Information Services are carrying out some essential systems maintenance on the 11th August 2009, 10:00-10:30 which affects the following ResNet systems:

If you've looked at MyResNet recently you'll have noticed that the off-peak weekly allowance cell in the Network Usage table has changed from 'unlimited' to 35GB. Currently we are not automatically restricting users based on their off-peak usage but we are working towards this goal.

Looking at this table you should be able to work out that if either the off-peak allowance OR the on-peak allowance exceed 100% AUP then your connection will be moved into the restricted network. Clever usage will allow up to 40GB weekly traffic (35 off + 5 on).

As I said before, the off-peak allowance is not active yet, but will be in the near future. The on-peak allowance is still in operation as it has been all year.

From current usage statistics, we anticipate that less than 1% of our users will be affected by this change. For example, last week 0.56% of users transferred data in excess of 35GB off peak and the week before it was just 0.33% (although term only started on Wednesday of that week).

Currently off-peak is midnight to 6pm (18 hours) and on-peak is 6pm to midnight (6 hours).

As always, we welcome constructive feedback.

Well it's Christmas and lots of students have disappeared for the holidays so it’s only fair that we increase the usual 5GB weekly peak-time usage to 10GB.

Peak-time is unchanged, 6pm to midnight.

The limit will be reduced back to 5GB per week from Monday 7^th January 2008 so try not to get caught out

Mark

During the vacation period (starting on Monday 25th June) we are increasing the peak-time usage 10GB per week as the network is less busy. We may review these limits throughout the vacation period.

Off-peak periods remain unlimited.

Peak-time is 6pm to 12 midnight and off-peak time is 12 midnight to 6pm

Enjoy

Week 5 (Monday 21nd May to Sunday 27th May)

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.

This is part of the occasional series of newsletters sent to all ResNet subscribers. In this edition: Peak usage limits increasing to 5GB per week; ‘Second Chance’ System; Jobs with ResNet

Peak usage limits increasing to 5GB per week

We are pleased to announce that from Monday 21st May 2007 the weekly peak-time usage allowance is to be increased to 5GB.

It has always been our intention to let ResNet subscribers use any spare capacity. We are confident that we have enough spare network capacity at the busiest time of day (6pm to midnight) to allow this increase.

We are constantly reviewing the peak and off-peak usage so that the best possible quality of service is maintained for the often conflicting needs of ResNet subscribers.

For more information on the peak-time system see

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/slink/dr8r

‘Second Chance’ System

We are developing a ‘Second Chance’ system that can be used once per term to allow restricted subscribers back onto the ‘normal’ network. An announcement will be made on our blog when the system is in place. If you are moved to the restricted network, and the ‘second chance’ system is in place, then the email we send you will contain information on how to use it.

Jobs with ResNet

There are still a few days to apply for a number of technical and non-technical positions available for full-time work this summer vacation and part-time work from Freshers’ week onwards.

To apply, please see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/slink/ktui

The closing date is 10am, Monday May 21st.

Best wishes,

The ResNet Team.

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.

We are pleased to announce that from Monday 14^th May 2007 the weekly peak-time usage allowance is to be increased from 2.5GB to 4GB.

We have been very pleased with the improvements to packet loss and latency that real-time application users find essential. These applications should now be working without trouble at all times of day.

We now find that for the first time in ResNet’s history we have spare capacity at the busiest time of day (6pm to midnight) and it has always been our intention to let subscribers use this capacity, hence this increase.

The limits will be reviewed again in a week or two and changed accordingly. The aim is to allow as much use of the available capacity whilst still maintaining quality of service to all subscribers. This is a learning curve for us, as having a peak-time limit is a culture change and we could not easily predict usage patterns, hence the relatively low 2.5GB initial limit.

Last week a total of 191 subscribers were moved to the restricted network, well under 5% of all subscribers, with an average restriction of 2.86 days per restricted user. If this were scaled up to all of ResNet then the average restriction would be < 3 hours per user per week.

We hope this change meets the approval of all who have asked for an increase, however, I’m sure not all will be fully satisfied with our attempts to please all ResNet subscribers.

