Re: Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread William Pitcock
On Thu, 2010-11-11 at 15:39 -0500, Srikanth Sundaresan wrote:
> Can anyone explain why ATT's UVerse adds significant delay to packets
> compared to their ADSL service?

U-Verse is actually the name of two entirely different services - VDSL
and FTTP.  This is a typical symptom of stupidity on behalf of marketing
people.

The VDSL service uses interleaving, but since they use actual fibre in
my neighbourhood (I have an ONT on the side of my house and everything)
I can't really tell you what impact the interleaving has.

Friends of mine on VDSL say it's about an additional 20ms penalty or so.
Perhaps it's the interleaving?

If you log into your RG, it will tell you if you are on VDSL or are
connected to an ONT.  I think what your case is, is that you are on VDSL
and very close to an IX as far as AT&T's network is concerned.

William




Re: Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread Paul WALL
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 2:11 PM, Srikanth Sundaresan  wrote:
> Here are the traceroutes (without the first 3 hops)

The U-Verse infrastructure is a bit of a mess when you get closer to
the end subscriber. There will be a few more L3 hops as your packets
egress the metro area towards what was the legacy BellSouth IP network
(BRIB).

The first few hops will be the U-Verse "LIO" (Intermediate Office),
which serves as your first layer 3 hop. After, you'll end up in the
U-Verse VHO (Video Hub Office), which is where all the IPTV gear and
U-Verse IP aggregation occurs. You'll hop through a few more devices
within the VHO until you end up on a legacy BellSouth IP backbone
device (AS6389). From there you'll then route to the AT&T CBB (AS7018)
and onto a AT&T MIS (IP transit) router where Google is a customer.

The legacy BellSouth ADSL product doesn't have to go through as many
hoops to reach an actual IP network. One thing to keep in mind is that
the BellSouth U-Verse customers are numbered out of classic SBC
(AS7132) IP address space, which is advertised to the Internet
originating from AS7132. I wonder if some of that return traffic is
routing into AS7132 or AS7018 at a sub-optimal location rather than
directly back to that MIS connection in Atlanta.

Another note regarding the latency, you can probably attribute some
that to the Alcatel DSLAM you terminate on. They're known for setting
a static interleaving value on all customers, regardless of line
conditions. Customers should really reach out and ask for this to be a
configurable option, just like AT&T offered it for its legacy ADSL
broadband subscribers.

Drive Slow, but not due to Alcatel interleaving
Paul Wall



Re: Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread Richard A Steenbergen
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 05:11:47PM -0500, Srikanth Sundaresan wrote:
> Here are the traceroutes (without the first 3 hops)

(Note: NANOG is not really the right place to troubleshoot everyone's 
home connectivity, I'm mostly just posting this as an educational 
example of how to do inter-network troubleshooting... though in 
retrospect this may not be the worlds best example :P).

> >From ADSL:
> traceroute to 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
> 
>  4  12.81.16.32  30.196 ms  32.292 ms  35.161 ms
>  5  12.81.16.25  37.774 ms  40.627 ms  44.209 ms
>  6  74.175.192.78  48.008 ms  50.841 ms  53.946 ms
>  7  12.122.140.186  59.278 ms  61.510 ms  61.824 ms
>  8  12.123.22.129  61.111 ms  59.803 ms  59.382 ms
>  9  12.88.97.6  116.059 ms  115.757 ms  116.331 ms
> 10  72.14.233.54  59.856 ms  60.354 ms  61.088 ms
> 11  72.14.232.213  61.312 ms  78.592 ms 209.85.254.243  60.396 ms
> 12  209.85.253.137  105.800 ms  100.558 ms 209.85.253.141  96.095 ms
> 13  8.8.8.8  96.571 ms  98.721 ms  98.514 ms
> 
> >From UVerse:
> 
>  4  76.201.204.10  24.020 ms  24.321 ms  24.250 ms
>  5  76.201.208.22  25.754 ms  25.701 ms  25.633 ms
>  6  76.201.208.8  25.558 ms  25.230 ms *
>  7  70.159.177.248  24.910 ms  22.452 ms  23.436 ms
>  8  12.81.16.2  24.478 ms  24.420 ms  24.514 ms
>  9  12.81.16.21  128.798 ms  127.685 ms  126.821 ms
> 10  74.175.192.90  22.999 ms  21.932 ms  23.057 ms
> 11  12.122.140.186  24.397 ms 12.122.141.186  24.647 ms  24.594 ms
> 12  12.123.22.5  32.763 ms 12.123.22.129  22.016 ms 12.123.22.5  26.850 ms
> 13  * * *
> 14  72.14.233.54  40.287 ms 72.14.233.56  40.716 ms  40.660 ms
> 15  209.85.254.241  41.964 ms  41.909 ms  41.842 ms
> 16  209.85.253.137  51.698 ms 209.85.253.133  44.534 ms 209.85.253.145
>  39.621 ms
> 17  8.8.8.8  41.278 ms  42.124 ms  42.718 ms
> 
> Both the homes are in the same city.  The entry point to Google is the
> same: 72.14.233.54 (from whois).

