[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”50px||||false|false” custom_css_main_element=”z-index:0!important;” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ disabled_on=”on|on|off” _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||||false|false” sticky_position=”top” sticky_offset_top=”100px” sticky_limit_bottom=”section” motion_trigger_start=”top” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”indice” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||14px||false|false” link_option_url=”#1″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Sections<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_css_main_element=”z-index:0!important;” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”seccion” module_id=”1″ module_class=”ittopicscontent” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” z_index=”0″ custom_margin=”0px||0px||true|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ custom_css_main_element=”font-family:%22Pandora-Light%22;” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Is there anything worse than \u201chaving no Internet\u201d? Yes: the connection becoming painfully slow and reloading the page, resending the request to the server, eventually seeing the frustrating blank response\u2026 At least, when there is no connection, you can accept it and go do something else other than doomscrolling<\/i>. But when the network crawls through the mud, the main suspect is latency<\/strong>, and today we will take a close look at it.<\/p>\n We will see what it is<\/a>, its causes, how to measure it and how to monitor this key indicator, in addition to recommendations on how to reduce it as much as possible.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s begin by knowing the enemy<\/i>.<\/p>\n Network latency is the time it takes for a data packet<\/strong> to travel from its source to its destination, and to receive a confirmation back (what in telecommunications is called Round-Trip Time<\/i> (RTT) or Round-Trip Delay<\/i> (RTD) when we talk about signals in general). Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms) and is critical because:<\/p>\n That is why latency is a critical variable for efficient digital services.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s dive deeper into the different features of latency, starting with the one most commonly associated with the term today, as I did at the beginning of the article.<\/p>\n This is the most common latency an IT administrator will want to check to ensure user work is productive<\/strong> and they can quickly access the network resources they need, whether files or network applications. This latency can be checked, for example, with a ping<\/i> command from a terminal.<\/p>\n If we look at the last part, the time<\/i> variable gives us a value in ms showing that latency<\/strong> \u2014 the time the ICMP packet took to go to the destination and return. In this case, 22 ms.<\/p>\n Now, this is not the only interesting indicator about latency issues or analysis, because jitter<\/i><\/a> can also be checked. This concept measures variation in latency<\/strong>. If some packets take 20 ms and others take 80 ms to arrive, that variation (\u00b160 ms) is jitter in general terms, which may be the cause for choppy voice in calls or video cuts when it is high. That\u2019s why we must consider not only pure latency when analyzing and optimizing the network, but also the consistency of those speeds<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The ping<\/i> command is also useful to determine this key indicator. In the last line of the terminal output of the test we ran earlier, we see:<\/p>\n This shows, in order: the minimum latency, the average, the maximum recorded in the ping<\/i> packets and that final mdev<\/i> (mean deviation<\/i>), which would be jitter. In this case, it remains low, indicating that latency is fine and also stable<\/strong>, with only about 3 ms deviation on average between packets.<\/p>\n Those who dislike staring into the darkness of the terminal because it reminds them of their future need not worry \u2014 we will see simpler and more visual tools to monitor latency and jitter.<\/p>\n Obviously, when we talk about network latency, one of the most direct ways to reduce it is by using a wired connection<\/strong>, which will keep it between 1\u201310 ms if everything works well. WiFi or 5G, on the other hand, can often exceed 30 ms of latency due to interference.<\/p>\n Here we refer to disk access time<\/a><\/strong>. Older HDDs used to record about 5\u201310 ms in their spinning ballet, while SSDs range between 0.1\u20130.5 ms. This latency affects databases and file systems, for example on your local machine.<\/p>\n In this case, we talk about delays in software processing<\/strong>. For example, poorly optimized APIs or Java garbage collection can increase these times, making you desperate when using the application.<\/p>\n This refers to the response time of a server<\/strong>, such as a web server (known as Time To First Byte<\/i> \u2013 TTFB). Ideally under 200 ms. But if that brand-new AI startup \u2014 essentially just another ChatGPT wrapper \u2014 uses a Raspberry Pi Zero<\/i> to host its page, it won\u2019t matter how fast your connection is, because the server will add that latency<\/strong>. This shows that such latency is not always a problem of bandwidth<\/a> with our ISP or network configuration, but there may be other culprits.<\/p>\n When we encounter latency problems in the network, we need to solve them, and then begins the game of Clue<\/i> to find the culprit (or culprits, because IT life tends to be complex and we should not dismiss multifactorial reasons). Thus, the main causes of latency are usually:<\/p>\n\n
Introduction<\/h2>\n
What is network latency and why is it important?<\/h2>\n
\n
Types of latency in IT: network, storage, application and more<\/h2>\n
Network latency<\/h3>\n
ping 8.8.8.8\n64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=119 time=22.0 ms\n<\/code><\/pre>\nThe importance of jitter<\/h4>\n
rtt min\/avg\/max\/mdev = 14.878\/19.205\/21.955\/3.097 ms<\/code><\/pre>\nStorage latency<\/h3>\n
Application latency<\/h3>\n
Server latency<\/h3>\n
Main causes of latency<\/h2>\n