D. A. Whinery, U. Hawaii ITS Telecom
March 30, 1998
A question that often comes up is, "is there a problem with our network or our link, or is the problem elsewhere?" Clearly, it isn't always easy to tell which source of congestion or poor throughput is causing the problem that a specific user is having. Actually, more often, the question is never asked, and the local network, or the link to the mainland is blamed.
In order to address this type of question more broadly, I have devised a survey that brings together and correlates data from numerous sources, including WHOIS data from ARIN, and Internic, ZIP code to LAT/LON data from the Bureau of the Census, and PING and TRACEROUTE data, to show the network relationships of UH to over 700 US Universities.
The results shown here were obtained from the TRACEROUTE program, and represent only one iteration per university. Now that the structure of this survey is laid out, we are collecting data to show average values over time, and to show differences as we change our mainland link speed. As of this writing (March 30, 1998), we are in the process of increasing our link speed to Stockton, CA through Sprint. Given the study done over the previous week, we should be able to evluate the impact of the increased bandwidth.
Here is a map showing the relative hop-count to 747 US Universities. The hop count ranges from 6 to 23, and is shown with fewer hops being more blue, with more hops being more red. A copy of the color scale used from minimum to maximum is in the upper left hand corner of the map. Although other Hawaii universities were surveyed, they (obviously) don't show on the map.
There is an interesting group of low-hop distance universities in Virginia and the Tennessee Valley, which is easily explained by the single hop from Stockton, CA to Reston, VA on Sprint's network. As a matter of fact the closest University to UH outside Hawaii, by hop count, is in Virginia (Regent University, Virginia Beach).
Regardless of hop-count, the real "distance" to any point on the network is probably best expressed in terms of delay. Here is another map, which shows the relative round trip time (RTT), with the minimum shown being 60 ms (green) and larger values being more red (anything more than 235 ms is all red). Note that due to the unfortunate laws of physics, the mainland cannot be reached with any less than about 30 milliseconds of round trip time, due to the limit of signal propogation speed at the speed of light. Real RTT values from Hawaii to the mainland tend to be between 50 and 60 ms.
This map presents no real surprises. A comparison of the hop-count data versus the RTT data, however, shows that the largest number of hops does not necessarily mean the largest delay time. The largest hop count of all, Paul Quinn College in Texas, came up with a round trip time of 204 ms, ranked at number 656 out of 749 overall in RTT.
The following two tables show the 25 fastest and the 25 slowest US universities in terms of round trip time. Each entry shows a "path summary", which consolidates adjacent hops on the same network, so that each network is shown only once.
| Closest 25 US Universities by RTT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institution | Domain Name | HopCount | RTT(ms) | Path Summary |
| Chaminade University (HI) | chaminade.edu | 4 | 10 | mhpcc.org:chaminade.edu |
| Brigham Young University Hawaii (HI) | byuh.edu | 4 | 31 | mhpcc.org:byuh.edu |
| Lincoln University (CA) | lincolnuca.edu | 8 | 59 | sprintlink.net:best.net |
| California College of Arts + Crafts (CA) | ccacsf.edu | 8 | 64 | sprintlink.net:crl.net:ccacsf.edu |
| Santa Cruz | ucsc.edu | 9 | 64 | sprintlink.net:ucnet.net:ucsc.edu |
| Cogswell Polytechnical College (CA) | cogswell.edu | 10 | 67 | sprintlink.net:best.net:cogswell.edu |
| UC Berkeley (CA) | berkeley.edu | 8 | 68 | sprintlink.net:berkeley.edu |
| Menlo College (CA) | menlo.edu | 13 | 68 | sprintlink.net:verio.net:aimnet.com:aimnet.net:ccnet.com:gointeract.com |
| California Maritime Academy (CA) | csum.edu | 8 | 70 | sprintlink.net:csu.net:csum.edu |
| Pepperdine University (CA) | pepperdine.edu | 10 | 71 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net:pepperdine.edu |
| Pitzer College (CA) | pitzer.edu | 11 | 73 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net:claremont.edu:pitzer.edu |
