Mirror Site Requirements...

[Daniel C. Sobral]

Rudolf Cejka wrote:
> Daniel C. Sobral wrote (2003/07/16):
> 
>>OTOH, we'd better do a consultation to find out how many mirrors won't 
>>be able to keep up with the standards we set upon, because if lose too 
>>many mirrors, maybe it's better to rethink the standards.
> 
> 
> I hope the goal is not to reduce the number of mirrors. The goal would
> be just to have clearer core of mirrors, which are sufficiently reliable
> and which have everything. The others would stay, as they are, however
> it should be documented, what they have and what they have not. ???

I don't think the goal _should_ be either of these options. I'd like for 
the goal to be define operating standards maximizing the ease with which 
users can download FreeBSD, be it ISOs, net installs, or whatever.

As I see, there are two main requirements to reach that goal.

1) That users can find mirrors with good bandwidth and low latency. So 
we need many mirrors, and they must presented to the user in a way that 
makes it easy for him to try the ones most likely to serve him well. The 
per-country naming system is certainly part of that. Good support and 
low requirements for mirrors would improve the number of mirrors.

2) That, once selecting a mirror, the user find what he expects there.

This second requirement is the one thing we really miss. We have no 
standards, and no way to inform the user what he is likely to find in a 
mirror without him going there and checking it out.

Another part of this requirement is a distribution system that gets the 
release out in a timely manner. And, by timely, that means quick enough 
not to upset RE schedule, and in such a way that decreases the chance of 
the first mirrors replicating it getting overloaded by untimely leaks.


So, for instance, we may decide that ftp*.tier2.*.freebsd.org must have 
the package set for the latest release, and users *know* they'll find 
that there. And that might get some mirrors out of "tier 2". There may 
be something to allowing mirrors even if they do not meet those 
standards. Say, for instance, that we change our names to 
ftp*.tier1.cc.freebsd.org, ftp*.tier2.cc.freebsd.org and 
ftp*.other.cc.freebsd.org, list everything on sysinstall but advise the 
user of what standards are set for each.

Well, anyway... that's my 2 cents on the subject. :-)

-- 
Daniel C. Sobral                   (8-DCS)
Gerencia de Operacoes
Divisao de Comunicacao de Dados
Coordenacao de Seguranca
VIVO Centro Oeste Norte
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E-mail: Daniel.Capo at tco.net.br
         Daniel.Sobral at tcoip.com.br
         dcs at tcoip.com.br

Outros:
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	capo at notorious.bsdconspiracy.net

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