Network Performance, Latency and Bandwidth in Cloud Computing
Network performance, Latency and bandwidth are important factors that influence Cloud performance both on on-prem and cloud environments. In this article, I would be discussing latency and bandwidth in network performance.
What is Network Performance?
Network performance refers to effectiveness of a network. It is the measure of quality of service a of a given network as experienced by a user.
There are several things that can affect network performance in an organization that is in the cloud. Two major things that influence this network performance are bandwidth and latency.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transferred over network in a given amount of time. It is the maximum data transmission capacity of a communication channel. It is measured in bits per second, kilobits per second, mega bits per second, gigabits per second (bps/kbs/mbs/gps).
It can be called the link size or port size in data transmission.
Latency
Latency refers to the time it takes for a data packet to travel from its source to its destination. It is the delay before a transfer of data begins following an instruction for its transfer. Low latency means less delay in data transmission while high latency means high delay in data transmission.
Factors that affect latency are:
1. Distance:
This is usually the main cause of latency. In this case, it refers to the distance between a computer and the servers the computer is requesting information from. The further the data has to travel, the more latency is introduced.
2. Network Congestion and limited bandwidth:
Congestion delays occur when network data traffic exceeds a certain bandwidth, leading to packet delays or losses and, consequently, increased latency. This happens when there are too many users or devices accessing the same network at the same time thereby surpassing its bandwidth.
Also, the size of data packets, as well as overall data volume on a network, influences latency. Larger packets take longer to transmit than smaller data packets.
3. Application configuration
App configuration can also influence latency. Some apps may have settings that optimize data usage, quality, or security, but could also increase latency.
4. Transmission Medium and infrastructure:
If the transmission media is not compatible with the hardware or software being used, it can cause high latency. Also, the latency on your network would be high or low depending on the data transmission medium. For example, copper cables would transmit data much slower that optical fiber connections, which is the fastest data transmission medium.
Routers have a function as a connector, but having too many routers can slow down the network which leads to high latency, especially when data moves from one router to another.
The quality of the hardware matters as advanced, high-quality routers and switches can process and forward packets faster, reducing processing and queuing latency. Outdated or insufficiently resourced servers, routers, hubs, switches and other network hardware can cause slower response times. For instance, if servers are receiving more data than they can handle, packets will be delayed, resulting in slower page loads, download speeds and application performance.
If data volume exceeds the compute capacity of your network infrastructure, high latency is most likely to happen.
How to fix Network Latency
To reduce network latency, an organization can perform network assessment asking these questions:
- Does our data travel along the shortest and most efficient route?
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- Our applications, do they have the necessary resourcing for optimal performance?
- How good and appropriate is our network infrastructure?
Steps to fix Network latency
1. Distribute data globally
By distributing servers and databases geographically closer to users, an organization can cut down on the physical distance data needs to travel and reduce inefficient routing and network hops.
This is practicalized with the concept of the following
A. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).
This is using a network of geographically distributed servers to store content closer to the end users, therby reducing the distance that data packets need to travel. This network uses the concept of caching to deliver web content on behalf of the original server. By enabling fast responses through caching and delivering content from the nearest CDN server to the user, delays are minimized, and content can be delivered rapidly.
B. Edge Computing:
Edge computing is a distributed information technology (IT) architecture in which client data is processed as close to the originating source as possible. It involves moving some portion of storage and compute resources out of the central data center and closer to the source of the data itself. Rather than transmitting raw data to a central data center for processing and analysis, the work is instead performed where the data is actually generated. This is a useful strategy that enables organizations to extend their cloud environment from the core data center to physical locations closer to their users and data thereby reducing latency.
2. Route traffic more efficiently using subnets
A subnet is essentially a smaller network inside a larger network. Subnetting is grouping together end points that frequently communicate with each other, which can cut down on inefficient routing and reduce latency.
An application resource management (ARM) solution that analyzes resource utilization and the performance of applications and infrastructure components in real time can help solve resourcing issues and reduce latency.
In optimizing resource allocation and workload placement, if workloads do not have the appropriate compute, storage and network resources, latency would increase and performance would suffer. Overprovisioning is also a waste of resources and very inefficient. Hence the need for the ARM solution
For example, if an ARM platform detects an application with high latency as a result of striving for resources on a server, it can automatically allocate the necessary resources to the application or move it to a server that is less congested. This automated actions helps reduce latency and improve performance.
4. Always monitor network performance
Organizations can use advanced solutions that provide real-time, end-to-end observability and dependency mapping. These capabilities would allow teams to pinpoint, contextualize, address and prevent application performance issues that contribute to network Latency.
5. Maintain capable, up-to-date infrastructure
Using up-to-date and capable hardware, software and network configurations also help reduce performance issues and latency. Hardware upgrades enhance data processing speed by improving CPU and RAM performance.
Optimizing network devices, such as revising the settings and configurations of routers or switches, can make data transmission more efficient and reduce latency.
Developers can take steps to make sure that page construction does not add to latency, such as optimizing videos, images and other page assets for faster loading, and through code minification and file compression.
Conclusion
Usually, when an organization can drastically reduce factors that affect latency, they can greatly improve their overall network performance.
References
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6 个月Really insightful