| Concordia University-Portland (OR) | cu-portland.edu | 11 | 74 | sprintlink.net:nwnet.net |
| Seattle University (WA) | seattleu.edu | 9 | 74 | sprintlink.net:mci.net:uswest.net |
| United States International University (CA) | usiu.edu | 10 | 76 | sprintlink.net:atmnet.net:usiu.edu |
| California State University System (CA) | calstate.edu | 8 | 77 | sprintlink.net:csu.net:calstate.edu |
| City University (WA) | cityu.edu | 13 | 77 | sprintlink.net:nwnet.net:192.220.247 |
| University of San Diego (CA) | acusd.edu | 11 | 78 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net:acusd.edu |
| Mount St. Mary's College (CA) | la.edu | 10 | 78 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net |
| Dominican College of San Rafael (CA) | dominican.edu | 13 | 79 | sprintlink.net:best.net:pbi.net:nbn.com:dominican.edu |
| Monterey Institute of International Studies (CA) | miis.edu | 12 | 80 | sprintlink.net:netcom.net:miis.edu |
| Pacific University (OR) | pacificu.edu | 15 | 80 | sprintlink.net:nwnet.net:pacificu.edu |
| Golden Gate University (CA) | ggu.edu | 14 | 81 | sprintlink.net:ibm.com:pbi.net:ggu.edu |
| Occidental College (CA) | oxy.edu | 11 | 81 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net:oxy.edu |
| Pacific Northwest College of Art (OR) | pnca.edu | 11 | 81 | sprintlink.net:uu.net:ipinc.net |
| University of Oregon (OR) | uoregon.edu | 11 | 81 | sprintlink.net:mci.net:nero.net:uoregon.edu |
| US Universities with longest RTT | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institution | Domain Name | HopCount | RTT(ms) | Path Summary | |||
| College of the Atlantic (ME) | coa.edu | 16 | 3342 | sprintlink.net:bbnplanet.net:maine.edu:coa.edu | |||
| Pine Manor College (MA) | pmc.edu | 12 | 1229 | sprintlink.net:bbnplanet.net:bbnplanet.com:bbnplanet.net:pmc.edu | |||
| Mount Senario College (WI) | mscfs.edu | 14 | 930 | sprintlink.net:wiscnet.net | |||
| William Woods University (MO) | wmwoods.edu | 13 | 797 | sprintlink.net:more.net:wmwoods.edu | |||
| Rocky Mountain College (MT) | rocky.edu | 13 | 780 | sprintlink.net:comp-unltd.com:sprint.net:rocky.edu | |||
| Unity College (ME) | unity.edu | 18 | 690 | sprintlink.net:uu.net:maine.edu:unity.edu | |||
| Siena College (NY) | siena.edu | 11 | 662 | sprintlink.net:nysernet.net:siena.edu | |||
| Southwest Missouri State University (MO) | smsu.edu | 14 | 647 | sprintlink.net:more.net:smsu.edu | |||
| University of La Verne (CA) | ulaverne.edu | 11 | 638 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net:ulv.edu | |||
| Clemson University (SC) | clemson.edu | 15 | 582 | sprintlink.net:bbnplanet.net:clemson.edu | |||
| Claremont Graduate School (CA) | cgs.edu | 11 | 580 | sprintlink.net:cerf.net:claremont.edu:cgu.edu | |||
| University of Scranton (PA) | uofs.edu | 21 | 569 | sprintlink.net:uu.net:epix.net:sprintlink.net:epix.net:uofs.edu | |||
| Bowdoin College (ME) | bowdoin.edu | 13 | 485 | sprintlink.net:netcom.net:bowdoin.edu | |||
| Vermont Law School (VT) | vermontlaw.edu | 13 | 481 | sprintlink.net:sover.net | |||
| Spring Hill College (AL) | shc.edu | 13 | 421 | sprintlink.net:grid.net:asc.edu | |||
| Clark University (MA) | clarku.edu | 14 | 391 | sprintlink.net:bbnplanet.net:clarku.edu | |||
| Burlington College (VT) | burlcol.edu | 13 | 386 | sprintlink.net:sover.net | |||
| University of Great Falls (MT) | ugf.edu | 12 | 374 | sprintlink.net:sprint.net:imach.com | |||
| Concordia University-Austin (TX) | concordia.edu | 19 | 367 | sprintlink.net:uu.net:iamerica.net:concordia.edu | |||
| University of St. Francis (IL) | stfrancis.edu | 12 | 361 | sprintlink.net:nap.net:megsinet.net:stfrancis.edu | |||
| Juniata College (PA) | juniata.edu | 14 | 360 | sprintlink.net:mci.net:psc.net:prep.net:juniata.edu | |||
| Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (PA) | ship.edu | 16 | 356 | sprintlink.net:cais.net:voicenet.com:voicenet.net:sshechan.edu:ship.edu | |||
| Amherst College (MA) | amherst.edu | 15 | 352 | sprintlink.net:bbnplanet.net:five-colleges.net:amherst.edu | |||
| Catawba College (NC) | catawba.edu | 12 | 350 | sprintlink.net:ncren.net:catawba.edu | |||
| University of the District of Columbia (DC) | udc.edu | 12 | 349 | sprintlink.net:bbnplanet.net:udc.edu | |||
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Maintained by: Alan Whinery |
Copyright © 1998 University of Hawaii
Last Reviewed: 3 Apr 1998
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