[sdnog] Let's improve the Internet together and Host RIPE Atlas Probe

[Nishal Goburdhan]

Hiba Eltigani wrote:
> + 1000
> It will help you spot any anomaly in your network.

that might be a little tooooo generous  :-)

what the probe does, very simply, is to act as a path, and latency 
monitor.  so, over time, you'll be able to see the network path and 
latency to things of particular interest, like DNS root servers, from 
that probes perspective.  the probe acts as a live network host in your 
network, that can collect and display (public or private) this 
measurement data.

the probe is just one part of the picture though;  as a participant in 
the project, you earn credits for hosting a probe and keeping it online. 
  you can use those credits to run measurement tests using the resources 
of the entire measurement network.  so, imagine having the ability to 
say:  "show me the path to my network in sudan, from ... say vanuatu". 
  :-)
it's unlikely that you have something of your own that will be able to 
give you this data;  but the scope of the ATLAS network, probably does, 
and can provide you with this data.

and because you have historic data, this can become quite interesting to 
use.  for example, i have a probe in my home;  i used to use it, quite 
frequently, when i first moved back to johannesburg, to prove to my ISP 
that they had problems in their network that they were not detecting. 
now, that same ISP has about 20 probes all over their network, and when 
i call them to report a problem, they usually already know about it  ;-)

if you're interested in this, i'd suggest looking through the resources 
that the OP mentioned in her original message;  and perhaps post your 
questions here if you have any.

best,
--n.