[OPLINTECH] Internet solutions for small branches

Mon Jan 26 16:29:46 EST 2015

That's good advice. If you want a good idea of your RTTs, you'd have to
test over a longer period. Just a couple of pings won't give a very good
sampling. Useful if you have an outage, though, to help locate the
whereabouts of the outage.

I just figured you meant 6ms round trip and thought that maybe the TW tech
was thinking more about their internal network and not so much giving you a
more realistic rate! Thanks for setting me straight.

Chad

______________________________
*Chad Neeper*
Senior Systems Engineer

*Level 9 Networks*
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

*Full LAN/WAN consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools*

On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 3:55 PM, Ruchie Rice <rrice at fcdlibrary.org> wrote:

>  Hi Chad,
>
>
>
> Yes J 6 mins would be too, too long. What I meant and probably wasn’t
> very clear on was that I ping a device for 6 minutes straight before I
> decide there are no issues…something I learnt from one of the TWC techs.
>
>
>
> Ruchie
>
> Information Technology Coordinator
>
> Fairfield County District Library
>
> 219 N. Broad St.
>
> Lancaster, OH 43130
>
>
>
> https://helpdesk.clcohio.org/
>
>
>
> *“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working
> together is success” – Henry Ford*
>
>
>
> *From:* oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org [mailto:
> oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org] *On Behalf Of *Chad Neeper
> *Sent:* Monday, January 26, 2015 3:26 PM
>
> *To:* oplintech at lists.oplin.org
> *Subject:* Re: [OPLINTECH] Internet solutions for small branches
>
>
>
> The network response times will vary depending on numerous factors.
> Naturally, the closer you are to the device you're communicating with is a
> factor. So is the amount of congestion at any particular hop along the
> route.
>
>
>
> A few milliseconds is good on a LAN. But over a WAN or VPN, you'll
> probably see longer delays. For instance, picking a random VPN between my
> endpoint and one of my library endpoints, I'm seeing round trip ICMP pings
> as low as 55ms and as high as 278ms in a short 20 packet sample. I'm using
> Time Warner Business Class and the library is OPLIN. If both endpoints were
> on the same network (ie both on Time Warner's network or both on OPLIN's
> network), I'd expect to see results averaging on the faster side. Going
> between providers, however, I wouldn't be surprised at greater variances
> and slower round trip times on average.
>
>
>
> Speed of the devices running the VPN as well as how the VPN itself is
> configured could also play a small part in performance. In my case, both
> VPN endpoints are actually running in virtual machines and I'm using the
> best encryption methods available to me, so I no doubt pay a small penalty
> for that at each end. Network appliances might have slightly better
> performance, depending on their packet processing capabilities.
>
>
>
> I think anecdotally, I probably see an average of 50-75ms between me and
> my library endpoints, which is plenty sufficient for my needs.
>
>
>
> Just for kicks, I just now pinged one of Google's content servers and see
> as low as 21ms and as high as 291ms in another quick 20 packet sample.
> Looks like mostly in the 20's with a few random peaks here and there. That
> seems about right...
>
>
>
> 6 mins (minutes?) ping time and I'd probably just use a sneakernet. LOL! I
> know that was a type-o, but still good for a smile.
>
>
>
> Have a great day, everyone!
>
>
>
> Chad
>
>
>   ______________________________
> *Chad Neeper*
> Senior Systems Engineer
>
> *Level 9 Networks*
> 740-548-8070 (voice)
> 866-214-6607 (fax)
>
> *Full LAN/WAN consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools*
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 3:57 PM, Ruchie Rice <rrice at fcdlibrary.org> wrote:
>
>  In reading Chad’s response about pinging I thought I’d add that a ping
> time of 6 mins seems to be what a Time Warner tech thought was a reliable
> time to see if there were any issues. From experience I can say that’s a
> pretty good estimate.
>
>
>
> Ruchie
>
> Information Technology Coordinator
>
> Fairfield County District Library
>
> 219 N. Broad St.
>
> Lancaster, OH 43130
>
>
>
> https://helpdesk.clcohio.org/
>
>
>
> *“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working
> together is success” – Henry Ford*
>
>
>
> *From:* oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org [mailto:
> oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org] *On Behalf Of *Chad Neeper
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 22, 2015 3:50 PM
> *To:* oplintech at lists.oplin.org
