Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback - 2

[PurSpyk!!]

For anyone who doesn't read Gian's e-mails, here's the excerpt from the one we all received today that outlines the actual problem that's been bugging the network recently. Now it all makes sense, but I wish that we had been told this a month ago.

Agree 100%, with continual blaming this and that, this would have calmed a few of us, but they insisted otherwise. Strange way to handle the situation. I still find the whole situation a bit odd though, but maybe that just me.

 

[AfriGenie]

They better not be blaming Cisco.

Not Cisco no, I can't say whom, but definitely not Cisco.

 

[i.got~issues]

Not Cisco no, I can't say whom, but definitely not Cisco.

So now, just tell us the name of all brands it is not then...

 

[AfriGenie]

Agree 100%, with continual blaming this and that, this would have calmed a few of us, but they insisted otherwise. Strange way to handle the situation. I still find the whole situation a bit odd though, but maybe that just me.

I think we have all learned some important lessons during the past two weeks.

In hindsight it is easy enough to say that things could have been done differently, but I think Gian had very specific reasons for the way in which we handled the situation.

Gian felt very conflicted over sending out a general mail to our clients prior to this, as although the current problem was widespread, not all users were affecting as badly as some, or even noticed the reduced throughput.

It is a tough position to be in, do you reach out and notify all of your clients, but then potentially cause more panic as now everyone scrambles to find out what is wrong and wants feedback on the issue.

 

[requiem]

I think we have all learned some important lessons during the past two weeks.

In hindsight it is easy enough to say that things could have been done differently, but I think Gian had very specific reasons for the way in which we handled the situation.

Gian felt very conflicted over sending out a general mail to our clients prior to this, as although the current problem was widespread, not all users were affecting as badly as some, or even noticed the reduced throughput.

It is a tough position to be in, do you reach out and notify all of your clients, but then potentially cause more panic as now everyone scrambles to find out what is wrong and wants feedback on the issue.

Obviously it was only AH users who also happen to use MyBB who felt the issues

 

[AfriGenie]

Obviously it was only AH users who also happen to use MyBB who felt the issues

Not at all, I'm afraid to say.

It is however easier to communicate with the same group of users on MyBB, and this makes it easier for us to use you guys as our guinea pigs and lab rats, even though I am sure it irritates you guys no end!

 

[CataclysmZA]

It is a tough position to be in, do you reach out and notify all of your clients, but then potentially cause more panic as now everyone scrambles to find out what is wrong and wants feedback on the issue.

Especially because you get the internet version of a hypochondriac who does continually think that there's something wrong with their internet and it must be fixed. I knew one or two people like that.

 

[BGE]

This means that we cannot properly shape some key traffic, such as certain types of peer-to-peer torrent downloads, because the devices are not always picking these protocols up accurately.

So the issues would then not affect business ADSL users... because their bandwidth(technically speaking) isn't shaped? Not so?

:twisted:

 

[AfriGenie]

So the issues would then not affect business ADSL users... because their bandwidth(technically speaking) isn't shaped? Not so?

:twisted:

The Business Uncapped accounts still connect through the Network Management devices, even if they are in a resource policy group that does not have any shaping applied to it.

The issue primarily was the P2P traffic started to be marked differently, and was not shaped, which meant that our Uncapped users were consuming more bandwidth than they should have, as they were not being shaped accurately.

 

[CataclysmZA]

The Business Uncapped accounts still connect through the Network Management devices, even if they are in a resource policy group that does not have any shaping applied to it.

The issue primarily was the P2P traffic started to be marked differently, and was not shaped, which meant that our Uncapped users were consuming more bandwidth than they should have, as they were not being shaped accurately.

Is there any indication of how long ago this problem was first noted? Was it the cause for the Home Uncapped users being shaped to death a few months ago?

 

[AfriGenie]

Is there any indication of how long ago this problem was first noted? Was it the cause for the Home Uncapped users being shaped to death a few months ago?

The intense shaping on Uncapped users was probably more due to our capacity shortfall, which necessitated the significant IPC upgrades. However, it is very possible that it was exacerbated by the network management software being buggy.

 

[CapetonianMike]

I think we have all learned some important lessons during the past two weeks.

In hindsight it is easy enough to say that things could have been done differently, but I think Gian had very specific reasons for the way in which we handled the situation.

Gian felt very conflicted over sending out a general mail to our clients prior to this, as although the current problem was widespread, not all users were affecting as badly as some, or even noticed the reduced throughput.

It is a tough position to be in, do you reach out and notify all of your clients, but then potentially cause more panic as now everyone scrambles to find out what is wrong and wants feedback on the issue.

