[ale] CIR

[Robert Heaven]

It means that, in times of network congestion (most of the time), they will
discard your data packets when you exceed the CIR limit. This terminology
comes from a protocol called Frame Relay which is used inside the ISP
network to pass data between their nodes (usually because that's the
cheapest service they can get from the long distance carriers). For example,
most commercial web sites are connected to the internet using a 56K leased
line running Frame Relay with a 32K CIR. What this means is, the web server
only sees the 56K link and always transmits at that rate. However, when
congestion occurs within the carriers network, they will begin to discard
the data packets that exceed the 32Kbps limit forcing the TCP layer to time
out and retransmit, effectively flow-controlling the web server's interface.
Actually, most web servers are connected with the really cheap "Zero-CIR"
service. You can imagine what that's like during congestion.

-robert

-----Original Message-----
 From: owner-ale at ale.org [mailto:owner-ale at ale.org]On Behalf Of Darius
Olteanu
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 2:13 AM
To: 'ale at ale.org'
Subject: [ale] CIR


Hi!

I'm lloking for an ISP and some of them r talking about CIR(Commitment
Information Rate). Can u tell me what CIR is?

Thanks!