Network Requirements Estimation

3 minute read

1. Request Size

  • API Request Size:
    • 10KB - 100KB per request (depends on the type of data, media, and request complexity).
    • For text-based APIs (e.g., JSON), requests might be smaller (10-50 KB).
    • For media-heavy requests (e.g., image uploads/downloads), requests can be larger (100KB - 1MB+).
  • Example:
    • Text-based API: 20 KB per request.
    • Image Upload: 200 KB per image.
    • Video Upload: 5MB - 50MB per video file.

2. Traffic Volume

  • API Calls per Day:
    • DAU of 1M users with 50 API calls per user per day = 50M API calls/day.
  • Data Transferred per Day:
    • For text-based requests: If each API request is 20 KB, then:
      • 50M requests/day * 20 KB = 1 TB/day of network traffic.
    • For media requests: If each upload is 200 KB (e.g., images), and users upload 10 images per day:
      • 1M users * 10 images/day * 200 KB = 2 TB/day of upload traffic.
    • Example: For an app with 1M DAUs, each uploading 10 images of 200 KB per day, you’d have 2 TB/day of image upload traffic.

3. Data Transfer per User

  • Non-Media Apps:
    • Text-based APIs: 10KB - 50KB per user/day.
    • For 1M DAUs, this would be 10-50 GB/day.
  • Media-Heavy Apps:
    • Images: 100KB - 1MB per user/day.
    • Videos: 10MB - 100MB per user/day.
    • For 1M DAUs, the total could be several GB - TB per day.

4. Peak Traffic

  • Peak Load: Network traffic can spike during certain periods (e.g., during specific events or promotions).
  • Peak Factor: Multiply by a 2x-3x factor for peak traffic estimates.
    • Example: For an average of 1 TB/day, expect peak usage to be around 2-3 TB/day.
    • Peak usage could also mean bursts of high request rates (e.g., 100K requests per second during high traffic events).

5. Latency and Bandwidth Requirements

  • Latency: Define how quickly your system needs to respond. Common latency targets are:
    • Low Latency (e.g., 100ms-200ms) for real-time apps like chat or gaming.
    • Higher Latency (e.g., 500ms-1s) for non-real-time apps (e.g., video streaming).
  • Bandwidth: Ensure sufficient bandwidth to handle peak traffic.
    • Example: If an app with 50M API calls/day transfers 1 TB/day of data, then the average bandwidth required will be:
      • 1 TB/day = 1,000 GB/day = 41.67 GB/hour.
      • If requests are distributed evenly across 24 hours, the required bandwidth would be approximately 11.5 MB/s.

6. Network Resilience

  • Redundancy: Use multiple network paths and providers to ensure reliability.
    • Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) for static content (images, videos) to offload traffic and reduce latency.
  • Example:
    • Static Content (e.g., images) could be served via a CDN, reducing the load on your primary server by 30%-70%.

7. Content Delivery (CDN) Usage

  • CDN for Media-heavy Apps:
    • Offload images, videos, static assets to CDNs to reduce latency and improve speed.
    • Example: For an app with 10M DAUs, where each user downloads 1MB of images per day, using a CDN could reduce bandwidth requirements by serving cached content closer to users.
  • CDN Benefits:
    • Reduces the load on your primary servers and network.
    • Improves performance for users globally by serving content from the nearest location.

8. Burst Traffic Handling

  • Handling Bursts: Estimate how your system will handle sudden surges in traffic.
    • Use load balancers and auto-scaling to handle unexpected increases in load.
    • Consider strategies like rate-limiting and request queues to manage traffic spikes gracefully.
  • Example: During a flash sale or major event, network traffic could temporarily increase by 3x-5x.

9. Network Costs

  • Cloud Providers: Bandwidth costs vary depending on the cloud provider (AWS, GCP, Azure).
    • Egress traffic (data leaving the data center) is typically more expensive than ingress traffic.
  • Cost Consideration:
    • Estimate costs based on the expected data transfer (e.g., if you expect 2 TB/day of data transfer, calculate the cost of this bandwidth with your cloud provider).

General Tips for Network Requirements Estimation

  • Use Average and Peak Traffic Assumptions: Always account for both average and peak traffic when estimating network requirements.
  • Factor in Media Usage: Media-heavy apps (e.g., social platforms, streaming services) will consume significantly more bandwidth.
  • Consider CDNs: For media and static assets, CDNs can reduce the load on your primary infrastructure and improve performance.
  • Plan for Growth: Expect network traffic to grow with the user base, so plan for scalability.
  • Bandwidth Calculation: Ensure that you have enough bandwidth to handle peak loads, with some buffer for unexpected traffic surges.

You may also enjoy