah, that makes sense, thank you!

Now, it is true for all linode types? I mean, even for 4GB, 8GB or even 20GB ones?

Art

@art:

Now, it is true for all linode types? I mean, even for 4GB, 8GB or even 20GB ones?
Indeed it is. It's a safety valve for a few reasons. If you can demonstrate that it is preventing you from using your Linode to its full potential, we can raise it with a ticket.

The reasons for the safety valve being there are best demonstrated with the calculator:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=20 … 0+Mb%2Fsec">http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=200+GB+%2F+50+Mb%2Fsec

:-)

follow-up question then - am I guaranteed these 50Mb/s? I mean, if somebody on the same host requests a speed increase, how is it handled? Basically, do you oversell port speeds?

Thanks!

Art

You don't need to worry about being able to achieve 50Mbit/sec outbound into our network. However, we aren't in control of the entire Internet, so once it leaves our network there are no guarantees.

-Chris

Oh, no, of course I'm not asking to have guaranteed 50Mb/s stream somewhere from the server :)

I'm talking about reliably sustaining about 200 256kbps video streams per linode

the question was - if there are 20 linodes on a host and everybody requests 100mbps uplink it is clearly not possible with a single gigabit port…

Thank you!

Art

@art:

the question was - if there are 20 linodes on a host and everybody requests 100mbps uplink it is clearly not possible with a single gigabit port…
This never happens, but I'm glad you understand the architecture.

-Chris

@art:

I'm talking about reliably sustaining about 200 256kbps video streams per linode
Please move my VPS off his server :shock:

I really doubt it'll be a problem, but keep in mind that sustaining 200x256Kbps (50Mbps) would be ~16TB/mth, which would result in a rather hefty bill from Linode!

At that point, though, you would want to negotiate bandwidth pricing directly with Linode anyhow.

don't worry, guys,

• I'm well aware of the bandwidth, all I need is to know the limits, 200 viewers might hit 1 instance once in a year for a couple of hours. and knowing this, I still need 5 instances if I'm running a potential 1000 viewers event

• Second, vonskippy: what are you worried about? the live streaming takes just a bit of CPU and 200 users will hit 50mbit/s a second = less than a gigabit divided among all users… Everybody wants to be on the server that has nothing else going on, unfortunately, that's not the case with VPS some times… moreover, Xen will not let me use any more resources than allocated, so whatever your plan is, you'll get at least that for sure

For the record, I had sustained a couple of thousand live streams over a gigabit connection on a single server without a significant hit to CPU/memory. That's why I'm looking at cheaper VPS options so if I need more, I can get more for the moment and not overpay in day-to-day scenarios

Not worried about CPU, worried about I/O, and that depends on the XEN setup that Linode uses.

Do they do I/O Scheduling AND I/O Throttling - or just Scheduling?

Don't really look forward to sharing a box with you and having my MySQL thru put slow to a snails pace.

In order for VPS to work well, all the players have to be fair minded. Get a few "I'll use whatever I can wring out from the system" players - and the whole thing FUBAR's quickly.

Hmm, but my point is that you shouldn't suffer because of other instances…

BUT, it really depends on what you call "suffering" - if you do the calculations, a "fair share" of 16 2.5GHz CPU cores divided among 15 instances gives you just about a single-core 2.5GHz processor, which, in itself is not a terribly fast server. 1024 instances are even more cramped… As for other resources, like disk and net I/O - same thing, you are in line for your 1/15th (or 1/20th even) cut of the whole pie. Be it all MySQL databases or net streaming, it is not a fast server. Nor it should be at that price.

UNLESS other instances are not doing much…

If the whole reason you went for a cheap VPS was because you counted on it being underused then there it's a problem… I went there because I am fairly positive it will handle the load even if it's fully used. Sure, I'm going to get my money's worth but if Linode finds it abusive, oh well, I'll upgrade or leave, depending.

Sorry to come off like that, though, I'm actually a nice guy :)

Art

@art:

If the whole reason you went for a cheap VPS was because you counted on it being underused then there it's a problem… I went there because I am fairly positive it will handle the load even if it's fully used. Sure, I'm going to get my money's worth but if Linode finds it abusive, oh well, I'll upgrade or leave, depending.
Yeah, I don't see why this should be considered a problem. There are cases (and other threads here) where someone is talking about using more than their share of resources for their plan on a steady state basis (not just bursting), which while still not precluded, could be understood to raise the question of fairness.

But it seems to me that your usage goals are actually within the true division of resources on your plan, which is all I think I should be able to ask of any peer on a host. I suppose if the 50Mbps has to come from disk you might be getting close on your slice of disk I/O, but I suspect the disk I/O to generate that network traffic is only a fraction of the network I/O.

– David

db3l, you're right, there is no disk I/O, period. Everything is streamed live to the origin server, distributed to edge servers and watched live from edges…