# Bandwidth Usage

TeraSwitch provides generous bandwidth allotments with metal services. This guide explains how to monitor usage and understand billing.

### Bandwidth Dashboard

Access the bandwidth dashboard at **Metal** > **Bandwidth** to view:

* Current month's usage across all regions
* Regional allotments and consumption
* Historical usage data with visualizations

### Current Month Usage

The top of the dashboard shows global metrics:

| Metric          | Description                         |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| Total Ingress   | Incoming traffic across all regions |
| Total Egress    | Outgoing traffic across all regions |
| Total Bandwidth | Combined ingress + egress           |

### Bandwidth Allotments

Each region has monthly bandwidth allotments based on your active services:

| Column           | Description                           |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Region           | Datacenter region code                |
| Monthly Included | Base bandwidth included with services |
| Accrued          | Additional bandwidth earned           |
| Included Used    | Consumption from included allotment   |
| Prepaid Amount   | Any prepaid bandwidth                 |
| Prepaid Used     | Consumption from prepaid              |
| Overage          | Usage beyond allotments               |
| Total Allotment  | Combined available bandwidth          |
| Total Used       | Actual consumption                    |
| Usage %          | Percentage of allotment used          |

#### Example Allotments

| Region           | Typical Monthly Included |
| ---------------- | ------------------------ |
| AMS (Amsterdam)  | 100 TB                   |
| FRA (Frankfurt)  | 250 TB                   |
| LON (London)     | 50 TB                    |
| PIT (Pittsburgh) | 150 TB                   |

Allotments vary by service tier and region.

### Historical Bandwidth Usage

View detailed historical data with customizable date ranges:

#### Quick Ranges

* Last Hour
* Last 24h
* Last 7d
* Last 30d
* Last 90d

#### Custom Range

Set specific dates using the date pickers:

* **From Date**: Start of period
* **To Date**: End of period

#### Aggregation

Choose data granularity:

* **Minute**: Detailed per-minute data
* **Hour**: Hourly aggregates
* **Day**: Daily totals

#### Region Selection

Filter by specific regions or select all:

* Click individual region badges to toggle
* Use **Select All** for all regions
* Badge shows count of services in each region

### Bandwidth Visualizer

The chart displays bandwidth over time:

#### View Modes

* **Total**: Combined bandwidth across selected regions
* **Grouped**: Separate lines per region
* **Individual**: Per-service breakdown

#### Top Bandwidth Usage Services

The sidebar shows highest consuming services to help identify bandwidth-heavy workloads.

### Per-Service Bandwidth

Each metal service detail page shows bandwidth for that specific server:

1. Go to **Metal** > **Services** > Select a server
2. Click the **Bandwidth Usage** tab
3. View ingress, egress, and total for current month

#### Service-Level Metrics

| Metric         | Description                 |
| -------------- | --------------------------- |
| Ingress        | Data received by the server |
| Egress         | Data sent from the server   |
| Total Transfer | Combined bandwidth          |

Select different months from the dropdown to view historical data.

### Bandwidth Billing

#### Included Bandwidth

Metal services include bandwidth allotments at no extra cost. Typical inclusions:

* Regional pooling (all servers in a region share allotment)
* Monthly reset (unused bandwidth doesn't roll over)
* Ingress and egress both count

#### Overage Pricing

If you exceed your allotment:

* Overage is billed per GB
* Rates vary by region
* Contact sales for high-bandwidth needs

#### Optimizing Bandwidth

Tips to reduce bandwidth consumption:

* Use compression for API responses
* Implement caching where possible
* Use CDN for static content delivery
* Monitor the bandwidth visualizer for anomalies

### Network Information

Each metal server has network specifications viewable in the Overview tab:

| Field      | Description                                |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Transfer   | Port speeds (e.g., 0: 25 Gbps, 1: 25 Gbps) |
| Interfaces | Network interface names                    |

Servers typically have dual 25 Gbps ports for redundancy and throughput.


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