How Much Data Does It Take to Stream?

Thinking about using a Chromecast or similar kind of device to stream data?

How much data does this pump through your monthly subscription?

Well, here is an excerpt from the Netflix website, which can be used as a guide.

This can also be reached at the following link (at least, at the time of this posting): https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87

How can I control how much data Netflix uses?

Watching movies or TV shows on Netflix uses about 1 GB of data per hour for each stream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video. This can create headaches for Netflix members who have a monthly bandwidth or data cap on their Internet service. Below, you'll find a few ways to reduce the amount of data Netflix uses, without having to resort to drastic measures (like actually watching less Netflix).

Adjust your data usage settings

Adjusting the data usage settings for your account is the easiest way to reduce the amount of bandwidth used while watching Netflix. There are four data usage settings to choose from. Each estimate below is per stream:

• Low (0.3 GB per hour)
• Medium (SD: 0.7 GB per hour)
• High (Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour for HD and 7 GB per hour for Ultra HD)
• Auto (Adjusts automatically to deliver the highest possible quality, based on your current Internet connection speed)

To select a setting that works best for your Internet plan, navigate to the Your Account page and select Playback settings in the My Profile section. It can take up to 8 hours for these changes to take effect. Restricting data usage may effect video quality while watching Netflix.
Data usage settings only apply to the Netflix profile you are in when you set them, meaning you can have different data usage settings for each profile. If you are concerned about the total amount of data that Netflix uses, make sure to change this setting for each profile.
If you are interested in managing your cellular data usage on individual mobile devices, visit How do I manage mobile data usage on Netflix?

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Kernel Policy Modules

After installing Lighttpd, we kept getting an error:

Lighttpd doesn't start - selinux

Lighttpd doesn't start due to a conflict with file descriptors:

Issue

# /etc/init.d/lighttpd restart
Stopping lighttpd:                                         [FAILED]
Starting lighttpd: 2012-06-03 00:57:12: (server.c.722) couldn't set 'max filedescriptors' Permission denied
                                                           [FAILED]

The process is being started as user lighttpd, and of course has no permissions to set file descriptors, which is the essence of the problem.

The fix for this, is to install seutils.

Solution:

Install SE utils

yum install policycoreutils-python

Create SELinux module to allow lighttpd to set its own open file descriptors limit

/usr/sbin/semodule -DB

# /etc/init.d/auditd restart
Stopping auditd:                                           [  OK  ]
Starting auditd:                                           [  OK  ]

#grep lighttpd /var/log/audit/audit.log | audit2allow -M lighttpdmaxfds

#/usr/sbin/semodule -i lighttpdmaxfds.pp 

 # /etc/init.d/lighttpd restart
Stopping lighttpd:                                         [FAILED]
Starting lighttpd:                                         [  OK  ]

# /usr/sbin/semodule -B

Layer 2 Testing

I downloaded this package this evening. It has to be compiled.

Works a bit like iPerf in a certain kind of way. You have to run a server on one side and a client on the other side.  Unfortunately I only had one Layer 2 side available to test. I will set up the other one - a Raspberry Pi - and then attempt to "ping" - via Layer 2 - between the two boxes.

https://dazdaztech.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/layer-2-ping/

Note: There's more to the story. I am using a virtual Layer 2 stack to do this.

WebRTC

I guess this is a communications platform that slme guys are working on in the lab. Until I know more.

VRRP

Someone today was running VRRP on a box as a clustering / load balancing mechanism.

Did some reading to discover that this is in a family called  FHRP - First Hop Redundancy Protocols.

There are three 'competing' protocols in this class:
VRRP - Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
GLBP - Gateway Load Balancing Protocol
HSRP - Hot Standby Router Protocol

VRRP is the only open (IEEE) one (HSRP is Cisco).
UPDATE: NOTE: Both Cisco and IBM are claiming patents on VRRP, based on what I saw on Wikipedia for VRRP. But per Wikipedia, some executive at Cisco has made a statement (to Wikipedia, or publicly such that Wikipedia has listed it on the site) that they will not be enforcing patent claims. 

I am reading comparisons, but so far they look very similar with VRRP being slightly more advantageous(?) with faster hello.

Next, we will examine VRRP implementations.