COLUMN: Speeding up the campus internet
What is the Packeteer? And is it slowing down my Internet?
To explain this, we’re going to take a little closer look at how our network functions, and then I will explain what the Packeteer is, and what it does.
Our Network
The Internet connection at Utah State University is fed from two DS-3s that we share with most of the other higher and lower educational institutions in Northern Utah.
The signal level of a DS-3 is equivalent to 28 T1 channels, or about 44.736 Mbps each direction. Since we have two DS-3s, we have the equivalent of 56 T1 channels. That’s 89.472 Mbps download, and 89.472 Mbps upload. This comes to us over a single pair of fiber-optic lines which runs from the Science Engineering Research Building to Salt Lake City. This is supplied to us from the Utah Education Network.
The cost of one DS-3 is about $40,000 per month, and again, we have two.
Miles Johnson ,of USU Network and Computing Services, said if we didn’t limit file-sharing programs like Morpheus and Limewire, the bandwidth needed to support the University would go up approximately five fold. Five times our current usage would be 10 DS-3s, costing roughly $400,000 a month.
Our options in this situation are, 1) Do nothing and accept 14.4k download speed for Web pages. 2) Stop file sharing completely. 3) Try to lessen its impact on us. 4) Set a bandwidth limit on individuals and turn off the connection of those who use more than their share.
The Packeteer
The Packeteer is option three. It sits on the edge of our network and all our Internet traffic goes through it. If it sees file-sharing traffic, it slows it down to give priority to Web browsing and other Internet traffic. The Packeteer is less like a filter and more like a funnel. It funnels down file sharing to lessen its effects on those using the network for educational purposes (I’m sure most file sharing is for educational purposes).
The only programs that are affected at present by the Packeteer are:
Edonkey, Direct Connect, Aimster, Audio Galaxy, Gnutella, Kazaa, Napster, and IRC filesharing.
The Packeteer sets a budget on P2P (or peer to peer) file transfers, allowing 10 Mbps download and 7 Mbps upload. So basically, 6.4 virtual T-1 lines, or 11 percent of our network feed, can be used for file sharing programs without causing any
slowing.
Currently, USU managers are divided on how to handle P2P at USU.
Some managers at USU feel it should be blocked completely. For example, John Hanks, also of USU Network and computing Services feels that we should not be allowing file sharing at all. He says that it’s not part of our mission to provide MP3s to students and doing so creates an unfair disadvantage for legitimate ISPs in Cache Valley.
Miles Johnson said, “P2P is just another twist in the development of the Internet. If USU is going to be on the Internet, it should allow P2P.”
What about me?
The Packeteer only affects file-sharing programs and does not slow down Web browsing. It does not affect downloading files from Web sites. If you do use file-sharing programs, you must accept the Packeteer or consider the alternatives.
Internet access at this university is a privilege. It is provided by the Utah Education Network and must be used for educational purposes only. I’m sure there are those who use file sharing for legal and ethical purposes. For this reason, one-tenth of the network is set aside for it.
If you use file sharing, and want better throughout, try it at night. If that doesn’t help, go through a different provider that is not restricted to educational purposes. If you live in housing and can’t get a different provider, remember that you attend an educational institution and you connect to its network.
Josh Dustin is a junior majoring in business information systems. Comments can be sent to helpdesk@cc.usu.edu.