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List:       inet-access
Subject:    RE: Help with 95th percentile billing
From:       "Brent Wiese" <brently () bjwcs ! com>
Date:       2004-01-09 1:20:47
Message-ID: 20040109012245.HCBC3322.fed1mtao01.cox.net () SAMBA
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> MRTG will handle the data collection and there are modules for it to
> calculate the 95th percentile.  MRTG is free (but please send 
> Tobi a CD
> or DVD), open source, well supported.  Google for it if you're not
> familiar with the program.

Something to keep in mind... IME, those MRTG 95th% modules only compute
based on the past 30 days which presents problems for February and 8 other
months of the year... ;)

A lot of providers base their billing on a 30 day month, but you need to
consider that and figure out what you're paying your provider.

Pricing in colo's these days is all over the place. I worked for a
larger-than-normal bandwidth usage company, and in 2000, the best rate we
could get was $500/mb/s, and ~$1k/rack  that included 1 20amp circuit,
cooling, etc.

I think all bandwidth billing should be 95th% since that most accurately
lets you predict usage over long periods of time, which is most helpful when
planning capacity and upgrades.

I would suggest checking out Solarwinds Orion (http://www.solarwinds.net).
Their web version, while a bit costly, is very nice and its multi-os. Their
other tools are very useful too, but for 95th% billing, go w/ the web
version. You can build ad-hoc reports on time periods to get their 95th%,
useful if you don't feel like getting up (or staying up I guess) at midnight
on the first of every month to check out the current 95th% number for
MRTG...

My personal opinion is that the reason a lot of these colos and isp's
declared bankruptcy was to renegotiate bandwidth pricing with their
providers. When the 'net started to boom, "telco length" contracts (10-20
years) were the norm for the tier 1-2 providers. Once all the oodles of
fiber made it into the ground and the costs were made up, bandwidth costs
started dropping like mad and all these 20 year contracts at the "awesome"
price of $500/mb/s were no longer that awesome...

Good luck and have fun...

Brent


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