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A Quick Guide For Troubleshooting Network Latency

Network latency, or lag, is caused by packet queuing as data moves between networks. Tracing the route of packets from different locations can help identify where bottlenecks occur. For example, a trace from the US to Russia showed increased latency at hops 6 and 11 due to transoceanic fiber links. Comparing traces in both directions found little latency within continents but delays crossing oceans. Troubleshooting steps include ping tests within and between networks along with trace routes to locate sources of high latency.

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North Remon Mendoza
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60 views

A Quick Guide For Troubleshooting Network Latency

Network latency, or lag, is caused by packet queuing as data moves between networks. Tracing the route of packets from different locations can help identify where bottlenecks occur. For example, a trace from the US to Russia showed increased latency at hops 6 and 11 due to transoceanic fiber links. Comparing traces in both directions found little latency within continents but delays crossing oceans. Troubleshooting steps include ping tests within and between networks along with trace routes to locate sources of high latency.

Uploaded by

North Remon Mendoza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A Quick Guide for Troubleshooting

Network Latency

Aug 28, 2013


Industry Insights

Nick Fredrich
Latency (also called lag) is defined as the amount of time it takes for a
packet of data to be encapsulated, transmitted, processed thru multiple
network devices until it is received at its destination, and is decoded by the
receiving computer.

Packet queuing tends to be one of the more common reasons for increased
latency between networks. For example if you were to execute a trace-route
from your location to an IP address allocated on the other side of the ocean,
you would see a dramatic increase in latency. This is caused by millions upon
millions of packets being routed over fewer paths and each having to wait
their turn to be processed. Typically this is unavoidable and considered to be
normal. However, if you notice an increase in latency before or after the hop
over the transoceanic fiber chances are there is another reason for increased
latency.
Other reasons for latency could be: Network interface port saturation,
interface errors, packet fragments, Upstream provider outages, routing
issues ect.
At Singlehop, our network operations team troubleshoots network latency
from our network, and from yours. We look at examples of a constant ping
from your location to your server. We look at trace-route results from your
location to your server and from your server to your location. Then look
further outside the box with trace-route results utilizing a looking glass
server in order to determine where the bottle-neck is located.
Here is a quick example of the process. I have executed a trace route from
one of our core routers to a Russian telecommunication companys IP
dr6506a.ord03#traceroute 109.197.95.253
The results are as follows:

Tracing the route to 109.197.95.253


1 xe-4-2-0.mpr1.ord6.us.above.net (64.124.146.109) 0 msec
2 xe-0-2-0.mpr2.ord6.us.above.net (64.125.28.46) [AS 6461] 0 msec
3 xe-0-2-0.cr1.dfw2.us.above.net (64.125.30.61) [AS 6461] 28 msec
4 xe-0-3-0.cr2.dfw2.us.above.net (64.125.31.78) [AS 6461] 28 msec
5 xe-0-1-0.er2.dfw2.us.above.net (64.125.27.82) [AS 6461] 32 msec 28 msec
28 msec
6 ae2-109.dal33.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.71.165) [AS 3257] 32 msec 212 msec
216 msec
7 xe-7-2-0.stk30.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.180.78) [AS 3257] 220 msec
8 rostelecom-gw.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.75.254) [AS 3257] 152 msec 152 msec
196 msec
9 95.167.93.122 [AS 12389] 212 msec 216 msec 208 msec
10 customer-AS35400.ae-1.ebrg-rgr3.ur.ip.rostelecom.ru (188.128.91.90)
[AS 12389] 220 msec 208 msec 208 msec
11 90.151.164.230 [AS 35400] 236 msec 228 msec 228 msec
12 90.151.164.229 [AS 35400] 220 msec 224 msec 220 msec
13 adsl-90-150-82-37.jamal.ru (90.150.82.37) [AS 34875] 240 msec 232
msec 240 msec
14 adsl-90-150-82-38.jamal.ru (90.150.82.38) [AS 34875] 232 msec 220
msec 56 msec
15 109.197.95.253 [AS 50699] 236 msec 232 msec 236 msec
As you can see once the packet reaches the ingress interface at hop 6
(highlighted) there is a dramatic increase in latency due to packet queuing
over a transoceanic fiber. We can determine this as the cause when we run a
trace-route from a looking glass server in Russia back to SingleHop, then
compare the two results:
traceroute to 216.104.43.86 (216.104.43.86), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 xe-4-0-0.110.m7-ar4.msk.ip.rostelecom.ru (87.226.136.153) 9.151 ms
8.939 ms 8.882 ms
2 xe-1-0-0.stkm-ar1.intl.ip.rostelecom.ru (87.226.133.190) 24.711 ms xe-92-0.stkm-ar1.intl.ip.rostelecom.ru (87.226.133.162) 33.279 ms 33.238 ms
3 s-b3-link.telia.net (213.248.95.105) 18.090 ms 21.387
ms ae2.stk30.ip4.tinet.net (77.67.95.153) 27.436 ms
4 s-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.248.206) 27.314 ms 30.517 ms s-bb1link.telia.net (213.155.133.96) 21.392 ms
5 ffm-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.132.149) 48.528 ms xe-3-00.er1.ams1.nl.above.net (64.125.14.77) 60.268 ms 60.254 ms
6 ffm-b2-link.telia.net (80.91.252.174) 47.184 ms 47.252 ms ffm-b2link.telia.net (213.155.132.205) 49.665 ms
9 xe-5-2-0.mpr1.lhr3.uk.above.net (64.125.24.81) 64.572 ms 64.610 ms
62.171 ms
10 ge-3-3-0.mpr1.la5.us.above.net (64.125.26.37) 133.746 ms 131.793
ms 131.284 ms

11 xe-3-2-0.cr1.ord2.us.above.net (64.125.24.34) 150.693 ms 156.502 ms


154.735 ms
12 xe-1-1-0.er1.ord2.us.above.net (64.125.26.186) 157.564 ms 157.499
ms dr6506b.ord02.singlehop.net (99.198.126.246) 156.213 ms
13 dr6506a.ord03.singlehop.net (69.175.1.249) 166.293 ms 166.203 ms
166.059 ms
14 dr6506b.ord02.singlehop.net (99.198.126.246) 145.481 ms 148.003
ms 147.968 ms
15 dr6506a.ord03.singlehop.net (69.175.1.249) 165.771
ms dr6506a.ord02.singlehop.net (216.104.43.86) 157.431 ms 156.985 ms
As you can see at hop 11 latency again increased due to packet queuing at
the transoceanic fiber. Additionally when you compare the 2 results you will
notice that on each side of the transoceanic fiber there is very little latency.
In summary, Latency or lag is the amount of time it takes for a packet of
information to be sent from one host to another. The most common cause of
latency is due to packet queuing at any gateway along the packets course of
travel. In order to pinpoint where the bottleneck is occurring follow these
steps:
1)
Ping your server from your location. Generally a 100 constant ping is
sufficient
2)

From your server, ping the IP address of your physical location

3)

Provide traceroute results from your location to your server

4)

Provide traceroute results from your server to your location

5)
Provide traceroute results from a looking glass server to both your
server, and your location

by Nick Fredrich

Read more at https://www.singlehop.com/blog/quick-guide-totroubleshooting-network-latency/#610S6668XhdHeADL.99

https://www.singlehop.com/blog/quick-guide-to-troubleshooting-network-latency/

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