Life after banning Google Global Cache: Implications for providers and customers
In September of this year, Roskomnadzor sent letters to providers. They said that Google Global Cache servers, which increase the speed of access to Google resources, are not certified. The regulator noted that the presence of this equipment in the provider’s network would impose a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles.
In our today's material, we’ll see how GGC’s rejection to Internet providers and customers threatens.
/ Flickr / freestocks.org / PD
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Google is committed to ensuring the high reliability and performance of its services while maintaining low latency. To this end, the company has invested in the development of network infrastructure . It consists of three "layers": data centers, points of presence (Points of Presence, or PoP) and caching nodes (Google Global Cache, or GGC).
Data centers are the heart of the content and services of the IT giant. PoPs are the nodes that connect the Google network to the rest of the Internet. GGC servers are part of the infrastructure that is closest to the users and located in the network of local operators.
These servers temporarily store popular content that users often request. This speeds up access to Google services: YouTube, Google Maps, Google Play, etc. This solution saves bandwidth for Google and for service providers.
Other companies use similar content delivery networks (CDNs). For example, "Yandex". The CDN of a Russian company serves to improve the quality of Yandex.Mail operations.
Without GGC, user-requested content (for example, video) comes directly from Google servers. With caching servers, only the first copy of the video passes the entire chain. Subsequent user requests are served by the cache node. The algorithm works, according to the presentation of Google employee Mike Axelrod (Mike Axelrod), looks like this:
You can find out more about how the system works and what equipment the Google Corporation provides to providers, here .
The number of caching Google servers at a large federal operator is quite large. If you refuse them, the load on Google servers and provider's backbone will increase. Turning off GGC servers will affect the quality of the services provided by Google.
However, the main "hit" will take on video hosting. According to the analytical website Statista, Russia ranks third in the world in the number of active YouTube users per month. Without Google Global Cache, videos on YouTube will load slower, and the download time of the site itself will increase.
Also, users may lose the ability to view high-definition video due to bandwidth limitations (for many providers, YouTube’s traffic is considered local).
Mikhail Klimarev, director of the non-profit organization “Internet Protection Society”, says that Internet service providers will also feel a rejection of GGC. According to MGTS, streaming services (YouTube, Google Video, etc.) consume 30% of the bandwidth. In case of failure of the servers, operators will be forced to expand data transmission channels by at least 30%.
If a video stream is transmitted over the network, 90% of which is YouTube, then with GGC, the operator pays only a fraction of the traffic to Google services. The rest of the traffic is processed in the data center of the provider and does not leave the internal network. If the provider has branches in the country, GGC allows you to save on highways, because traffic will not leave the limits of one city.
With the departure of GGC, this traffic will be paid. All this will lead to higher prices for Internet tariffs. Or even rejection of unlimited tariffs. You can read about other forecasts here .
According to representatives of telecommunications companies, the GGS server is not a means of communication, therefore it should not be certified. And prohibit the use of the system can not. Roskomnadzor, however, rejects this definition.
Also in RuNet one can find the opinion that Roskomnadzor requires certification of equipment in order to exclude a repetition of the situation with Japan. On August 25, Google employees made a mistake in the dynamic routing protocol, as a result of which customers of major Japanese providers could not get online for several hours. In another part of the population, the connection speed dropped significantly.
Another option - the actions of the regulator aimed at banning GGC, are a form of pressure on the IT giant. Roskomnadzor is waiting for a response from the company and it is likely that the "opponents" will be able to agree.
If this does not happen, Internet providers will have to find a way out of the situation. One of the options, as noted above, is to increase the cost of tariffs or the rejection of unlimited Internet, but in this case, operators are at risk of losing customers. Increasing the channel width can also be unprofitable.
Another option is to look for ways to reduce costs. To solve the problem of banning Google Global Cache without financial losses is impossible, but you can minimize these losses. Classification and prioritization of traffic to save bandwidth can reduce costs while maintaining the quality of service (QoS) high.
Implement this functional system for in-depth analysis of traffic - DPI. Today, such solutions are offered on the market by both foreign suppliers and domestic ones , including VAS Experts . The number of installations of our SCAT system in Russia exceeded 500, with 166 licenses issued in 2017. By the way, in 2015 there were only 60.
The DPI system makes it possible to change the priority of passing packets depending on the protocol (DSCP / TOS in the header of IP packets, priority in the VLAN header and QinQ packet, traffic class in the MPLS packet header). Routers and shapers use this information to provide the desired quality of service. DPI systems also monitor the network at levels 2–7 of the OSI model and protect it from overloads.
As the video quality increases (720p, 1080p, 4K), the load on the operator’s channel increases. For example, in March 2015 in Australia, Netflix traffic accounted for 25% of the provider iiNet total traffic. Active traffic management and flexible prioritization ensure decent performance of video services, slightly “cutting” the traffic of other applications at critical moments.
Another option would be to install your own cache server. This is the possibility of our solution SCAT DPI . According to statistics, 3-terabyte cache storage for Youtube-content for 100 thousand subscribers reduces the external Youtube-band by 30%.
/ Connection scheme of the cache server
Moreover, such a system will allow to cache not only video content of streaming services, but also updates for browsers, Windows, antiviruses and other software, as well as frequently repeating files, such as pictures.
PS Other materials from the corporate blog VAS Experts:
In our today's material, we’ll see how GGC’s rejection to Internet providers and customers threatens.
/ Flickr / freestocks.org / PD
')
What is Google Global Cache?
