[Gllug] london hackspace news / Cheap 2nd hand rackmount servers

[Nix]

On 4 Apr 2011, David L. Neil spake thusly:

> On 04/04/2011 01:07 AM, Nix wrote:
>> On 2 Apr 2011, David L. Neil uttered the following:
>>> On 04/03/2011 12:36 AM, Nix wrote:
>>> Interestingly from my flat in ShepBush I found that the sheer number
>>> of routers and 'hops' to get 'anywhere' that wasn't actually 'in'
>>> London, slowed things down considerably for UK connectivity.
>>
>> Agreed -- though this does very much depend on your ISP. ISPs who
>> provide links to anywhere other than the LINX may be able to get you
>> out of London faster :)
>
> <sarcasm>but that would be useful information and "enabling" and
> "empowering" consumers to make an intelligent choice between ISPs
> </sarcasm>

Well, that's more true in the UK market than in a lot of others: at
least there is choice. Look at the US for a worse example: monopolies
and duopolies everywhere, most dire.

> (the first hop is technically more: laptop wired to Internet gateway,
> thence wireless bridge before being handed-off (wired) to the
> modem/router - hence the delay. Orcon is my residential ISP. Is Esperi
> 'you' or something else downstream from Andrews and Arnold?)

esperi is me.

> [dn ~]$ traceroute 81.187.191.129
> traceroute to 81.187.191.129 (81.187.191.129), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
>  1  link.brothers (192.168.1.1)  3.981 ms  4.900 ms  7.895 ms
>  2  lo1-ubs.erx1.nct.orcon.net.nz (...snip...)  14.852 ms  15.811 ms 19.773 ms
>  3  ge-0-0-3-201.cre1.nct.orcon.net.nz (121.98.9.65)  16.743 ms  19.726 ms  19.703 ms
>  4  * * *
>  5  * * *
>  6  * po2-0-1.gw5.lax1.asianetcom.net (202.147.61.189)  138.283 ms 138.213 ms

LA?

>  7  xe-11-1-0.edge2.LosAngeles9.Level3.net (4.53.230.9)  215.082 ms 212.771 ms  213.692 ms
>  8  vlan70.csw2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.126)  138.733 ms 136.873 ms vlan60.csw1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.62)
> 139.818 ms
>  9  ae-93-93.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.45)  140.787 ms ae-63-63.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.33)  137.651 ms
> ae-83-83.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.41)  137.614 ms

Obviously that 200ms was a spuriously high ping time from a busy router.

> 14  ae-41-41.ebr2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.137.65)  308.643 ms ae-44-44.ebr2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.137.77)  306.630 ms  306.689 ms
> 15  ae-21-52.car1.London1.Level3.net (4.69.139.98)  408.669 ms  352.611 ms  351.785 ms

Hello to the LINX.

> 16  lonap1.restless.thn.aaisp.net.uk (193.203.5.58)  276.693 ms  277.755 ms  276.755 ms
> 17  a.gormless.thn.aaisp.net.uk (90.155.53.11)  279.616 ms  278.700 ms 278.777 ms

AAISP routers.

> 18  ginnungagap.esperi.org.uk (...snip...)  298.656 ms  294.717 ms 294.721 ms

My ADSL router (but not firewall, that's one hop downstream).

300ms roundtrip is not bad -- it's about what you get from the protocol
overhead from an ordinary POTS modem. But still.

>> True. Same here. But apparently a lot of people *like* the city life. I
>> actually read something in the Economist this week extolling the Tube as
>> a peaceful place (!!!!) solely on the grounds that it didn't have mobile
>> phone coverage. Apparently not having room to breathe is considered
>> secondary to attaining such 'peace'.
>
> Indeed, as the oxygen level decreases so does brain function, and as
> both approach zero so does 'peace of mind'.

I'm not sure about that. I'm always on the edge of panic in such places.

> It is intriguing how living in a place of noise, one manages not to
> notice it.

Hey, I lived with a Netra in my bedroom for years and barely noticed the
jet-engine howl.

>            I hated the tube for that reason. Whereas here, when some
> (amateur) fisherman comes home and fires-up his out-board (motor) to
> rinse out the salt, I find it an oppressive and intrusive nuisance!

Likewise the clunking of people driving much too fast over the speed
bump they just put in outside my house.

> Sadly I see that proposals to wi-fi-ise the tube have taken another
> step forward. Even if the cellular coys don't get 'in', it won't take
> long for the wide-boys to figure out how to wi-fi and Skype their way
> into providing an inane and over-loud conversational hell for their
> fellow man...  (in that respect, the tube has yet to 'catch-up' with
> the buses!)

Hey, a deeper hell is coming sooner. The Olympics.

I just got out in time.

> More reasonably the Christchurch earthquake is expected to cause
> delays to many of the county's infrastructure projects and I imagine
> the fiber-optics will also take longer to see the light.

Hey, there's lots of room for brand new infrastructure in Christchurch! 
(How do you think Japan always manages to be so near the bleeding edge? 
They rebuild everything every few decades!)

>>>                      - but as you say, is one hour's drive to *visit*
>>> the country's largest metropolis/source of IT contracts/work...
>>
>> These days it even has electrical power!
>
> Hah!

:)

> For those who don't know how he is playing-along at home: many years
> ago a series of electrical faults rippled through the supply system
> and eventually two out of (*only*) three high-voltage power lines into
> the city 'blew', rendering the CBD a powerless, ghost town. The

Peter Gutmann called it 'our Y2K beta test site' :)

> Fortunately, soon after the Board-incident he was offered the role of
> Chief Engineer/Head of a rural power board, down-country; and

Hah!

> I believe/it is quite likely that Auckland (with its proportionally
> larger population) still has fewer high-V feed lines than does
> Wellington or Christchurch...

Whatever happened to Mercury Energy after the power cut incident? I know
that at the time there was discussion of the problems involved in giving
anyone involved any sort of fair trial (for incompetence or whatever),
because *everyone* has some connection to Auckland...

I hope Mercury Energy's directors didn't survive but I suspect they did.
What is a mere six months of blackout? You should have bought a bigger
generator! Perhaps they didn't get a bonus that year.

-- 
NULL && (void)
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