Progress!! Not the type that makes my YT and internet space ships work nicely, but progress in transparency department. Makes me far more patient when there is a transparency regarding decision making, regardless of whether I agree with the decisions or not.

 

[JesseG]

So basically, the network is under strain as capacity is reaching near maximum, thought the upgrades would of fixed this issue? Why wasn't a larger upgrade purchased to prevent future issues such as this? It baffles me on how such a "large" company like AH is can be so short sighted....Did you guys buy just enough capacity to relieve the network strain a month ago? It seems that capacity issues are creeping up again...Even if your management system wasn't functioning correctly there should be enough bandwidth for us not to contend for, whilst you guys fix the shaping policies on home uncapped users. Can the home uncapped users really consume so much bandwidth that it leaves the rest of your clients contending for bandwidth, especially after an upgrade was done.....just curious on your thoughts about this.....

 

[AfriGenie]

So basically, the network is under strain as capacity is reaching near maximum, thought the upgrades would of fixed this issue? Why wasn't a larger upgrade purchased to prevent future issues such as this? It baffles me on how such a "large" company like AH is can be so short sighted....Did you guys buy just enough capacity to relieve the network strain a month ago? It seems that capacity issues are creeping up again...Even if your management system wasn't functioning correctly there should be enough bandwidth for us not to contend for, whilst you guys fix the shaping policies on home uncapped users. Can the home uncapped users really consume so much bandwidth that it leaves the rest of your clients contending for bandwidth, especially after an upgrade was done.....just curious on your thoughts about this.....

We definitely have enough capacity for how our system was planned to be used, however, with our Uncapped users usage not be managed correctly through shaping, it meant the Uncapped accounts were generating significantly more throughout during peak times, when our network overhead is meant to be used by real-time services. This results in a slow-down across all of ADSL accounts as contention is being created, where there should not be contention.

 

[PurSpyk!!]

We definitely have enough capacity for how our system was planned to be used, however, with our Uncapped users usage not be managed correctly through shaping, it meant the Uncapped accounts were generating significantly more throughout during peak times, when our network overhead is meant to be used by real-time services. This results in a slow-down across all of ADSL accounts as contention is being created, where there should not be contention.

So all this crap about someone going to call me, or critical care will contact me was just wasting my time, as there is nothing they can actually do to improve me speeds?

 

[JesseG]

So all this crap about someone going to call me, or critical care will contact me was just wasting my time, as there is nothing they can actually do to improve me speeds?

I don't see how they can improve your speed when we are all contending for bandwidth, it may have been a diversion tactic on the support staff's side to keep you "happy" for a while....

 

[PurSpyk!!]

I don't see how they can improve your speed when we are all contending for bandwidth, it may have been a diversion tactic on the support staff's side to keep you "happy" for a while....

That's what I am saying and if that's the truth (which I doubt they will admit to), then its not a good reflection on these guys on the forum or AH in general.

 

[AfriGenie]

So all this crap about someone going to call me, or critical care will contact me was just wasting my time, as there is nothing they can actually do to improve me speeds?

Not at all, we used a number of users - you included - to monitor and test the changes that were being implemented. No result or traceroute supplied to us over the past two weeks has been wasted.

 

[JesseG]

We definitely have enough capacity for how our system was planned to be used, however, with our Uncapped users usage not be managed correctly through shaping, it meant the Uncapped accounts were generating significantly more throughout during peak times, when our network overhead is meant to be used by real-time services. This results in a slow-down across all of ADSL accounts as contention is being created, where there should not be contention.

Okay, so now that the expert has arrived in SA, when can we expect normal service to resume?
When my ADSL is c**p my 6 year old daughter asks me to phone the WIFI people and have it fixed so that she can watch her videos on youtube, I take a beating from her if it doesn't work as intended, so please fix it quickly as I can only take so many hits before I switch ISP's....

 

[AfriGenie]

So all this crap about someone going to call me, or critical care will contact me was just wasting my time, as there is nothing they can actually do to improve me speeds?

Okay, so now that the expert has arrived in SA, when can we expect normal service to resume?
When my ADSL is c**p my 6 year old daughter asks me to phone the WIFI people and have it fixed so that she can watch her videos on youtube, I take a beating from her if it doesn't work as intended, so please fix it quickly as I can only take so many hits before I switch ISP's....

You should definitely start seeing an improvement on your account, especially with regards to streaming services such as Youtube. You may need to restart your modem to ensure that you are assigned to the correct resource policy group. If you don't see any improvement, please let me or one of the other AfriGeeks know immediately, as we may need to make changes to your actual account.