Latency, Ping and Other Questions

Question

In a high traffic application, like an online auction system, few ms could determine 'to win or 'to lose' the 'battle'.

I'm from Brazil. Here, I 'ping' local sites - like UOL - and receive replies in ~ 11ms. When I 'ping' US sites - like RackSpace - I receive replies in ~ 130 ms!

The point is: I need a (very good like RackSpace [1]) infra-structure to host my killer online auction application, but there's no (RackSpace like) options in Brazil... Assuming that all users are located here, in Brazil, is it 'sine qua non' condition to host my application here, in Brazil?

I think ~130 ms is a very high latency but, all users will receive this reply, sure?

Well, where should I host my application?

[1] Feel free to point me to any other very good host option other than RackSpace. I've cited it because I only know these guys...

if we are talking about auction systems, i think it's important... — sonnuforevis, Nov 08 '11 at 17:01
We don't do shopping recommendations here. Please read the [faq] — MDMarra, Nov 12 '11 at 15:31

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 08 '11 at 14:15

1

There are "RackSpace-like" options in Brazil. Search for "colocation brazil" - You will see http://www.datacentermap.com/brazil/ - Check with the firms listed in the area you're interested in and see what their "hosting options" are.

answered Nov 08 '11 at 14:15

ewwhite

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in terms of quality, no, there's no rackspace-like hosting! i'm brazilian! – sonnuforevis Nov 08 '11 at 16:08
I think ALOG could be a good brazilian host. But nothing like AWS, RackSpace and so on... – sonnuforevis Nov 08 '11 at 17:06

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 08 '11 at 15:13

Well, where should I host my application?

Short answer: as near as possible to your users.

Longer answer: You can buy faster connectivity from the likes of Akamai, and using a content distribution network (CDN) can help with delivery of static content, but if you're really determined that the winner should be the highest bid before the exactly measured end time, then design your application to run across a distributed network using tightly synchronised clocks. Then either use a geo-aware DNS server (usually provided by the same people whom do CDNs) or redirect the customers to their nearest vhost before they get to the point of submitting bids.

But until such time as your traffic really does span continents this is rather a lot of work.

great - but herculean - solution! could you suggest me another (more simple) solution? — sonnuforevis, Nov 08 '11 at 16:10

Latency, Ping and Other Questions

2 Answers2