World's Fastest Internet - 1.6 TERABITS per Second
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,536 words · ~7 min read
0:00
We sent a crew halfway around the globe
0:03
to Jönköping, Sweden.
0:05
Why would we do that, you might ask?
0:07
To take a look at the world's fastest internet connection,
0:12
a whopping 1.6 terabits per second at DreamHack 2018.
0:17
To put that kind of speed into context,
0:20
that is fast enough that everyone in St. John's, Newfoundland
0:24
could stream high-definition video at the same time
0:27
and to download PUBG at that full speed
0:31
would take only 1 16th of a second.
0:35
They set this up in part to make sure
0:37
that the over 6,000 people connected to their network
0:39
have a great gaming experience,
0:42
but also because, of course, Mondo bragging rights.
0:46
So let's have a look at the gear and setup involved
0:51
and give a big shout out to ComHem
0:54
for sponsoring this video.
1:06
So how do you get
1:07
1.6 terabits per second?
1:09
You might think that you'd need a massive honking cable
1:13
like the size of my face
1:15
with all of the internet getting crammed through it,
1:18
but in reality, it's way smaller and way smarter.
1:22
This tiny yellow cable right here
1:25
is responsible for the whole shebang.
1:28
It's just a regular, everyday fiber cable,
1:31
but within it, there are eight different wavelengths of light
1:36
each capable of
1:37
200 gigabit per second.
1:40
When the cable enters the transmission system here,
1:43
it is split off using a combination of passive,
1:46
i.e. mirrors and lenses,
1:49
and active signal manipulation
1:51
to split the different wavelengths apart
1:53
into more conventional signals.
1:55
These signals are carried through this larger wire,
1:58
which contains 16 fibers,
2:01
and then they're split apart into individual fibers here.
2:05
From there,
2:06
the signal undergoes another splitting
2:09
and is turned into 100 gig purple fibers
2:12
that then leave the transmission system
2:14
supplied by the ISP ComHem
2:16
and go over to DreamHack's routers.
2:19
In here, the signal is mirrored to allow monitoring,
2:23
and then it gets sent off
2:24
to one of the 23 distribution switches around the floor.
2:29
Now, up until now, the signal has been completely fiber,
2:33
but it has to be turned into a regular old copper connection,
2:36
for the final 20 feet or so.
2:39
So that happens here.
2:41
One gigabit is sent to each of the 260 access switches,
2:46
where individual gamers will plug in their computers
2:49
and receive 100 megabit internet.
2:51
That is, unless they're baller
2:53
and shelled out for the premium package.
2:55
In that case, their switch will get a 10 gig uplink,
2:59
and they will get provisioned
3:00
a full one gigabit connection just for them.
3:04
Finally, those huge PUBG updates,
3:06
can be downloaded quickly.
3:08
So, this is all well and good so far.
3:11
Fast internet, who wouldn't want that?
3:13
But where it really gets crazy
3:15
is in the department of redundancy department.
3:18
Each distribution switch
3:20
has two physical connections to the routers,
3:23
so someone could actually trip over one of the cables
3:26
without anyone losing their internet connection.
3:29
At most, they drop a packet or two.
3:32
And if the DreamHack router
3:34
that is going to all the switches fails,
3:36
the game is over.
3:37
And the game continues.
3:39
See?
3:40
No.
3:41
See the two routers on the ends here?
3:43
They are completely identical.
3:45
Blow either one of them up,
3:47
and the game shall continue.
3:49
And it doesn't even stop there.
3:51
That 1.6 terabit wire.
3:53
It first travels to a data center in Yon-Shaping,
3:56
where it gets split into two 800 gig fibers
4:00
that separately travel to Stockholm.
4:03
So, if you cut one of those wires,
4:06
you get 1.6 terabit,
4:08
because those data centers are also connected together.
4:12
So, you would have to literally blow one of them up
4:15
to drop this to a piddly 800 gigabit.
4:19
But of course, all of those things could go wrong,
4:23
or someone could just cut the main cable here.
4:26
Do it.
4:27
Do it. I dare you.
4:29
And even if that happened,
4:32
just 45 milliseconds later,
4:34
the routers will have failed over,
4:36
to the four 10 gig fiber cables,
4:39
which also take two different routes
4:41
to the main data center in Stockholm,
4:44
making it basically impossible
4:46
to fully take the internet away from this LAN party.
4:50
All right, so now we've got internet into all the switches,
4:53
but every single one of the routers and switches
4:56
needs to be configured.
4:57
And at this scale,
4:59
manually configurating each switch would take an eternity.
