Xref: utzoo news.software.b:7397 news.software.nntp:1248 Newsgroups: news.software.b,news.software.nntp Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!ox.com!ox.com!emv From: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti) Subject: Re: nntp files In-Reply-To: geoff@world.std.com's message of Fri, 5 Apr 1991 23:51:56 GMT Message-ID: Sender: usenet@ox.com (Usenet News Administrator) Organization: OTA Limited Partnership, Ann Arbor MI. References: <1991Mar31.214919.17956@ssd.kodak.com> <1991Apr3.213558.1035@cobber.cord.edu> <1991Apr4.210714.13027@world.std.com> <1991Apr5.022105.9815@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu> <1991Apr5.235156.20894@world.std.com> Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1991 18:38:24 GMT In article <1991Apr5.235156.20894@world.std.com> geoff@world.std.com (Geoff Collyer) writes: Hmmm, well maybe "anti-social" is a bit strong, but it does seem rather pointless to hang there on the line on the off chance that an article might show up. I expect an article transfer session to run like an SMTP session or a telephone call: you say what you have to say and hangup. I don't think that's quite right, Geoff. The proper analogy might be to a bucket brigade fighting a fire; if there aren't any pails coming your way, you don't just sit down, because you know that pretty soon one will be coming along. It's the same way with news feeds in some situations, a steady dribble of articles at random but smallish intervals rather than a big burst at the top of the hour. Keeping the line up should have a net beneficial effect on network traffic; it's that many less domain lookups, tcp connection starts and teardowns, and initial NNTP authorization sessions at the expense of possibly some TCP keepalive traffic. This presumes that you care enough and have enough core and CPU to make the effort to send stuff as soon as it comes in. Naturally, there are some aspects of it that are more efficient when you batch the articles and do them all in a burst, but that's a latency vs. efficiency issue best left to local policy. -- Msen Edward Vielmetti /|--- moderator, comp.archives emv@msen.com "With all of the attention and publicity focused on gigabit networks, not much notice has been given to small and largely unfunded research efforts which are studying innovative approaches for dealing with technical issues within the constraints of economic science." RFC 1216