From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 26 07:50:22 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6056037B401 for ; Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:50:22 -0700 (PDT) Received: from overlord.e-gerbil.net (e-gerbil.net [69.31.1.2]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7018543FAF for ; Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:50:19 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from ras@overlord.e-gerbil.net) Received: from overlord.e-gerbil.net (ras@overlord.e-gerbil.net [69.31.1.2]) by overlord.e-gerbil.net (8.12.8/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h5QEoIBv064189; Thu, 26 Jun 2003 10:50:18 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from ras@overlord.e-gerbil.net) Received: (from ras@localhost) by overlord.e-gerbil.net (8.12.8/8.12.6/Submit) id h5QEoHb1064188; Thu, 26 Jun 2003 10:50:17 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from ras) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 10:50:17 -0400 From: Richard A Steenbergen To: Ian Freislich Message-ID: <20030626145017.GK20396@overlord.e-gerbil.net> References: <3EF872B1.20208@isi.edu> <13102.1056614011@mci.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <13102.1056614011@mci.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i cc: Lars Eggert cc: Adam cc: net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Bandwidth monitoring X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 14:50:22 -0000 On Thu, Jun 26, 2003 at 09:53:31AM +0200, Ian Freislich wrote: > > Won't that count all the ethernet frames and local ethernet broadcasts > which probably won't be billed for? We had this problem using > router (ethernet) interface counters to measure traffic in our > hosting center. The trouble is that any traffic between servers > on the same physical network is counted even though it isn't routed > and shouldn't be billed for. > > It's pretty unfair of your ISP to charge you for useage without > providing any mechanism for you to keep tabs on what they're measuring > throughout the month. The SNMP if[In|Out]Octet counters for ethernet include frame overhead, local broadcasts, etc. Odds are 99.999% you're getting billed for the ethernet overhead anyways. > I would suggest that you find out exacly how they measure your > traffic useage. ie do they measure only packets that were switched > by their router or just any and every single byte that their router's > ethernet interface sees. The first is IMHO much more fair than the > second because trafic local to your IP network won't be charged. It isn't really unfair, as long as everyone does it the same way consistantly. Maybe it's unfair for your provider to charge you the same price for traffic to your next-door-neighbor customer off the same switch that they would charge you for transit they haul to the other side of the world... Or maybe it's unfair that you pay so little for that longhaul traffic, and they're just giving you a lower price becaue they assume you'll do some local traffic and it will all average out. -- Richard A Steenbergen http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)