[Dxspider-support] Curiosities about network topology

[g4piq at btinternet.com]

This article is apparently how N1MM+ collects data about the nodes used https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/appendices/telnets-cluster-reporting-rating-feature/?hilite=packet+server+ratings

 

Some time ago I was surprised when I started to find users connected to GB7DXM who I didn’t know. It’s not a cluster that I promote, although equally I don’t lock it down – but it has custom config on it suited to our contest team – for example it doesn’t forward spots to the main network allowing us to spot things locally without worrying about irritating the masses with lots of trivial and duplicate spots, and has pretty aggressive RBN settings. Other people were then connecting to it because some of the team had been using N1MM+ and it had automatically added it to the valid connection list inside N1MM+! 

 

73

 

Andy, G4PIQ

 

 

From: Dxspider-support <dxspider-support-bounces at tobit.co.uk> On Behalf Of Kin via Dxspider-support
Sent: 03 December 2024 13:32
To: 'The DXSpider Support list' <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk>; 'The DXSpider Support list' <dxspider-support at dxcluster.org>
Cc: Kin <ea3cv at cronux.net>
Subject: Re: [Dxspider-support] Curiosities about network topology

 

Hi Rudy,

The network is quite stable. There are many nodes that only reboot when there’s an update, and others never do :(

With the advent of fiber optics and the high bandwidths we now have, even in the worst-case scenario, a spot will reach us "instantaneously." I don’t think a few milliseconds will cause us to miss a contest or a DXpedition.

Regarding the data provided by N1MM about the nodes, I don’t know where it retrieves that information, but for the ones I manage, I can confirm the data is incorrect.

A real cluster (3 nodes) in HA, with load balancing, hosted at a site with UPS, several gigabits of bandwidth, and so on, shows availability values ranging from 90% to 94%, despite being monitored 24/7/365. Simply impossible.

 

73 de Kin

 

 

EA3CV-2 dxcluster.cronux.net 7300

http://clustermap.cronux.net/map.html

 

 

De: Dxspider-support <dxspider-support-bounces at tobit.co.uk <mailto:dxspider-support-bounces at tobit.co.uk> > En nombre de Rudy Bakalov via Dxspider-support
Enviado el: martes, 3 de diciembre de 2024 11:59
Para: The DXSpider Support list <dxspider-support at dxcluster.org <mailto:dxspider-support at dxcluster.org> >
CC: Rudy Bakalov <r_bakalov at yahoo.com <mailto:r_bakalov at yahoo.com> >
Asunto: Re: [Dxspider-support] Curiosities about network topology

 

Quantity vs quality of partners- when nodes run on beat effort basis, they could go down at any time.  On average, about 10% of my partners are down at any given time. It is also true that about 20% of them are rarely down, if ever.

 

I find the dynamic nodes list in N1MM quite useful as it shows 1/how often users connect to each cluster and 2/cluster availability as experienced by users. It confirms that there are too many clusters.

 

Rudy N2WQ

 

Sent using a tiny keyboard.  Please excuse brevity, typos, or inappropriate autocorrect.

 





On Dec 3, 2024, at 2:27 AM, IZ2LSC via Dxspider-support <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk <mailto:dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> > wrote:



This topic is very close to what happened with BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) that is the routing protocol that manages all the internet routes (so very solid, well designed, scalable).


If we want to do something more structured we can take inspiration from BGP introducing the concept of Autonomous System, Route Reflector and Confederations.

 

73

 

Andrea

iz2lsc

 

 

-->

 

 

Il giorno lun 2 dic 2024 alle ore 22:13 Keith Maton via Dxspider-support <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk <mailto:dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> > ha scritto:

Yeah, we have too many nodes and the nodes we have, have many more partners than they need.  I’m as guilty of this as the next person.

 

If someone asks me to be a partner node, I find it very difficult to turn them down, in fact, I don’t think I’ve rejected anyones request.  If they’ve gone out of their way to ask me, they must have a reason for it so I think it’d be rude to reject it.  I do now insist that they connect to me rather than vice versa.

 

On the positive side it means we have a very robust system and huge chunks of it could fail but we’d all still get our spots, and we’d still get them quickly.  

 

73 Keith

 





On 2 Dec 2024, at 17:59, Kin via Dxspider-support <dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk <mailto:dxspider-support at tobit.co.uk> > wrote:

 

*snip*

 

Makes you think, doesn't it?

 

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