An Introduction to IXPs & Peering Part 1

hello and welcome my name is Nora meaning puno and I'm the head of global engagement at the London internet exchange links today we're going to talk about what an internet exchange point is but first let's have a look at what the internet actually is so when you imagine the internet it's easy to think of it as one homogeneous entity while in fact the Internet is a network of networks so that means that it consists of many different networks interconnecting and exchanging traffic in order to form what we know as the global Internet so any device on the Internet can reach any other part of the internet as long as it's part of a network that exchanges traffic with others on the public Internet so a network that extends traffic with others on the Internet is called an autonomous system and that can be one network or a collection of networks that has the same routing policy so the same consistent way of exchanging traffic with others on the internet and in order to do so the network or the autonomous system needs a globally unique identifier called an alias number autonomous system number let's ignore a unique identifier that the network uses to identify itself on the internet so if a s100 wants to talk to a is 200 it needs to announce its a s number to the other network and I use 200 needs to accept the traffic that comes from a is 100 in order for that traffic exchange to take place so how do networks actually exchange traffic on the Internet well if there are a few different ways for we're going to look at the three most common ways transit private interconnection and public peering so let's start with transit so transit is a very simple arrangement where you simply ask a third party a transit provider to carry your traffic across their network to reach the rest of the internet and also the traffic on the internet to go through their network to reach you so this is a very simple arrangement and it's very common particularly among new networks joining the internet but as you can imagine it doesn't give you much control over how that traffic is then traversing the internet or to give over that control to the transit provider and it can also be a very costly way of interconnecting on the internet so not a common way for networks to exchange traffic is through what it's called private interconnection private interconnection is simply a term for two networks exchanging traffic between themselves on a private link and this could be cross-connect pulled at a data center the cable that's just plugged into both networks equipment and you use that to exchange traffic between the two networks it's also very simple arrangement and it's suitable in some cases where you want that traffic to just go between those two networks but of course it's limited and that you can't reach more networks than the two involved and of course it's also limited to whatever port capacity you have for the link between those two networks so that brings us to peering at an internet exchange point so what is the net exchange point well an IXP and internet exchange point is a facility that enables the traffic exchange between several other networks it just acts as a hub for those networks to exchange traffic with each other so peering is what it's called when networks exchange traffic on an internet exchange point they normally do so freely and because both parties have recognized that there's a mutual benefit in doing so and most of the time it's done in a settlement free manner the that those networks actually don't exchange money and they don't sign a contract for that all the members of the exchange point simply pay a standard port fee at the exchange point that they can then use for interconnecting with others so what are the advantages of an IXP well as you can see the IXP offers a lot of interconnection options for whoever's connected to that net to that exchange point at one single location through one single connection a network can actually exchange traffic with many many others in one single place and obviously the more members an exchange point has the more value it offers to those other networks that are connected so why would you want to appear as an exchange point well one of the most commonly cited reasons is really to reduce operating costs if you're a network that's relying on a transit provider and paying a lot of money for for your them to carry your traffic you can possibly reduce some of the traffic you sent through them and exchange that locally directly with the network that you want to reach that can also lead to improve performance as you're taking control over how that traffic is being routed it also means that you can keep the Internet traffic local so if there's content for example that you want to pass on to your customers or content that your customers want to reach instead of that going through third party you can exchange that locally at the exchange point where both of you located and that improves performance reduces latency and increases the speed of that delivery and of course connecting to an exchange point is very easy an efficient way of exchanging traffic with others so what are the other Vantage's like space well if you take a step back and look at a broader level a nine-speed can actually contribute to resilience in a country a lot of traffic that would have had to leave the country previously can be exchanged within the country and that keeps more of that traffic in country which leads to better connectivity and better redundancy a side effect of that could also lead be leading to a richer ISP echo system with more competition less vulnerability and at the end potentially also reduced cost of that internet and then finally another effect that's often cited if an IXP does its job well it can manage to gather a community around the ISP not just for their negotiation of peering but also for the exchange of knowledge experience and information and that can be hugely beneficial to a region and to your country so that was a short summary of what hearing us an exchange point is it allows you to gain better control of your racing it helps keep local traffic local it helps you increase the performance of your network and of course it's very easy and efficient way of exchanging traffic so that was my short introduction to what of internet exchange points I hope you enjoyed it thank you very much and goodbye

Channel: London Internet Exchange - LINX

Views: 4,425

Keywords: Introduction to IXPs & Peering Part 1, Intro to, IXP, Internet Exchange Point, Peering, Internet Exchange, LINX, London Internet Exchange, Learn with LINX, Nurani Nimpuno

Id: hJU3f6Ez52Q

Length: 8min 6sec (486 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 29 2020