Netflix transit preference?

Thu Dec 27 18:46:36 UTC 2012

Hey Patrick,
Thanks for your prompt response. Yes, we are trying to determine where/how
we receive it ... not necessarily influence it, as there isn't so much we
can do there as Netflix' egress policy is theirs and theirs alone
(interestingly, nobody has communities to influence Netflix' AS2906
traffic). We cannot peer directly with Netflix as their openconnect
statement requires 2gbps minimum, and mentions elsewhere that the like 5+.
We aren't at 2gbps yet, and we are nowhere near one of their POPs -- it is
way cheaper to buy 2-3gbps of cheap transit than it is to buy 2-3gbps of
transport from Denver to LA.

As mentioned, my notes to peering at netflix.com have gone unanswered for the
holidays (not unexpected), so I thought I'd ping the hive mind for some
info in the meantime.

Cheers,
Randal

On Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 11:26 AM, Patrick W. Gilmore <patrick at ianai.net>wrote:

> On Dec 27, 2012, at 13:19 , randal k <nanog at data102.com> wrote:
>
> > I work at a datacenter in southern Colorado that is the upstream
> bandwidth
> > provider for several regional ISPs. We have been investigating our
> > ever-growing bandwidth usage and have found that out of transits
> > (Level3,Cogent,HE) that Netflix always seems to come in via Hurricane
> > Electric. (We move ~1.4gbps to Netflix, and are thus not a candidate for
> > peering. And they have no POP close.)
>
> Your statement about peering makes no sense.  You are trying to engineer
> where their traffic comes and yet you refuse to have a direct connection
> which would give you full control?  Weird.......
>
>
> > I tested this by advertising a /24 across all providers, then selectively
> > removed the advertisement to certain carriers to see where the bandwidth
> > goes. In order, it appears that if there is a HE route, Netflix uses it,
> > period. If there isn't, it prefers Level3, and Cogent comes last.
>
> Completely unsurprising.
>
>
> > Since Netflix is a big hunk of our bandwidth (and obviously makes our
> > customers happy), we are included to buy some more HE. However, if
> Netflix
> > decides that they want to randomly switch to, say, Cogent, we may be
> under
> > a year-long bandwidth contract that isn't particularly valuable anymore.
> >
> > With all of that, I am interested in finding out of any knowledge about
> > Netflix transit preferences, be it inside information, anecdotal, or
> > otherwise. I did email peering@ but haven't heard back, thus the public
> > question.
>
> Why don't you ask Netflix?
>
> And why not ask them for kit to put on-net?  <
> https://signup.netflix.com/openconnect>
>
> --
> TTFN,
> patrick
>
>
>