> *Subject:* Re: [OPLINTECH] Internet solutions for small branches
>
>
>
> After that bit of extra info, definitely DO install a UPS on all of your
> network equipment, even if you don't own it (ie. the ISP's modem). FWIW,
> I'd suggest plugging a surge suppressing power strip into the wall outlet,
> plug your UPS into the surge suppressor and then your equipment into the
> UPS. (It's cheaper to replace the surge suppressor than a good UPS in the
> unlikely event of a lighting strike.) (I've had it happen several times
> over the years at various of my clients.)
>
>
>
> Since you have a VPN, you can perhaps do a simple ICMP ping test to find
> out where the outage occurs. Pick a branch library and ping each device
> along the path from a computer at the main branch to an endpoint at the
> branch library (or vice versa). If there are five network devices in the
> path between your test computer and your endpoint and you stop getting ping
> responses at the fourth device along the path, then you'll have a good idea
> of where to start looking.
>
>
>
> If you route all network traffic through the VPN, then definitely check
> your VPN logs, too. It may not be a physical problem, especially since it's
> happening at all of your branches. It may simply be a configuration issue.
>
>
>
> Chad
>
>
>   ______________________________
> *Chad Neeper*
> Senior Systems Engineer
>
> *Level 9 Networks*
> 740-548-8070 (voice)
> 866-214-6607 (fax)
>
> *Full LAN/WAN consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools*
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 3:29 PM, Amy Deuble <adeuble at marion.lib.oh.us>
> wrote:
>
>  Thank you for all your suggestions! I think we will take the approach of
> one building at a time since the issues, although they seem similar, are
> probably caused by different things.
>
>
>
> The main problem is opening after several days closed. Computers will not
> connect to the network until power is cycled on our router and the
> supplier’s modem and sometimes our PCs and printers. Clicking your heels
> three times may also be in order. It just depends. Then, even if things
> work fine at first, they may “cut out” after an hour or two and may or may
> not reconnect.
>
>
>
> I think our first step will be to install a UPS at each location. Right
> now things are plugged in to power strips (yikes! I know). All the
> buildings are older so cabling may be a bit dated, so that will probably be
> our next step to check. I also want to check and replace any older
> switches. We have things coming to the main library through a VPN so that
> is something else to check with our IT consultants.
>
>
>
> I may be back for more ideas in the near future. I really appreciate your
> help and support. Thank you!
>
>
>
> *Amy Deuble*
>
> Technical Services Manager
>
> Marion Public Library
>
> 445 E Church St
>
> Marion OH 43302
>
> 740-383-9722
>
> www.marionlibrary.org
>
>
>
> [image: LOGO blue small400] <http://www.marionlibrary.org/>
>
>          [image: facebook] <https://www.facebook.com/mplohio>     [image:
> twitter] <https://twitter.com/MarionPublicLib>
>
>
>
> *From:* Amy Deuble
> *Sent:* Friday, January 16, 2015 8:25 AM
> *To:* oplintech at lists.oplin.org
> *Subject:* Internet solutions for small branches
>
>
>
> We have three small branches open two days a week, Monday and Thursday,
> for a total of 6 hours a week. Each branch has 3 computers, one staff and
> two public, and a networked printer/copier. Two of the branches are on Time
> Warner and the other is on CenturyLink. All of the branches are located in
> small villages in mainly rural locations.
>
>
>
> We are having continual problems connecting to the Internet at all our
> branch locations. It seems we are constantly resetting routers, modems
> and/or PCs in different combinations trying to get things working. Both
> Time Warner and CenturyLink has been called numerous times with mixed
> results.
>
>
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make things more reliable?
> Would you shut down equipment, including routers and modems, when we are
> closed? Is there a business wireless solution that might work (although I
> wonder about cell phone service in some of these locations)? Any other
> options anyone can think of?
>
>
>
> *Amy Deuble*
>
> Technical Services Manager
>
> Marion Public Library
>
> 445 E Church St
>
> Marion OH 43302
>
> 740-383-9722
>
> www.marionlibrary.org
>
>
>
> [image: LOGO blue small400] <http://www.marionlibrary.org/>
>
>          [image: facebook] <https://www.facebook.com/mplohio>     [image:
> twitter] <https://twitter.com/MarionPublicLib>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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