IMPORTANT: Bandwidth Monitoring & Billing System Upgrade (Windows & Linux VPS)

[Aaron]

We have implemented a brand new bandwidth monitoring & billing system for our Windows & Linux VPS customers which will be available from today (31st August 2010) onwards. Billing via the new system will start on the 1st of October 2010, so over the coming 1 month you will have time to check out how much bandwidth you are using. The new system will be much more accurate, and only counts bandwidth on the network level as it leaves or enters our network. You will be able to easily view graphs over given time frames via the Manage Account area, and see when you are nearing your bandwidth limit for the month.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We will be counting incoming and outgoing bandwidth towards your total bandwidth limit. For example if your bandwidth limit is 10GB for your VPS, and you use 1GB incoming data and 15GB outgoing data, your total usage is 16GB, and you will be billed for an overage of 6GB.

Up until the 1st of October, you will still be billed for bandwidth usage (if you use more than your limit) via the old system. However you will be able to view the usage via the new system more accurately, and will only be billed after the month starting on the 1st of October.


How To View My Bandwidth Used?

To view your bandwidth usage follow these steps:

1. Login to the Manage Account area: https://manage.crucial.com.au/clientarea.php
2. Click on the link "My Services"
3. Click on the icon in the column next to the 'Next Due Date' column (the box with a little green arrow on it).
4. Scroll down the page to just below the Product Details table. From here you can view your bandwidth graph, and percentage used of your monthly allowance. You can select different time ranges for the graph. Please keep in mind that this has only started collecting data as of today, so any older data is not available via the new system.


Issues/Feedback/Questions:

If you notice any bugs/issues please send an email to feedback@crucial.com.au with the Subject "Bandwidth Billing & Account System". We want to hear all your comments, bugs, and suggestion - so please send them through, and help us improve this system.


Why Have We Implemented This Solution?

To date there has been no accurate way for you to monitor their bandwidth usage, this new system will allow you to accurately view your bandwidth usage on a network level throughout the month.

[Aaron]

For those who are interested, this new system uses netflow to account for bandwidth usage.

[Greg-Mega]

Just a suggestion - can you add the measurement metric to the Y axis of the chart? Mine just says 17.5 and I'm not totally sure if thats 17.5 Gigabytes or Megabytes because neither sound correct for the last 12 hours.

[Aaron]

Hi Greg,

Originally Posted by Greg-Mega

Just a suggestion - can you add the measurement metric to the Y axis of the chart? Mine just says 17.5 and I'm not totally sure if thats 17.5 Gigabytes or Megabytes because neither sound correct for the last 12 hours.

You can see the calibration of the y axis on the top left hand side of the graph. We will look into making this a little more clear for our next update.

Currently there have been some reports of under reporting of usage, and its currently being investigated. This may be the reason you are seeing lower than expected usage.

[Greg-Mega]

Thanks Aaron

Originally Posted by Aaron

You can see the calibration of the y axis on the top left hand side of the graph. We will look into making this a little more clear for our next update.

I can see that it's broken into bandwidth in and out but I was more referring to the numbers on the Y axis (which ould be nice to have a trailing Gb, Mb or Kb).

Looks good though so far.

[Aaron]

Bandwidth should be accounting correctly now, if you notice any problems with the values you are seeing please be sure to contact us!

We are also working on the usability issues currently.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by Greg-Mega

Thanks Aaron

I can see that it's broken into bandwidth in and out but I was more referring to the numbers on the Y axis (which ould be nice to have a trailing Gb, Mb or Kb).

Looks good though so far.

Yep, definitely agree - this is on our TODO list to fix.

[jbngar]

Hi Aaron

A couple of questions -

1. Back in this thread in January I asked if there were plans to eliminate the whole 'I need a support ticket to approve my IP address before I can access HyperVM' issue. Any news?

slow pings Jan 26?

2. Will the HyperVM bandwidth numbers be more accurate with the new system, or unchanged?

3. The graph in 'my account' - is it 'day 1' of the month, or day 1 of the billing cycle?

Cheers
jbng :-)

[ross]

Hi jbng,

Yes we are aware having to get your IP added to an allow list to access the HyperVM control panel is a hassle, this however is a seperate project that is high on our list.

So no we haven't forgotten, we just are working on the best solution to make it as pain free as possible.

HyperVM is still considered as counting incorrectly so no its figures should not be relied on. This is why we have implemented a whole separate area / system to count it. We will be attempting to hide or remove the bandwidth information in HyperVM at some point due it providing wrong or incorrect details.

The graph is counting from Day 1 of the month, not from your billing cycle.

[jbngar]

Thanks a lot Ross - we'll keep an eye on it.