TECHNICAL
Table 3 2: LINX screenshot (20 Jan 23)
There is an interesting quote from Section 1.2 of the euro-ix 2021 IXP Report:
“Internet Traffic” – real world examples
Initial Observations 1. The example illustrates “traffic” in/out of the respective IXPs, but where does this “traffic” go, and where is the next measurement point? 2. Continuing with the flow model introduced earlier, traffic must enter/ exit a network and hence: a. Where are these measurement points from within the “Internet”? b. What is the measurement unit? c. What is the standard (and agreed) definition of Internet traffic? d. Who owns the collation of measuring point information ? Using 2. above, perhaps a realistic definition of Internet traffic could be achieved, but without any such agreed definition, all parties should recognise that any of the many descriptions of Internet traffic are meaningless.
“Not all IXPs share their traffic statistics. We have not estimated values where public figures were not presented. All information has been gathered on a best effort basis and relies on the information that is provided by individual IXPs. This report is only as accurate as the information that has been published by these IXPs. If you want to base decisions on this information contained in this report, we advise you to check the information against up-to- date data. Not all IXPs measure their peak traffic using the same periodic average or use the same method. Most IXPs choose to take samples every five minutes, some have chosen to take these samples more or less frequently.”
There is value in examining “real time” measurement of “Internet Traffic” with LINX kindly allowing sample screen shots of their monitoring systems to be re-produced , in Table 3.2 below. For information, LINX is an IXP and there is substantial information on the role IXPs play within the global Internet ecosystem on their respective web sites and at Euro-IX.
LINX (https://www.linx.net/about/)
Of interest here is that LINX “Traffic” follows a repeating daily pattern, but more importantly, the measurement metric is defined by hour, day, etc and uses bits per second (bps) as the measurement unit. In this case it suggests that this is an equivalent to the circuit switched “busy hour.” Unfortunately, I do not have any recent operational expertise as to how the LINX “traffic” measurements are collected and used within their respective organisations, but we do have examples of “traffic” being measured (and recorded) in real time i.e., there is a unique audit trail.
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DECEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.4
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