Re: Use of the test boxes as SLA monitors

["Henk Uijterwaal \(RIPE-NCC\)" <]

Hi Robert,

> This is my first mail to the mailing list,  so I hope it is a fresh subject.

It is a fresh subject (and it is good to see some discussion on the list). 


> I would like to start offering some SLA "guarantees" to my customers.  These
> would basically revolve around ping times to selected locations.  The SLA
> will not be too tight,  but I would hope that I could improve it over time.
> (It would be something like 95% of pings to a set of pre-defined locations
> having a one-way delay of X,  but there would have to be some exclusions.)

This sounds like a valid application of the data.  Lots of ISP's make
promises about network delays, but nobody seems to be able to actually
measure them.  I think that NOT using the data for this purpose would
limit the usefulness of the project.  

> My question is,  if I install a text box in my network,  can I use the
> resulting output to "prove" to my customers the performance of my network?

> I would have no intention of comparing our results with other providers,
> but obviously my customers might!

I believe this is covered by the agreement.  Section #3 of the present
version (http://www.ripe.net/test-traffic/Notes/RIPE_180/) states that one
is free to analyze and discuss the data inside the organization that hosts
the box.  However, when an analysis is presented to the outside world, one
has to provide a write-up of the analysis to other participants in the
project for a peer review.  At that point, people can object against the
analysis and, hopefully, all results that are published are fair and
correct. 

I'd think that this can and should apply to work done by your customers as
well.   It is impossible to prevent them from comparing results, but we
should avoid publications like "The RIPE-NCC TT data shows that ..."
without having a chance to check if the conclusions are correct.

Henk

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The Committee (...) was unable to reach a consensus that substantial merit was
lacking. Thus, the appeal was deemed meritorious.          (Orlando NABC #19).