Afrihost network woes explained

Next thing you know, they'll be updating their cancellation policy to a calendar month :/
 
kingrob said:
Cisco products, or did they go cheapskate and don't want to name it?
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gusza said:
My money is on them using Allot appliances for the traffic management. Very powerful appliances but can be very tricky to configure.
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Gusza is correct. Before MTN launched their DSL products for Afrihost, I heard through sources they use Allot NetEnforcers. Not the first NSP/ISP in SA to use them either. If you think these devices are not up to par with what Cisco does, you are sadly mistaken. These devices are amazing. That said however, you need to know their limitations, as with any hardware device. Going balls to the wall with too many policies can really slow these down, thats when you see the random issues that Afrihost/MTN currently experiences.
 
Tinuva said:
Gusza is correct. Before MTN launched their DSL products for Afrihost, I heard through sources they use Allot NetEnforcers. Not the first NSP/ISP in SA to use them either. If you think these devices are not up to par with what Cisco does, you are sadly mistaken. These devices are amazing. That said however, you need to know their limitations, as with any hardware device. Going balls to the wall with too many policies can really slow these down, thats when you see the random issues that Afrihost/MTN currently experiences.
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Similar to Webmarshal proxy server software, but just with dedicated hardware.
 
kingrob said:
Similar to Webmarshal proxy server software, but just with dedicated hardware.
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They not actually the same at all.

NetEnforcers, not just the hardware, but the software as well, is in a league of it's own. It really does DPI, and managing it is one of the easiest things to do, far better than most other products available in this league.
 
Tinuva said:
They not actually the same at all.

NetEnforcers, not just the hardware, but the software as well, is in a league of it's own. It really does DPI, and managing it is one of the easiest things to do, far better than most other products available in this league.
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If it's so easy to manage, why is Afrihost struggling so much?

You think it might be the staff that is not familiar with the software and hardware?
 
kingrob said:
If it's so easy to manage, why is Afrihost struggling so much?

You think it might be the staff that is not familiar with the software and hardware?
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Well for one, I don't think Afrihost actually manages it, more like MTN does.

The troubleshooting when something goes wrong on the devices is not as easy as the management. So what happen is, you create a long ruleset, and all of a sudden there is a problem, or it doesn't work the way you expect it to work.

That said, what really is the problem, is that they should have made backups before applying changes, so that they could roll back once they started experiencing problems.

So to be honest, I think the problem is the process they followed, instead of being unfamiliar with the software and hardware.

Also, maybe I am wrong, maybe these devices aint so easy to manage =/
 
Tinuva said:
Well for one, I don't think Afrihost actually manages it, more like MTN does.

The troubleshooting when something goes wrong on the devices is not as easy as the management. So what happen is, you create a long ruleset, and all of a sudden there is a problem, or it doesn't work the way you expect it to work.

That said, what really is the problem, is that they should have made backups before applying changes, so that they could roll back once they started experiencing problems.

So to be honest, I think the problem is the process they followed, instead of being unfamiliar with the software and hardware.

Also, maybe I am wrong, maybe these devices aint so easy to manage =/
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Yes...

Restoring a backup was tried, that I can confirm, the problem got infinitely more complex when this did not actually work at restoring our network performance...
 
Ah that hurts.

Well I can see the problem is getting better now at least. The smokeping graph shows 0% to 40% packet loss instead of 90+% packet loss as with the previous week and a half.
 
Tinuva said:
Ah that hurts.

Well I can see the problem is getting better now at least. The smokeping graph shows 0% to 40% packet loss instead of 90+% packet loss as with the previous week and a half.
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I am glad you start to see some improvement.

Our Team is very positive at this stage that they have started to make significant progress towards getting the network management operating as it should.
 
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AfriGenie said:
Restoring a backup was tried, that I can confirm, the problem got infinitely more complex when this did not actually work at restoring our network performance...
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Most of the time it takes quite a while before the change starts to take affect.....just be patient.
 
kingrob said:
Most of the time it takes quite a while before the change starts to take affect.....just be patient.
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:)

I think the patience may have run slightly dry after some of the Team hadn't slept in more than a day. You can only wash your eyeballs in Red Bull so many times before it no longer helps.
 
AfriGenie said:
I am glad you start to see some improvement.

Our Team is very positive at this stage that they have started to make significant progress towards getting the network management operating as it should.
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I hope they are now documenting + backing up every step/change they make?
 
AfriGenie said:
:)

I think the patience may have run slightly dry after some of the Team hadn't slept in more than a day. You can only wash your eyeballs in Red Bull so many times before it no longer helps.
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You have my sympathy, I've been there as well. :)

All you want to see is magic happening in front of you now....hang in there, it will happen.

Just keep the faith and stay motivated.
 
kingrob said:
I hope they are now documenting + backing up every step/change they make?
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kingrob said:
You have my sympathy, I've been there as well. :)

All you want to see is magic happening in front of you now....hang in there, it will happen.

Just keep the faith and stay motivated.
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They are starting to make some definite progress, so I think that is motivating them for sure!
 
AfriGenie said:
They are starting to make some definite progress, so I think that is motivating them for sure!
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That is encouraging news.

If they have already made good progress, maybe it's time to let them all take a break and tackle it again a bit later.

It's crazy, but after you're rested, you might be standing in the shower, and the solution just comes to you.

True story. :D
 
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