Network Latency

 

Network Latency

 

Source: www.keycdn.com 

Network Latency (also referred to as lag), is best described as the delay in the time that data takes to transfer across a network. A long delay indicates high latency, while faster response time means low latency.

Thus, the higher lag time would mean an inefficient network, which can be detrimental in case of real-time business operation. For instance, in case of the bitcoin mining farm, a high latency network would cause the mining operation to fluctuate, as mining rigs have to communicate with the rest of the network. Therefore, network speeds do not significantly affect the bitcoin mining process, but the latency does. We know also know that bitcoin network can currently process between three and six transactions per second, with transactions happening in the blockchain about every 10 minutes.

 

Network latency sits squarely in the midst of ‘ping’, ‘packet loss’, and ‘jitter’.

 

Ping is a measure of the time your connection takes to react, or how quickly you receive a response when a request is made. Measured in milliseconds (ms), and the lower the ping number/time, the faster your connection is. Ping is important during real-time application use like video streaming and online gaming.

 

Jitter is a variance in latency, or the time delay between when a signal is transmitted and when it is received. This variance is measured in milliseconds (ms) and is described as the disruption in the normal sequence of sending data packets. Good connections have a reliable and consistent response time, which is represented as a lower jitter score. Jitter in networking boils down to data packets, and packet loss.

 

In any network environment, data is sent and received across the network in small units called packets. Packet loss describes lost packets of data not reaching their destination after being transmitted across a network. Packet loss occurs when network congestion, hardware issues, software bus, and a number of other factors cause dropped packets during data transmission. When one or more of these packets are interrupted in its journey, this is known as packet loss.

 

So, what is the impact of Internet Outage/Disruption on Bitcoin Network?

Internet outage have a significant impact on the Bitcoin Network. Since, transactions in Bitcoin network rely on the internet to broadcast and confirm the transactions, internet is of paramount importance to Bitcoin Network. Thus, this would mean that the absence of internet would make the entire bitcoin ecosystem paralyzed. In addition, a seamless internet connection is very important for the bitcoin users and/or the bitcoin rigs.

 

So, what would be the causes of network latency?

While there are countless variables that cause the network lag, some of the common causes are:

a.     Distance the data travels have to travel

One of the main causes of network latency is the distance. Locating servers and/or databases closer to the users/end users, would cut down the physical distance that the data packets need to travel. The amount of time it takes for a request to reach a client device is referred to as Round Trip Time (RTT).

b.    Website Type

The difference in website design/construction also contributes positively/negatively to network latency. The website with heavy content/large images, would cause network congestion as the browser needs to download large files to be displayed.

 

c.     Transmission medium

The type of transmission medium can affect latency. Data packets travel either through electrical signals over copper cables, or light waves over fiber optic cables (lower latency) or a wireless network connection (with higher latency).

 

d.    End-user issues

Network problems appear to be responsible for latency, but sometimes RTT latency would be also caused due to end-user device having low memory or CPU cycles to respond in a reasonable time frame.

 

e.     Physical issues

Sometimes, latency can be also influenced by network devices such as routers, switches, WiFi access points, load balancers, security devices or firewalls.

 

Latency vs bandwidth vs throughput

Latency, bandwidth and throughput are all equal contributors to the quality of communications. Through throughput and latency, one can measure the network performance.

a.     Bandwidth is the width of the pipe. The narrower the pipe, the lesser the data allowed to travel back and forth through it; and vice versa.

b.    Latency is how fast the data packets inside the pipe travel from the client to server and back.

c.     Throughput is the volume of data that can be transferred over in a specified time period.

 

Monitoring and improving network latency

As your network infrastructure grows, and the amount of data increases, having additional connections would mean more point where delays and issues can happen. For example, with the expansion of remote offices or workers, would mean the increase in infrastructure-leading to the delays in network latency.

Thus, network monitoring and troubleshooting to quickly and accurately diagnose the root causes of high network latency is very important. Some of the ways towards improving latency are

a.     One simple way to improve network latency is to check others on your network who are unnecessarily using up your bandwidth, or increasing your latency with increased/excessive downloads or streaming. At the same time, one should also determine whether applications are unexpectedly, giving pressure on the network.

b.    Using of CDN (Content Delivery Network) can significantly reduce the latency. With CDN or IX (Internet Exchange), servers are placed along different network paths such that link to access resources are made possible. Tech-giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft use CDNs to reduce latency in loading web pages.

c.     Subnetting is another way to reduce latency across your network. Different networks existing in your entire network can be grouped into single subnets so that the broadcast of numerous addresses is being reduced.