Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!snorkelwacker!bionet!kristoff From: kristoff@genbank.bio.net (David Kristofferson) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.genbank Subject: Re: ANONYMOUS FTP FROM BITNET Message-ID: Date: 29 Sep 90 18:52:53 GMT References: <9009290610.AA23614@genbank.bio.net> Organization: GenBank Online Service Lines: 23 A WORD OF EXTREME CAUTION HERE on trying anonymous FTP using these BITNET servers for GenBank files!!!!! GenBank data bank files are LARGE, i.e. many MEGABYTES. I shudder to think what would happen to BITNET if people all around the world on BITNET started using this mechanism regularly to access GenBank. You would be much better off having us mail you a tape than trying to get GenBank over BITNET as it would hog vital resources. I will add the caveat that this is based on second hand information about other BITNET disasters of which I have heard, so perhaps someone with more direct experience using these things should respond. My understanding is that this service may be great for getting small programs from places like SIMTEL-20, but would be a disaster trying to retrieve 10+ megabyte files. Anyone else like to comment? -- Sincerely, Dave Kristofferson GenBank Manager kristoff@genbank.bio.net