Thursday, January 29, 2009

 

Google's M-Lab needs to manage its network

M-LabHow ironic.

CBC is reporting that "Google targets throttling with new net measurement tools".

AP's headline reads "Google sets up online broadband testing lab".

Business 2.0 says "Google Fights Net Neutrality with MLab".

I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

Almost as if to prove why traffic needs to be managed, my first attempt to reach Google's new Measurement Lab was greeted with a network timeout message.
The server at measurementlab.net is taking too long to respond.

The requested site did not respond to a connection request and the browser has stopped waiting for a reply.

* Could the server be experiencing high demand or a temporary outage? Try again later.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer's network connection.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.
* Still having trouble? Consult your network administrator or Internet provider for assistance.
When I finally got through and clicked on the User Connection Test link, the timeout message was repeated.

Exactly what are we showing here?

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Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 1/29/2009 10:02:00 AM
Comments:
I hold a somewhat opposing view: I think the engouement and need the people have for tools like Google's M-Lab is so great that it just brought down their initial offering! The presence or absence of "traffic shaping" not withstanding :)

I personally hope the attempts by Cox et. al. in the US get crushed (c.f. http://techdirt.com/articles/20090128/0123343551.shtml) and our (IMHO) weak-willed CRTC learns a few valuable lessons from that situation and its big FCC sibling.
Posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 10:41 AM, January 29, 2009
 
For some reason Google didn't choose to register GoogleMLab.com or GoogleMeasurementLab.com.
Posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 11:37 AM, January 29, 2009
 
ummmm....

We are showing that not enough servers are dedicated to this project. And Google is certainly not running this through their production servers.

This is not about packet management on the network. It is about server capacity.

Nice troll headline though. Good job keeping things stirred up.
Posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1:12 PM, January 29, 2009
 
So if there aren't enough servers to handle the demand, exactly what is Google demonstrating in terms of its testing of the access?

What is the source of the slow-down? Is it in the access, the backbone, the egress, the servers, or any other component along the way.
Posted by Blogger Mark Goldberg : 1:21 PM, January 29, 2009
 
Sounds like what it's telling us is that there are enough people concerned about their connections to overload the M-Lab website.
Posted by Blogger Peter Nowak : 2:31 PM, January 29, 2009
 
I couldnt get M-Lab to work at all without some type of error. Not what you would call a good first impression. I've been using a site with the best diagnostics IMHO and they don't have server errors plus will email you detailed reports of your test results. If you can't get m-lab to work try http://www.ispgeeks.com
Posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:38 PM, January 31, 2009
 
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