PhillyIX uses Proxmox solutions to optimize regional Internet traffic

PhillyIX is an Internet Exchange Point in Philadelphia where local schools, businesses, and content providers can share their network traffic. A three-node server cluster running Proxmox VE and backed up by Proxmox Backup Server, empowers the non-profit organization to deliver amazing connectivity to their members.

The Philadelphia Internet Exchange Point (PhillyIX) is a non-profit organization in Philadelphia (USA) that provides a central location for schools, businesses, and content providers to come together and share network traffic with one another without having to pay for internet transit. This helps keep traffic local, which in turn improves the quality and availability of internet content for the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.

Three-node cluster running Proxmox solutions

“Small internet exchanges like ours can sometimes thrive with a single network switch in a rack in some collocation building,” tells Tom Duff, President of the Board of Directors at PhillyIX.

“But to add value to our members, we provide a wealth of free services such as traffic monitoring and statistics, DNS hosting, content caches, and multi-lateral peering via route servers. Additionally, our admin team has a multitude of internal tools that keep things running smoothly. All of these services and tools are hosted on a three-node cluster running Proxmox VE, and backed up by Proxmox Backup Server.”

Disaster recovery a breeze

“In the past, we had used VMware ESXi to an extent, but we found Proxmox VE to be easier to maintain, monitor, and customize to our needs. The Proxmox Backup Server makes disaster recovery a breeze, and gives our volunteer system admins the peace and security of knowing things are easily recoverable in the event of a failure.”

Local traffic and internet availability

“In addition to all that Proxmox VE is open-source software, and contributing to open-source projects is a passion of ours. The Proxmox subscription service is also quite a bit less expensive than comparable VMware solutions, and because our organization is entirely member-funded, prudent use of our funds is an essential part of being able to offer the best level of service to our members, at a cost well below industry standards.”

Results

“Proxmox VE empowers us to deliver amazing connectivity between local schools, businesses, and internet content providers; which helps us realize our mission of keeping traffic local, and improving the quality and availability of the internet in the City of Philadelphia.”

Tom Duff
President of the Board of Directors