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How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

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Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#101

Post by milcron »

Decade wrote: post #94
diegoperini wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not "Linux Accompanied Windows"? Or "Still Windows but also some Linux"?

But Linux is the one part that is not present. It’s GNU software running in a Windows subsystem. GNU/Windows?

Not true in this instance. They implemented the Linux ABI, which means software can run on the linux subsystem without recompilation.

Cygwin allows running GNU software on Windows, but it doesn't implement the Linux ABI. Therefore Cygwin requires software recompilation.

The big advantage of WSL is that you can run native linux binaries.

Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#102

Post by dantiberian »

delsarto wrote: post #41
rbranson wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99% of Netflix bytes are largely served from Netflix's own CDN + a cadre of third party CDNs. The bytes to/from AWS isn't trivial by itself but relatively negligible compared to video traffic.

There was a guy on Australian radio today saying that international traffic from Australia and NZ has decreased by about 70% over the past few years thanks to the ever-increasing usage of CDN's putting data, in most cases, within the ISPs network. Was something interesting I hadn't thought of. He also mentioned that in NZ miserly data caps are really not implemented any more, since people just aren't using expensive…

Most NZ ISP's have an ADSL unlimited data cap plan for around $95, and lower cap plans for cheaper. VDSL is a bit more, and fibre a bit more again, topping out at around $130 for 1000/500.

Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#103

Post by valas »

komali2 wrote: post #26

I really wanted to understand this article. I tried wikipediaing and googling some of the things I didn't really get (Jupiter is a thing... ok and Andromeda.. riiiight). Then I got to the chart "Conceptually, here is how Espresso plugs into the Google networking stack:", which was totally unparseable by me. All the green things look the same, but one of them is the thing this article is about (Espresso, right?), and…

Disclaimer: I worked on this technology.

I agree, article could be improved.

In a nutshell, Espresso system allows (logically) centralized, fine-grained control of how bits leave Google's network. Specifically, each server has a tailored (for that server) routing table that allows the server to select a specific port on a specific peering router for a given packet to exit to. The routing tables are updated very often and fast (e.g. to remove references to links that went down).

This makes it very easy to move bits around. You want to shift 42.2% of link X traffic to link Y? Just update some routing tables in end hosts. It also allows for different applications to the same destination to use different exit links (e.g. low latency - exit somewhere close, high bandwidth - exit where we have bandwidth). Bonus benefit: router can be simpler, it doesn't need to do any routing anymore, it just needs to follow instructions on each packet on which port to forward the packet to.

Does it make it more clear? Ask me anything.

Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#104

Post by manigandham »

konpikwastaken wrote: post #97
manigandham wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Azure ExpressRoute = AWS Direct Connect = Google Cloud Interconnect All 3 are ways to connect your private datacenter or on-premise location (maybe your corporate office) directly to the cloud provider's network over a fast private link, like an industrial-sized VPN. This way you can access your cloud servers/services over this private connection rather than the public internet. Lots of companies do this if they have…

Very cool, thank you for explaining. Is VPN the primary purpose or could it in theory be extended to work as software routers (as opposed to physical switches your traffic goes through) for all internet traffic once connect? Let me know if I'm way off base in my understanding.

Well VPN = virtual private network, and that's exactly what it's creating. What you use it for is up to you.

You can access all Google Cloud services over this link and but you can also change your routes to point all internet traffic over this link too (you'll need some cloud VMs with public IPs to be the exit nodes). Not sure what you'd gain from doing that though.

Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#105

Post by johnsmith21006 »

kingosticks wrote: post #75
mjevans wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the description, it sounds like the routers have been reduced to more simple muxers, where a small tag added to the packet determines which port it goes over instead of trying to make a complicated decision all in one focal point. This has pushed the decision back from the routers to the servers, where it scales with the number of hosts handling connections and can additionally be determined per /session/ instea…

The speedup from traditional MPLS already comes from the simple next-hop only lookup required by the router. There's no complicated decision making going on. Something central still manages the labels, that's the complexity but that's not new either. Google still buy and use a ton of traditional mega (tera) high bandwidth networking gear. All of which will support regular label switching. But that doesn't sound cool…

You really do no understand what Google is doing or how it works. The article does a poor job explaining. It is more like a virtual circuit switch network. It enables far less cost in equipment as no need to over provision. But a key feature is it makes latency far more determinate. This was necessary to make Spanner work.

Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#106

Post by drewg123 »

kbenson wrote: post #92
drewg123 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we serve 100% of video traffic from our CDN.

Ah, that seems to be fairly new. I found info that it was over 90% a little over a year ago[1], but I wasn't aware it was that high at that time either. Congratulations on getting everything self served! 1: https://media.netflix.com/en/company-blog/how-netflix-works-...

We've been 100% for video since before I joined over 2 years ago.

I think you misread that article with the 90%. That is talking about the proximity of Open Connect CDN nodes to customers, and how much traffic is served from "directly connected" Open Connect CDN nodes, and how much traffic is ... less than directly connected OpenConnect CDN nodes.. (sorry, I'm a kernel guy, not really versed in WAN stuff).

Re: How Google Wants to Rewire the Internet

#107

Post by Decade »

milcron wrote: post #101
Decade wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Linux is the one part that is not present. It’s GNU software running in a Windows subsystem. GNU/Windows?

Not true in this instance. They implemented the Linux ABI, which means software can run on the linux subsystem without recompilation . Cygwin allows running GNU software on Windows, but it doesn't implement the Linux ABI. Therefore Cygwin requires software recompilation. The big advantage of WSL is that you can run native linux binaries.

#sigh# Clearly the joke was not funny if it had to be explained.

For decades, Richard Stallman has been calling it GNU/Linux, because the OS “aside from the kernel” was GNU, and Linux is the kernel. https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.en.html

Now, we have a Microsoft system that runs the Linux binaries, which are GNU according to Stallman, but not running them on the Linux kernel. You’re naming the entire system after the one component that is missing. By the same logic that normal Linux should be GNU/Linux, Linux containers on Windows should be GNU/Windows.

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