So, I’ve been messing around with figuring out which server location is better for my project, Asia or SEA (Southeast Asia). It’s been a bit of a headache, honestly, so I figured I’d share what I’ve been doing.
First Steps: Ping Tests
First thing I did was a bunch of ping tests. You know, just to see how long it takes for data to go back and forth. I pinged servers in different locations within both Asia and SEA. I used some free online tools for this, nothing fancy.
I pinged a few locations, including:
- Singapore (representing SEA)
- Tokyo (representing Asia)
- Hong Kong (kind of in between)
Gathering the Data
I ran these tests multiple times, at different times of the day. You know, morning, afternoon, evening – to get a good average. I wanted to see if there were any big differences depending on when I was testing.
I just jotted down the results in a simple spreadsheet. Nothing complicated, just the location and the ping times.
Looking at Latency
After collecting all that data, I started looking at the average ping times. My main goal was to find the location with the lowest latency – meaning the fastest response time. My users are mostly based around that general area, so the closer, the better, theoretically.
Considering Other Stuff
Ping isn’t everything, though. I also had to think about other factors. Like, where are most of my users located? Are there any specific regulations in certain regions? For my project, I had to consider that it had to be located outside mainland.
Making a Decision (For Now!)
Based on the ping tests and those other factors, I decided to go with Singapore (SEA) for now. The latency was a bit lower overall, and it seemed like a good central location for my target audience. But who knows, I may test again at a later stage.
Testing Some More
I conducted a few more of those tests and noted my findings.
I found that the ping was pretty similar for both Singapore and Tokyo.
Hong Kong’s ping to test area was suprisingly low.
Finalizing
Since the difference was so small, I opted to go with Hong Kong, it seems that my target audience would have the best experience with that option.
It’s not a perfect science, though. Network conditions can change, and what works best today might not be the best tomorrow. But for now, this is what I’m going with. I’ll probably keep monitoring things and adjust if needed. That’s the fun of this stuff, right? Always something to tweak!
