Description of Network Connection Lines and Data Plans

Technologies located in MasterDC data centres are connected to the internet via connectivity lines. In this article, you can find an overview of the lines that can be used within the data centres and a description of the data plans.

Physical Ports Connectivity Speed

Each connectivity line has a physical port of a certain speed: 1, 10, or 25 Gbps (Gigabit per second). The server can communicate within the data centres and MasterDC’s network using port speed. Internal communication bandwidth is not limited.

The data plan on the physical port determines if the prepaid bandwidth limits are set at the edge of our core network, called Fixed Line (fixed IP traffic), routed bandwidth. Alternatively, the network speed is not limited, but the traffic volume is counted – Fixed Line (IP traffic).

The most common types of lines are charged in two ways:

• Traffic is unlimited, but the bandwidth is limited (routed bandwidth).
• Bandwidth is not limited, but the data traffic is metered.

For lines, we register two transmission directions whose orientation is due to the port of our switch:

• IN = Outgoing traffic from the customer’s server
• OUT = Incoming traffic to server

Data Plans – Connectivity Lines Pricing

Connectivity lines can be unmetered, metered, or charged on the 95th percentile.

Unmetered Line

When using an unmetered line, you pay a flat rate for a certain bandwidth limit. Therefore, it does not matter how heavily you use the line or, more precisely, how much data you transfer. However, the limit you set for the line cannot be exceeded; thus, there are no additional fees. You can find out your bandwidth limit in Customer Administration: Lines > choose specific line > Info > Line Info (e.g., 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, etc.).

Metered Line and Exceeded Limit

When using a metered line, you pay for transferred data. However, there is always a certain limit that you prepay. It can be, for example, 100 MB, 3 TB, etc. Furthermore, data transmissions are monitored, and if they exceed this limit, you will be charged retroactively. The data limit is stated in Customer Administration: Lines > choose specific line > Info > Line Info (e.g., Transit Limit 3 TB). There is also billing information there as well, so you can check how much the exceeded limit cost.

95th Percentile Billing

95th percentile lines are recorded in regular five-minute intervals from the physical port of a service. The average value of the five-minute intervals baud rate for the IN/OUT direction is determined in bits per second from the measured, recorded data.

These values will be ranked from top to bottom at the end of each billing period, either for the service port or for the transmission directions (CZ, SK, TRANSIT). The top 5% of values are then removed from the list. The remaining highest value represents the 95th percentile and determines the billing amount.

Types of Lines

Below, we summarise the most used lines in our data centres. The list also includes an explanation of each line billing method.

Fixed-Line (Fixed IP Traffic) – Routed Bandwidth (ServiceFixedlineRouted)

This line has a limited bandwidth in bps (bits per second) to each destination class, i.e., networks we consider to be destinations. For example, transmissions to the Czech Republic are limited to 1 Gbps and transit (abroad), e.g., 100 Mbps.

The advantage of a fixed routed line is that you only pay a fixed amount for the whole data plan every month. However, this amount cannot be exceeded, meaning there are no additional costs. The price is charged per bit of used bandwidth.

Fixed-Line (IP Traffic) – Routed (ServiceFixedlineRoutedData)

When using a routed fixed-line, your data traffic is metered in bytes to each destination class (CZ, SK, TRANSIT). In addition, you can have the CZ, SK, or both classes active for a specific amount.

Traffic flowing outside the active destination classes is counted as the Transit class. Each class has its own prepaid portion. The price of the exceeded data is added at the end of the billing period (typically at the end of the month). The price is per transferred bytes, and the calculation is made from NetFlow (network traffic monitoring based on IP flows) data generated at the border routers of each data centre.

Fixed-Line (IP Traffic 100/x) – Routed 100/x (ServiceFixedlineRoutedFract)

In this case, the bandwidth is not limited, nor is the transmitted data. Instead, NetFlow is processed from which traffic graphs to each destination class are generated. These graphs are then used to calculate the 95th percentile over 5-minute intervals (see the last paragraph of the Data Plans – Connectivity Lines Pricing section for an explanation of this billing method).

Payment is made per bit transmitted per second. You pay one fixed price for a set number of bits transmitted per second plus a price for the bps that exceed that set number. The bill for the predetermined number of bps must be paid in full even if it is not used up each month.

Fixed-Line (100/x) (ServiceFixedlineFract)

A line metered by the 95th percentile with 5-minute intervals. The whole traffic on the physical port is counted. The service also includes a single payment for a predetermined data limit and a payment for the data above that limit. It is counted in bps, as is the line “IP Traffic 100/x”.

Fixed-Line (ServiceFixedline)

The traffic on this line is limited by the bandwidth in Mbps.

Fixed-Line (Routed) (ServiceFixedlineData)

The bill is issued for the total number of transmitted bytes over the line. This is a variant of a metered line; therefore, you always pay a fixed amount per the limit you set in Customer Administration. Subsequently, the exceeded data is charged retroactively.

Fixed-Line (Routed Virtual) (ServiceFixedlineRoutedVirtual)

A virtual line for Cloud or Virtual Server traffic. This is the shared connectivity of the physical host.