Internet Congestion?
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Chris Trott
- Vintage Pair
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Internet Congestion?
Anyone hearing anything about there being any cable failures or anything that would lead to major congestion on the internet today? I'm having problems getting into UK-based websites and servers and a friend of mine in the UK is reporting problems getting into some US-based servers. Anyone else having that problem as well? With Dean still out in the Caribbean, I'm not really thinking that it'd be because of that unless they've shutdown and evacuated the hubs in the Yucatan that are in the line of fire, but I've not seen any news about that.
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Garry Russell
- The Ministry
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Re: Internet Congestion?
Could it be Dean Chris
I mean in a way that it has generated more traffic.
After the Tsunami my emails were taking over 24 hours to get through and a lot of sites clogged up due to heavy internet traffic
Just a thought
Garry
I mean in a way that it has generated more traffic.
After the Tsunami my emails were taking over 24 hours to get through and a lot of sites clogged up due to heavy internet traffic
Just a thought
Garry
Garry
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
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Garry Russell
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Re: Internet Congestion?
Cheers Ben 
What does that mean exactly.....is that an overload of faults? STUPID
Garry
What does that mean exactly.....is that an overload of faults? STUPID
Garry
Garry
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
Re: Internet Congestion?
Basically DNS is what converts a name (i.e. bbc.co.uk) to an IP address. A unique number which identifies a computer on a network (i'm simplifying it a bit here)
There are whats known as 13 Root Level DNS servers in the world. There can only be 13 due to the way its designed. Basically every public DNS server (computer address book) gets information that it doesn't know about from these Daddies.
These dadies, don't actually hold the information, but they know where to go to get it.
e.g. you type "www.xr219.co.uk" into your web browser.
Assuming you haven't been to xr219.co.uk before, your computer queries its DNS server...
It's more than likely that that DNS server doesn't know where xr219.co.uk is either, so it forwards the request on to its primary DNS server.
Now that one, may still not know the anser... BUT, it knows were the root servers are, so its says, I don't know, but i know the guy who does, so a the query is sent on to one of the 13 root dns servers.
The root the replies with.... "i don't know the anser... BUT I know the guy who does"
The Root then sends the address of the DNS server who is authoritive for that zone (in this example, xr219.co.uk) (in this example the term zone and domain name are the same thing.)
Every DNS name has a DNS server which is authoritive for it. That basically means he's the master record keeper for that zone (xr219.co.uk) and what he says goes, in so far as that zone is concerned.
So the DNS server you first queried, gets the address of the DNS server where xr219.co.uk info can be found. and thus ultimately works out the address of xr219.co.uk and passess this to your computer.
Now the DNS servers aren't totally daft, and so the information they recieve linking xr219.co.uk to an IP address they keep hold of for a while, just incase you need to use it again.
The period that the information is kept for is know as the TTL (Time To Live)
So lets say an hour later, you've rebooted your PC and you think... I want to go back to XR219.co.uk. Your PC will query the first DNS server, which should have the record of your earlier lookup (assuming the TTL hasn't expired) and give your PC the answer back very quickly.
It should be noted that this answer is know as non authorititive, because your DNS server is not the authorititive server for xr219.co.uk... he's just got a copy of that address.
now if you can follow that your doing well!
So... if there is a problem with one or more of the root dns servers, computers take a good while longer to work out where other ones live.
There are whats known as 13 Root Level DNS servers in the world. There can only be 13 due to the way its designed. Basically every public DNS server (computer address book) gets information that it doesn't know about from these Daddies.
These dadies, don't actually hold the information, but they know where to go to get it.
e.g. you type "www.xr219.co.uk" into your web browser.
Assuming you haven't been to xr219.co.uk before, your computer queries its DNS server...
It's more than likely that that DNS server doesn't know where xr219.co.uk is either, so it forwards the request on to its primary DNS server.
Now that one, may still not know the anser... BUT, it knows were the root servers are, so its says, I don't know, but i know the guy who does, so a the query is sent on to one of the 13 root dns servers.
The root the replies with.... "i don't know the anser... BUT I know the guy who does"
The Root then sends the address of the DNS server who is authoritive for that zone (in this example, xr219.co.uk) (in this example the term zone and domain name are the same thing.)
Every DNS name has a DNS server which is authoritive for it. That basically means he's the master record keeper for that zone (xr219.co.uk) and what he says goes, in so far as that zone is concerned.
So the DNS server you first queried, gets the address of the DNS server where xr219.co.uk info can be found. and thus ultimately works out the address of xr219.co.uk and passess this to your computer.
Now the DNS servers aren't totally daft, and so the information they recieve linking xr219.co.uk to an IP address they keep hold of for a while, just incase you need to use it again.
The period that the information is kept for is know as the TTL (Time To Live)
So lets say an hour later, you've rebooted your PC and you think... I want to go back to XR219.co.uk. Your PC will query the first DNS server, which should have the record of your earlier lookup (assuming the TTL hasn't expired) and give your PC the answer back very quickly.
It should be noted that this answer is know as non authorititive, because your DNS server is not the authorititive server for xr219.co.uk... he's just got a copy of that address.
now if you can follow that your doing well!
So... if there is a problem with one or more of the root dns servers, computers take a good while longer to work out where other ones live.
Ben.
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Garry Russell
- The Ministry
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Re: Internet Congestion?
So that's why first log on is always a little longer
Seems that computers are almost as daft as people, except they have at least a short term memory ....now, where was I?....
Oh yes.........Thanks for the explanation Ben.
I can sort of follow it
Seriously..it is understandable
ATB
Garry
Seems that computers are almost as daft as people, except they have at least a short term memory
....now, where was I?....Oh yes.........Thanks for the explanation Ben.
I can sort of follow it
Seriously..it is understandable
ATB
Garry
Garry
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
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DaveB
- The Ministry
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Re: Internet Congestion?
What a smashing explanation Ben!! BRAVO ZULU ;-)
Doesn't matter if it's over simplified.. it works for me
ATB
DaveB :tab:
Doesn't matter if it's over simplified.. it works for me
ATB
DaveB :tab:
Old sailors never die.. they just smell that way!
Re: Internet Congestion?
Thanks for that link, John. Very informative and I discovered I have a very fast connection speed. Hehe, up until a few months ago I had dial-up so excuse the brag. :dance:
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Prop Jockey
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Re: Internet Congestion?
Hi Chris,
Maybe this was the culprit ?
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/0 ... ernet.html
Cheers
Rich
Maybe this was the culprit ?
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/0 ... ernet.html
Cheers
Rich