Regards,

The ResNet Team

Week 4 (Monday 15th May to Sunday 20th May)

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.

We are making the initial results of the new policy publicly available so users are aware of what's going on.

We have calculated, based on past usage, the number of people that may be affected by the new policy. This data is in the expected column.

Week 1 (Monday 24th April to Sunday 29th April)

Notes on Tuesday 24th:

The 15 users that were moved to the restricted network had a combined upload to download ratio of 2.75 so it is likely that they were moved because the either couldn't, wouldn't or didn't know how to control the upload traffic.
For probably the first time in the history of ResNet there was noticeable drop in traffic between 6pm and midnight. There was no increase in latency and no packet loss so this is all very positive.
One minor problem was noticed for the hour before 6pm. Latency increased slightly because the upload link was saturated which would have had a detrimental affect on real-time applications. We are looking into solving this.

Notes on Friday 27th:

The number of people being moved to the restricted network is decreasing which suggests that people are not doing P2P during peak times (our traffic graphs also support this). The latency and packet loss for the vast majority of the day is excellent so hopefully all the real-time application users are happy. There is still a slightly higher latency spike for the hour before 6pm - this is probably when people are cramming in downloads before the peak period begins.

Notes on Sunday 29th:

* The script that runs every evening failed on its early Sunday run because of an error in the code. This has now been corrected. 62 people were not moved to the restricted network and the 186 warning emails were not sent to users that were over 80% usage.

Week 2 (Monday 30th April to Sunday 6th May)

Week 3 (Monday 7th May to Sunday 13th May)

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.

What are we doing?

We used to have an allowance of 10GB a week data transfer per ResNet user. We are changing this so that in future we will have no overall limit for the whole week, but limits for the busiest time of day only. The day is divided into peak and off-peak periods:

• Off-peak period (12 midnight-6pm): no limit
• On-peak period (6pm-12 midnight): allowance of 2.5GB a person a week

Why are we doing this?

We have had a ResNet fair usage policy for a while. It tries to make sure that our pipe to the Internet is available fairly to all and not used up by a few.

The evening is the busiest time for ResNet. It is only during the busiest period that our pipe to the Internet can get full and performance suffers. We'd like to reduce usage during this time so the network still works well for everyone on it.

If we have spare capacity during the rest of the day there is no reason that people shouldn't use it then. Some things, like backups or large downloads, you can do at any time.

We are trying as far as we can to provide a service that suits everyone, or at least balances conflicting demands. For example, heavy users can schedule large downloads to take place off-peak without any penalty. As there is no off-peak limit then over a week heavy users will actually be able to do more than they could before. Reducing large transfers during the evening means that sensitive real-time usage (such as webcams, telephony or games) will work better during the busy period.

When does it start?

Monday 23rd April 2007 (start of summer term)

What happens if I use more than the allowance?

The morning after you exceed your weekly on-peak allowance your ResNet connection will be automatically moved into a different network segment and will stay there for the rest of the week. This network area is shared with other heavy users. Your connection may be much slower. You will still be able to get at websites, email, and internal University resources like Blackboard, but other things such as Skype, webcams or Internet radio will stop working.

How do I know how much I'm using?

See Manage My ResNet to view your usage.

More questions?

Please first see the fair usage policy for more information and then email us if there is more you need to know.

Comments?

If you've got any comments or suggestions on this please comment on the blog below.

Update 2007-06-19: Comments are now closed as there have been no genuine comments submitted recently, only spam. If you want to comment on this article, please contact the ResNet Helpdesk.

At 10am this morning, we increased the maximum upload speed that each user can use on ResNet. We're hoping that by allowing you to upload to the internet quicker, skype (and other VOIP applications) will become more reliable.

For info, the maximum download speed is currently set to 8Mbps, and the maximum upload speed has been increased from 2Mbps to 8Mbps (per user).

We will be keeping an eye on the traffic graphs and the packet loss/latency to make sure that this doesn't cause any unforseen problems.

Don't forget that uploads are included in your weekly traffic allowance, which you can check online keep an eye on your usage so that you don't get caught out!