Newsgroups: comp.archives.admin Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!src.honeywell.com!msi.umn.edu!s16.msi.umn.edu!zoo From: zoo@aps1.spa.umn.edu (david d [zoo] zuhn) Subject: Re: bitftp changes, alternatives In-Reply-To: ray@vantage.UUCP's message of 13 Jun 91 22: 53:57 GMT Message-ID: X-Md4-Signature: bafb8ed15603312fd7a44242ef3a2689 Sender: news@s1.msi.umn.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: aps1.spa.umn.edu Organization: Minnesota Automated Plate Scanner Lab References: <121080001@vantage.UUCP> Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1991 18:15:55 GMT Lines: 41 >>>>> On 13 Jun 91 22:53:57 GMT, ray@vantage.UUCP (Ray Liere) said: Ray> I would be interested in someone/s in the know summarizing what led Ray> to the change -- I assume that too much success did them in? The big problem with bitftp and other mail based servers is that they tend to go to low-bandwidth mediums of communications, with intermediate links between the source and the destination. If your site talks directly to an internet node from whence your mail comes from, bitftp doesn't use anyone's resources other than your own. Unfortunately, this often isn't the case. If there is any site between your machine and the internet link, that site gets to pay for your mail. This is usually just fine when mail consists of a few kbytes per day, but when GNU emacs or GIF files or many other large files are requested, the links become jammed. For example, CompuServer connects to the Internet via a phone link (9600 or 19200 baud) to Ohio State. One day, notice of the bitftp server was posted to CI$, and the next day over 50Mb of files was enqueued at OSU for CI$, mostly GIF files. This use of other people's equipment is the reason that bitftp and other mail-based servers have been shut down or had their service restricted to their original purpose (BITnet/Internet in the case of bitftp). Provision of future mail based servers is unlikely, given the current feelings of several major archivists. The correct solution is for your site to connect to one of the anonymous UUCP archives and download what you want yourself. This places the onus of the responsibility on the people who want the software, not the intermediate links. UUCP access is provided by OSU and UUnet, both for the cost of the phone call. I don't have addresses handy, but the OSU notice is posted often to comp.sources.wanted. (I'm not trying to denigrate you personally at all, I'm just using you as an example).