Download speeds from factory.talos.dev are extremely slow

[cecobask]

When downloading from https://factory.talos.dev, my download speed is ~100 Kbps. This means it would take around 20 minutes to download a single image. I tested my internet connection and I'm consistently getting ~500 Mbps.

This must be a recent issue, since I could download images with much faster speeds earlier today.

[cecobask]

Now the image factory is not reachable at all:

> curl -I https://factory.talos.dev 
curl: (6) Could not resolve host: factory.talos.dev

[maxpain]

I have the same problem, 500 Kbps

[maxpain]

Maybe it's possible to set up some CDN like CloudFlare on top of factory.talos.dev to improve connectivity and caching?

[maxpain]

Since factory.talos.dev doesn't use a CDN (yet) and serves requests only from US servers, I made a mirror domain talos.fastcup.cloud on top of factory.talos.dev using CloudFlare. It caches all assets on the global CDN network. It also speeds up downloads of unique assets by using Argo Smart Routing.
I set it up using pure CNAME and Page Rules.

[cecobask]

Hi @maxpain, that's a brilliant solution! This would flawlessly solve the problem for you and maybe a few other people who find this issue on GitHub. However, I believe a CDN should be implemented upstream by the Talos team so that everyone can benefit from it.

[maxpain]

Currently, factory.talos.dev redirects to CDN only for OCI images (installer).
All other assets (iso/raw/qcow2 images, kernel-amd64 and initramfs-amd64.xz, which is needed for PXE booting) are downloaded directly from US servers without CDN

[smira]

We will be looking towards providing CDN for other image types as well, but it will be probably in 2025.

The first request (non-cached) will still go without CDN, and the next request(s) would benefit from CDN.