Actually the entry point to Google is probably the hop before that, 
12.88.97.6. In all likelihood this is the /30 between the two networks, 
where .5 is the AT&T side and .6 is the Google side. The IP space of the 
demarc point belongs to AT&T of course, but this is what you'd expect in 
a provider->customer relationship. :) In an ordinary network you would 
be able to confirm this with DNS and/or some traceroutes to the routers, 
but both AT&T and Google have intentionally obfuscated the hell out of 
their networks from the outside world (no dns, blocking traceroutes 
directly to router IPs, etc), so that won't help you much. There is also 
no Google looking glass (at least that I can find), nor do they support 
record-route, so you're probably SOL on the reverse path too.

> >From ADSL, latency to that google router is about 10ms:
> rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 9.461/13.137/59.856/7.841 ms
> 
> from UVerse, it's about 40ms.
> rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 38.923/44.503/70.535/7.162 ms
> 
> There isn't enough jitter to justify this difference. And it's not
> just to Google. i tested to another server  (where ATT hands off to
> Qwest), and it's the same. It can't be congestion/location, because if
> it were, the ADSL gateway should see it too. Reverse path effects,
> perhaps.

Well we can start by eliminating the possibility that the 8.8.8.8 node 
you're hitting is a significant distance away once you hit Google's 
network. What little bit of DNS AT&T does have working shows that this 
is coming out of Atlanta, which could also be confirmed with a few 
traceroutes from route-server.ip.att.net. From there, it's trivial to 
find a network with a looking glass and direct Google connectivity in 
Atlanta, and match up the exact same path:

 2  72.14.233.54 (72.14.233.54)  0.944 ms  0.902 ms
72.14.233.56 (72.14.233.56)  0.720 ms
 3  209.85.254.241 (209.85.254.241)  1.005 ms
209.85.254.243 (209.85.254.243)  16.214 ms 
72.14.232.215 (72.14.232.215)  1.264 ms
 4  209.85.253.141 (209.85.253.141)  1.797 ms
209.85.253.133 (209.85.253.133)  1.937 ms
209.85.253.137 (209.85.253.137)  1.408 ms
 5  google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8)  1.413 ms  1.539 ms  1.481 ms

Honestly I've got to question the measurement that you're taking above, 
since in your first (DSL) traceroute it looks like you're actually 
seeing higher latency than you are on the second (Uverse) path. Without 
being able to actually repeat the traceroute multiple times and verify 
that the reading was accurate it's obviously hard to say for certain, 
but your numbers look VERY consistent, showing a clear progression with 
very little jitter from ~30ms at the first visible hop, to ~60ms at the 
Google handoff. If there was really a measurement artifact, you would 
expect at least a healthy percentage of those numbers to be 
significantly different. 

As for the ~17ms jump between Uverse and Google in the second 
traceroute, I can't tell for certain without full IPs, but my gut says 
that the reverse path might be going back via Ashburn once it hits the 
Google si

Re: Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread Srikanth Sundaresan
Here are the traceroutes (without the first 3 hops)

>From ADSL:
traceroute to 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets

 4  12.81.16.32  30.196 ms  32.292 ms  35.161 ms
 5  12.81.16.25  37.774 ms  40.627 ms  44.209 ms
 6  74.175.192.78  48.008 ms  50.841 ms  53.946 ms
 7  12.122.140.186  59.278 ms  61.510 ms  61.824 ms
 8  12.123.22.129  61.111 ms  59.803 ms  59.382 ms
 9  12.88.97.6  116.059 ms  115.757 ms  116.331 ms
10  72.14.233.54  59.856 ms  60.354 ms  61.088 ms
11  72.14.232.213  61.312 ms  78.592 ms 209.85.254.243  60.396 ms
12  209.85.253.137  105.800 ms  100.558 ms 209.85.253.141  96.095 ms
13  8.8.8.8  96.571 ms  98.721 ms  98.514 ms

>From UVerse:

