Re: public network bandwidth usage

We have seen much the same behavior. Mostly this is due to
increasingly "bandwidth greedy" applications.

We jumped from a T1 to Fiber Op (5Mbps) last year. Our
actual bandwidth usage is up about 35% since the Fiber
install, but the amount of "it's SO SLOW"
complains are well below what they used to be with the T1.

We provide 45 computers for public use (plus 35 for staff
and 15 laptops for a portable classroom), plus our Public
wireless usage has almost tripled to between 350 and 500
users/month. However, the wireless usage is throttle to no
more than 2048/MBps total for all authenticated users
combined (think of the throttle as working like cable... the
less users, the more bandwidth available, the faster the
access. The more users, the less bandwidth available, the
slower the access). Thus, wireless usage isn't causing a
great bandwidth spike, and it prevents us from being overtly
desirable to P2P users.

Overall, we're handling it right now, but I expect as demand
for multi-media applications increases, our demand will
almost certainly outstrip bandwidth availability within the
next several years.

Michael McEvoy
mmcevoynorthvillelibrary.org
Electronic Services Support
Northville District Library
http://www.northvill
elibrary.org

Remember, Technical Solutions to Social issues are
inherently flawed!


---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:57:17 -0500
>From: "GINTHER, Craig" <Craig.Gintherbiblioottawalibrary.ca>  
>Subject: [Web4lib] public network bandwidth usage  
>To: <web4libwebjunction.org>
>
>Hello all,
>
>We've recently seen a huge increase in bandwidth usage
on our public network, and are trying to determine whether
this is similar to what other large public libraries are
experiencing.  Public PCs (approx 400 in total) in all of
our branches share a 100Mbps pipe, but we only pay for a 10
meg service with bursting capabilities as required (for a
cost).  
>
>As of March 2006, we were averaging 1.5 Megs usage, with
spikes to 4 Megs, but we're now looking at traffic during
business hours regularly hits 30 Mbps inbound and peaks past
40 Mbps.  Not surprisingly, the most common destination
appears to be various Akamai.net sites, with video and image
intensive sites such as Facebook and YouTube also appearing
as heavy users. Most of the traffic is HTTP (TCP 80),
followed at a distance by HTTPS (TCP 443) with a small
amount of instant messaging an other protocols.
>
>Are others seeing similar increases?  If so, how many
public PCs do you have (for the sake of comparison)?
>
>
>Craig Ginther
>Acting Manager, Virtual Library Services
>Ottawa Public Library/Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa
>101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2G 5K7
>Phone: 613-580-2424 x41588
>Craig.GintherBiblioOttawaLibrary.ca
>http://www.BiblioOt
tawaLibrary.ca
>
>
>
>
>
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