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netflix does not depend on aws to deliver their video bits. they do it themselves based on a big network of core and edge pni and caches. this infra, that netfl

by nopzor 7y ago

netflix does not depend on aws to deliver their video bits. they do it themselves based on a big network of core and edge pni and caches. this infra, that netflix has built, in datacenters, is a big competitive advantage. it would be worse performance and much higher cost to do this over something like aws cloudfront.

jasode 7y ago
>this infra, that netflix has built, in datacenters, Unless things have changed since 2015, reports say Netflix eliminated their last datacenter already.[1] The Netflix "edge appliances" for CDN streaming are located in others' datacenters owned by Verizon,Comcast,ISPs,etc. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/netflix-shuts-down-its-last-data-center-but-still-runs-a-big-it-operation/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/netfl...
- pathseeker 7y ago
  That's still in datacenters that aren't Amazon's, Google's, etc. It's the most critical component of netflix (the actual video delivery) and it's not "in the cloud".
  - jasode 7y ago
    >That's still in datacenters The point isn't that they are still _in_ datacenters. Yes, of course, they are. Even the "cloud" ultimately resolves down to somebody's datacenter somewhere. The point is that Reed Hastings & Netflix wanted to get out of managing their own datacenters. Putting their Netflix appliances inside of ISP owned datacenters still lets them avoid managing their own datacenters. Their critical user accounts signup, monthly billing, and analytics, etc workloads are at AWS. And as the article mentions, even updating the cache on the Netflix appliances is coordinated through AWS. The combination of those strategies keeps them out of the "datacenter business" and let's them stay focused on their core competency of "video content".
    - sroussey 7y ago
      Netflix employees still walk inside those datacenters. I’ve avoided my own datacenter by using Equinix, for example. I wouldn’t call that “cloud” though.
    - yebyen 7y ago
      The distinction makes important fault domains and whose data centers. If you are a Comcast customer and your internet goes down, and Netflix is unavailable, who do you complain at? If you're smart enough to notice that both are down, the answer is almost certainly not Netflix. That does not make the Netflix workloads in Comcast data center any less critical, they are core business functions. But they are well aligned with Comcast, who also depends on the proper functioning of those datacenters. It makes sense for Netflix appliances to be in Comcast datacenters then, especially given that Comcast cannot outsource their data centers any more than the Pentagon can reasonably do so. Joe Company from off the street can outsource their data centers and derives no competitive advantage from maintaining their own private data centers. Netflix in that sense is closer to Joe Company than they are to Comcast, I guess. I'm not sure what all we can learn from this, but it's interesting.
- _Codemonkeyism 7y ago
  The 'web' and browsing part is on AWS, the CDN is their own not on AWS.

by nopzor 7y ago

jasode 7y ago

>this infra, that netflix has built, in datacenters, Unless things have changed since 2015, reports say Netflix eliminated their last datacenter already.[1] The Netflix "edge appliances" for CDN streaming are located in others' datacenters owned by Verizon,Comcast,ISPs,etc. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/netflix-shuts-down-its-last-data-center-but-still-runs-a-big-it-operation/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/netfl...

pathseeker 7y ago
That's still in datacenters that aren't Amazon's, Google's, etc. It's the most critical component of netflix (the actual video delivery) and it's not "in the cloud".
- jasode 7y ago
  >That's still in datacenters The point isn't that they are still _in_ datacenters. Yes, of course, they are. Even the "cloud" ultimately resolves down to somebody's datacenter somewhere. The point is that Reed Hastings & Netflix wanted to get out of managing their own datacenters. Putting their Netflix appliances inside of ISP owned datacenters still lets them avoid managing their own datacenters. Their critical user accounts signup, monthly billing, and analytics, etc workloads are at AWS. And as the article mentions, even updating the cache on the Netflix appliances is coordinated through AWS. The combination of those strategies keeps them out of the "datacenter business" and let's them stay focused on their core competency of "video content".
  - sroussey 7y ago
    Netflix employees still walk inside those datacenters. I’ve avoided my own datacenter by using Equinix, for example. I wouldn’t call that “cloud” though.
  - yebyen 7y ago
    The distinction makes important fault domains and whose data centers. If you are a Comcast customer and your internet goes down, and Netflix is unavailable, who do you complain at? If you're smart enough to notice that both are down, the answer is almost certainly not Netflix. That does not make the Netflix workloads in Comcast data center any less critical, they are core business functions. But they are well aligned with Comcast, who also depends on the proper functioning of those datacenters. It makes sense for Netflix appliances to be in Comcast datacenters then, especially given that Comcast cannot outsource their data centers any more than the Pentagon can reasonably do so. Joe Company from off the street can outsource their data centers and derives no competitive advantage from maintaining their own private data centers. Netflix in that sense is closer to Joe Company than they are to Comcast, I guess. I'm not sure what all we can learn from this, but it's interesting.
_Codemonkeyism 7y ago
The 'web' and browsing part is on AWS, the CDN is their own not on AWS.