Sean Figgins wrote:
Eric Spaeth wrote:
> With rate-shaping they would need to have the P2P identification widget
> in-line with the data path to be able to classify and mark traffic so
> that it can be queued/throttled appropriately.
The Sandvine, in particular, is designed to be placed in-line like
this. It does, however, deploy a technology to shunt the traffic
through the device in the event that the server craters. Many network
devices do this now.
I have previous experience with Sitara QoS devices that sported that
same feature. The problem was that the relay would only shut if the box
lost power or if it received a software command to disengage. We had
numerous problems where the packet processing engine would become
overwhelmed and lock up; the relay stayed engaged because the box
retained power and the software driver was rendered useless once the
whole OS locked up.
Maybe it's just me, but when a vendor is concerned enough about their
box failing that they work out these elaborate bypass options it doesn't
inspire a lot of confidence in the stability of the product. IMHO,
wedging a 99.5% available piece of hardware between your 99.99+%
available network hardware is just bad karma.
-Eric