 4  76.201.204.10  24.020 ms  24.321 ms  24.250 ms
 5  76.201.208.22  25.754 ms  25.701 ms  25.633 ms
 6  76.201.208.8  25.558 ms  25.230 ms *
 7  70.159.177.248  24.910 ms  22.452 ms  23.436 ms
 8  12.81.16.2  24.478 ms  24.420 ms  24.514 ms
 9  12.81.16.21  128.798 ms  127.685 ms  126.821 ms
10  74.175.192.90  22.999 ms  21.932 ms  23.057 ms
11  12.122.140.186  24.397 ms 12.122.141.186  24.647 ms  24.594 ms
12  12.123.22.5  32.763 ms 12.123.22.129  22.016 ms 12.123.22.5  26.850 ms
13  * * *
14  72.14.233.54  40.287 ms 72.14.233.56  40.716 ms  40.660 ms
15  209.85.254.241  41.964 ms  41.909 ms  41.842 ms
16  209.85.253.137  51.698 ms 209.85.253.133  44.534 ms 209.85.253.145
 39.621 ms
17  8.8.8.8  41.278 ms  42.124 ms  42.718 ms

Both the homes are in the same city.  The entry point to Google is the
same: 72.14.233.54 (from whois).

>From ADSL, latency to that google router is about 10ms:
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 9.461/13.137/59.856/7.841 ms

from UVerse, it's about 40ms.
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 38.923/44.503/70.535/7.162 ms

There isn't enough jitter to justify this difference. And it's not
just to Google. i tested to another server  (where ATT hands off to
Qwest), and it's the same. It can't be congestion/location, because if
it were, the ADSL gateway should see it too. Reverse path effects,
perhaps.

- Srikanth


On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 4:19 PM, Richard A Steenbergen  
wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 03:39:42PM -0500, Srikanth Sundaresan wrote:
>> Can anyone explain why ATT's UVerse adds significant delay to packets
>> compared to their ADSL service?
>>
>> For example, pinging 8.8.8.8 from an ADSL gateway shows a latency of
>> ~10ms. From an UVerse gateway, it's about 40ms. Of the extra 30ms,
>> about 10ms can be explained by the fact that UVerse last hop is
>> interleaved. ADSL seems to have Fastpath enabled more often than not
>> (at least in my city).
>>
>> The extra 20ms is more interesting. By pinging each hop obtained by
>> tracerouting to 8.8.8.8, the extra latency seems to be added on the
>> exchange between ATT and Google. It's not just for 8.8.8.8. The same
>> holds for other hosts too. ATT seems to add 20ms when it hands off a
>> (UVerse) packet at an exchange.
>
> First off, this thread is useless without actual traceroutes. :)
>
> Whenever you see the latency change significantly at the boundry between
> networks, the two most obvious things to look for are congestion, and an
> asymmetric reverse path.
>
> Congestion is usually pretty easy to spot, if you're seeing it with high
> latency you'll usually find that latency to be pretty jittery (as tcp
> windows probe for more capacity, then back off), and you'll see the
> associated packet loss starting at the link in question.
>
> Asymmetric reverse paths are responsible for a lot of other issues too.
> Traceroute measures the round-trip latency but only shows you the path
> in a single direction, leaving the entire return trip completely
> invisible. There is no guarantee that the packet will come back to you
> the same way that you sent it, so what you may be seeing is the traffic
> returning via a different exit between networks. The best way to
> troubleshoot something like this is to get a copy of a traceroute in the
> opposite direction. For more information, see:
>
> http://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog47/presentations/Sunday/RAS_Traceroute_N47_Sun.pdf
>
> One other thing to keep in mind is that a company like Google may be
> more interested in keeping their servers located somewhere with ample
> (and cheap) space and power, than they are with ensuring close proximity
> to an Internet interconnection point. For example, Google is well known
> for building a datacenter in The Dalles Oregon, which is a significant
> distance away from ANY network interconnection. From Chicago, directly
> connected to Google, 8.8.8.8 is actually located an rtt of 12ms away:
>
>  1  core1-2-2-0.ord.net.google.com (206.223.119.21)  1.509 ms  1.769 ms  
> 1.409 ms
>  2  72.14.236.176 (72.14.236.176)  1.677 ms  1.579 ms  1.878 ms
>  3  72.14.232.141 (72.14.232.141)  12.555 ms
>    209.85.241.22 (209.85.241.22)  12.150 ms  12.013 ms
>  4  209.85.241.37 (209.85.241.37)  11.974 ms
>    209.85.241.35 (209.85.241.35)  12.591 ms
>    209.85.241.37 (209.85.241.37)  12.125 ms
>  5  209.85.240.49 (209.85.2

Re: Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread Dan White

On 11/11/10 15:39 -0500, Srikanth Sundaresan wrote:

Can anyone explain why ATT's UVerse adds significant delay to packets
compared to their ADSL service?