Google is committed to ensuring the high reliability and performance of its services while maintaining low latency. To this end, the company has invested in the development of network infrastructure . It consists of three "layers": data centers, points of presence (Points of Presence, or PoP) and caching nodes (Google Global Cache, or GGC).
Data centers are the heart of the content and services of the IT giant. PoPs are the nodes that connect the Google network to the rest of the Internet. GGC servers are part of the infrastructure that is closest to the users and located in the network of local operators.
These servers temporarily store popular content that users often request. This speeds up access to Google services: YouTube, Google Maps, Google Play, etc. This solution saves bandwidth for Google and for service providers.
Other companies use similar content delivery networks (CDNs). For example, "Yandex". The CDN of a Russian company serves to improve the quality of Yandex.Mail operations.
How GGC works
Without GGC, user-requested content (for example, video) comes directly from Google servers. With caching servers, only the first copy of the video passes the entire chain. Subsequent user requests are served by the cache node. The algorithm works, according to the presentation of Google employee Mike Axelrod (Mike Axelrod), looks like this:
- The user clicks on the link from the video.
- The DNS provider asks the Google DNS for the IP address of the content if it is unknown to it.
- Google's DNS server knows that the provider has a GGC node capable of providing the requested content.
- In response, it transmits the IP address of this node, which is sent to the user.
- Next, the user gets the information he needs from the GGC site, and not from the Google network.
- If the requested content is not on the GGC node, it requests it from Google on behalf of the user and caches it for future downloads.
You can find out more about how the system works and what equipment the Google Corporation provides to providers, here .
Consequences of the ban GGC
The number of caching Google servers at a large federal operator is quite large. If you refuse them, the load on Google servers and provider's backbone will increase. Turning off GGC servers will affect the quality of the services provided by Google.
However, the main "hit" will take on video hosting. According to the analytical website Statista, Russia ranks third in the world in the number of active YouTube users per month. Without Google Global Cache, videos on YouTube will load slower, and the download time of the site itself will increase.
Also, users may lose the ability to view high-definition video due to bandwidth limitations (for many providers, YouTube’s traffic is considered local).
Mikhail Klimarev, director of the non-profit organization “Internet Protection Society”, says that Internet service providers will also feel a rejection of GGC. According to MGTS, streaming services (YouTube, Google Video, etc.) consume 30% of the bandwidth. In case of failure of the servers, operators will be forced to expand data transmission channels by at least 30%.
If a video stream is transmitted over the network, 90% of which is YouTube, then with GGC, the operator pays only a fraction of the traffic to Google services. The rest of the traffic is processed in the data center of the provider and does not leave the internal network. If the provider has branches in the country, GGC allows you to save on highways, because traffic will not leave the limits of one city.
With the departure of GGC, this traffic will be paid. All this will lead to higher prices for Internet tariffs. Or even rejection of unlimited tariffs. You can read about other forecasts here .
How to be providers
According to representatives of telecommunications companies, the GGS server is not a means of communication, therefore it should not be certified. And prohibit the use of the system can not. Roskomnadzor, however, rejects this definition.
Also in RuNet one can find the opinion that Roskomnadzor requires certification of equipment in order to exclude a repetition of the situation with Japan. On August 25, Google employees made a mistake in the dynamic routing protocol, as a result of which customers of major Japanese providers could not get online for several hours. In another part of the population, the connection speed dropped significantly.
Another option - the actions of the regulator aimed at banning GGC, are a form of pressure on the IT giant. Roskomnadzor is waiting for a response from the company and it is likely that the "opponents" will be able to agree.
If this does not happen, Internet providers will have to find a way out of the situation. One of the options, as noted above, is to increase the cost of tariffs or the rejection of unlimited Internet, but in this case, operators are at risk of losing customers. Increasing the channel width can also be unprofitable.
Another option is to look for ways to reduce costs. To solve the problem of banning Google Global Cache without financial losses is impossible, but you can minimize these losses. Classification and prioritization of traffic to save bandwidth can reduce costs while maintaining the quality of service (QoS) high.
Implement this functional system for in-depth analysis of traffic - DPI. Today, such solutions are offered on the market by both foreign suppliers and domestic ones , including VAS Experts . The number of installations of our SCAT system in Russia exceeded 500, with 166 licenses issued in 2017. By the way, in 2015 there were only 60.
The DPI system makes it possible to change the priority of passing packets depending on the protocol (DSCP / TOS in the header of IP packets, priority in the VLAN header and QinQ packet, traffic class in the MPLS packet header). Routers and shapers use this information to provide the desired quality of service. DPI systems also monitor the network at levels 2–7 of the OSI model and protect it from overloads.
As the video quality increases (720p, 1080p, 4K), the load on the operator’s channel increases. For example, in March 2015 in Australia, Netflix traffic accounted for 25% of the provider iiNet total traffic. Active traffic management and flexible prioritization ensure decent performance of video services, slightly “cutting” the traffic of other applications at critical moments.
Another option would be to install your own cache server. This is the possibility of our solution SCAT DPI . According to statistics, 3-terabyte cache storage for Youtube-content for 100 thousand subscribers reduces the external Youtube-band by 30%.
/ Connection scheme of the cache server
Moreover, such a system will allow to cache not only video content of streaming services, but also updates for browsers, Windows, antiviruses and other software, as well as frequently repeating files, such as pictures.
PS Other materials from the corporate blog VAS Experts:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/340846/
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