5:04
And even things you wouldn't normally think about,
5:06
like running out of IP addresses become big issues.
5:11
So to address this,
5:14
oh, I'm sorry.
5:16
All of the switches are dynamically configured
5:18
via an automated deployment system based on DHCP,
5:22
TFTP and Python,
5:24
so that it's basically plug and play.
5:26
They're also using a monitoring software called Prometheus.
5:29
So if a switch goes down,
5:31
they don't just know that one has stopped working,
5:33
they also know it's physical location in the building.
5:35
They also know it's physical location in the building.
5:36
And they're using a front end called Grafana
5:39
that creates graphs for tracking things like
5:42
total hours played in each game,
5:44
what domains are used the most,
5:45
and the total network usage at any moment.
5:49
So we figured out how they solved the problem
5:52
of getting internet to the 6,000 or so participants.
5:55
But every computer, monitor and RGB strip
5:59
has to be powered as well.
6:00
And all of those combined draw a massive one megawatt
6:05
or one megawatt.
6:06
A million watts of power.
6:10
And the fancy stages that showcase the best gamers
6:12
and musical performances,
6:14
well, they gobble up another megawatt.
6:16
So some pretty serious gear has to be deployed
6:19
to make sure that someone with a 7980XE or a Threadripper
6:23
doesn't hit Cinebench and make the whole place go dark.
6:27
So three 10 kilovolt lines come in
6:30
and get transformed down to 400 volts and about 1,500 amps.
6:35
Then they enter this room right here
6:37
or one of the other nine just like it.
6:40
From here, it is split up into 400 volt, 400 amp lines
6:45
that run to the various sub-central distribution centers
6:48
or 400 volt rails along the ceiling
6:51
where it gets fed into a box that can handle 63 amps.
6:54
These power distribution boxes
6:56
were actually custom made for DreamHack.
6:58
And the older ones can handle two rows of lanterns
7:01
while the new ones, largely due to computers
7:04
and especially monitors, can handle two rows of lanterns.
7:05
And the older ones, largely due to computers
7:05
getting more energy efficient since the event started,
7:07
can handle three rows.
7:09
These are also secured with RCD
7:11
so that if leaking current is detected,
7:13
let's say someone puts their finger in a socket
7:15
or spills Coke on a power bar,
7:17
the power is immediately cut to the group
7:19
so no one gets hurt
7:20
and a maximum of only eight computers will go down.
7:23
But what happens if you aren't fortunate enough
7:26
to make it to Sweden for the LAN,
7:28
but you still wanna watch the eSports
7:29
that are all going on at the same time?
7:31
That's where DreamHack's very smart
7:33
and also kind of jammed
7:34
and yank completely custom broadcasting server
7:37
comes into play.
7:38
So instead of running a traditional broadcasting server
7:41
and mixer combination,
7:44
all of the video and audio streams go into a video hub,
7:48
a video mixer and several rendering servers
7:51
that are behind me right now.
7:53
And then everything can be switched
7:55
and configured over the network.
7:57
This allows for some really cool things
7:59
like being able to switch inputs from basically anywhere
8:03
so that they can be manipulated
8:04
from the dedicated mixers here
8:06
or by Raspberry Pis placed wherever they're needed.
8:10
There's also an in-game observing team
8:13
that has access to a delayed feed,
8:15
allowing them to show important moments
8:16
from several angles instant replay style.
8:19
Since they've built a custom solution using Casper CG,
8:22
they're able to do other cool integrations
8:24
using data from the game engine as well
8:26
so they can create graphics
8:28
that show things like player health,
8:29
what weapon they're using or the timer on the bomb.
8:32
These additionally are hooked up to the stage,
8:34
so the lights, screens and even the pyrotechnics
8:39
like for when the bomb goes off
8:40
are all automagically synced.
8:43
So it's been really cool to see all of the custom work
8:47
that goes into making a massive event like this tick
8:50
from the fastest internet connection in the world
8:52
to smaller things like the ability to easily mute a host.
8:56
And I hope you guys have enjoyed it.
8:58
So huge thanks to you for watching
9:00
and a massive shout out to ComHem
9:02
for allowing us to be here to cover it.
9:04
So if you guys disliked this video,
9:11
you can hit that button, but if you liked it,
9:12
hit like, get subscribed
9:13
or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff,
9:16
a 10 dream hack in the future
9:18
at the link in the video description.
9:19
Also down there is our merch store
9:21
which has cool shirts like this one
9:22
and our community forum, which you should totally join.