You've probably been moved to a new DSLAM, using different DSL (VDSL)
technology, which will probably have some effect on latency.

Do a google search for 'DSL Interleaved' for some discussion of the topic.
We always do interleaved for video customers for improved reliability.

--
Dan White



Re: Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread Richard A Steenbergen
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 03:39:42PM -0500, Srikanth Sundaresan wrote:
> Can anyone explain why ATT's UVerse adds significant delay to packets 
> compared to their ADSL service?
> 
> For example, pinging 8.8.8.8 from an ADSL gateway shows a latency of 
> ~10ms. From an UVerse gateway, it's about 40ms. Of the extra 30ms, 
> about 10ms can be explained by the fact that UVerse last hop is 
> interleaved. ADSL seems to have Fastpath enabled more often than not 
> (at least in my city).
> 
> The extra 20ms is more interesting. By pinging each hop obtained by 
> tracerouting to 8.8.8.8, the extra latency seems to be added on the 
> exchange between ATT and Google. It's not just for 8.8.8.8. The same 
> holds for other hosts too. ATT seems to add 20ms when it hands off a 
> (UVerse) packet at an exchange.

First off, this thread is useless without actual traceroutes. :)

Whenever you see the latency change significantly at the boundry between 
networks, the two most obvious things to look for are congestion, and an 
asymmetric reverse path.

Congestion is usually pretty easy to spot, if you're seeing it with high 
latency you'll usually find that latency to be pretty jittery (as tcp 
windows probe for more capacity, then back off), and you'll see the 
associated packet loss starting at the link in question.

Asymmetric reverse paths are responsible for a lot of other issues too. 
Traceroute measures the round-trip latency but only shows you the path 
in a single direction, leaving the entire return trip completely 
invisible. There is no guarantee that the packet will come back to you 
the same way that you sent it, so what you may be seeing is the traffic 
returning via a different exit between networks. The best way to 
troubleshoot something like this is to get a copy of a traceroute in the 
opposite direction. For more information, see:

http://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog47/presentations/Sunday/RAS_Traceroute_N47_Sun.pdf

One other thing to keep in mind is that a company like Google may be 
more interested in keeping their servers located somewhere with ample 
(and cheap) space and power, than they are with ensuring close proximity 
to an Internet interconnection point. For example, Google is well known 
for building a datacenter in The Dalles Oregon, which is a significant 
distance away from ANY network interconnection. From Chicago, directly 
connected to Google, 8.8.8.8 is actually located an rtt of 12ms away:

 1  core1-2-2-0.ord.net.google.com (206.223.119.21)  1.509 ms  1.769 ms  1.409 
ms
 2  72.14.236.176 (72.14.236.176)  1.677 ms  1.579 ms  1.878 ms
 3  72.14.232.141 (72.14.232.141)  12.555 ms
209.85.241.22 (209.85.241.22)  12.150 ms  12.013 ms
 4  209.85.241.37 (209.85.241.37)  11.974 ms
209.85.241.35 (209.85.241.35)  12.591 ms
209.85.241.37 (209.85.241.37)  12.125 ms
 5  209.85.240.49 (209.85.240.49)  12.944 ms
72.14.239.189 (72.14.239.189)  21.509 ms
209.85.240.45 (209.85.240.45)  25.000 ms
 6  google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8)  12.890 ms  12.487 ms  12.770 ms

This would put the fiber distance at around 500+ miles, i.e. this 
datacenter could actually be in Kansas City MO for all you know. Without 
the original traceroute to verify your assumptions about where the 
interconnection point between networks is, it's entirely possible that 
you could be seeing something like this too.

-- 
Richard A Steenbergenhttp://www.e-gerbil.net/ras
GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)



Extra latency at ATT exchange for UVerse

2010-11-11 Thread Srikanth Sundaresan
Can anyone explain why ATT's UVerse adds significant delay to packets
compared to their ADSL service?

For example, pinging 8.8.8.8 from an ADSL gateway shows a latency of
~10ms. From an UVerse gateway, it's about 40ms. Of the extra 30ms,
about 10ms can be explained by the fact that UVerse last hop is
interleaved. ADSL seems to have Fastpath enabled more often than not
(at least in my city).

The extra 20ms is more interesting. By pinging each hop obtained by
tracerouting to 8.8.8.8, the extra latency seems to be added on the
exchange between ATT and Google. It's not just for 8.8.8.8. The same
holds for other hosts too. ATT seems to add 20ms when it hands off a
(UVerse) packet at an exchange.

Thanks,
Srikanth