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From: spaf@gatech.edu (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: The USENET Backbone (Last changed: 30 April 1987)
Message-ID: <15490@gatech.gatech.edu>
Date: Sun, 17-May-87 21:55:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: gatech.15490
Posted: Sun May 17 21:55:53 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 18-May-87 03:44:50 EDT
References: <15219@gatech.gatech.edu> <3753@oddjob.UChicago.EDU>
Reply-To: spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford)
Organization: Software Engineering Research Center (SERC), Georgia Tech
Lines: 32

In article <3753@oddjob.UChicago.EDU> matt@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Sherlock, the keen-eyed detective) writes:
>After a couple unanswered mail messages to Gene I still don't
>understand the application of this definition.  If all the links
>in a chain like
>		ihnp4 -- x -- y -- hao
>are low-delay and full feeds, are x & y then backbone sites?
>Is the answer different in a case like ihnp4 -- z -- hao?
>

I can't recall getting any mail from Matt.  I usually respond to my
mail (although it sometimes takes a week or two), so it is possible
his mail never got to me.

Anyhow, what Matt is asking is the definition of a backbone site.
Besides connectivity and news flow, we also expect the site to
be running the latest version of news, to be a stable site
(no experimental versions of Unix, or companies about to go under),
to be serving as a reliable mail forwarder, and to have responsible,
reasonably adept people at the site to answer questions and keep
the system running properly.  Last, and perhaps most important,
the site has to want to be listed in the backbone map.  Some sites
may belong in the list of backbone sites, but due to political
considerations they don't want to be listed.  I know of at least
3 sites in this situation, and I suspect there are more.

If sites x, y, and z above met those requirements, then we'd 
consider them as backbone sites.
-- 
Gene Spafford
Software Engineering Research Center (SERC), Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:	Spaf @ GATech		ARPA:	Spaf@gatech.EDU
uucp:	...!{akgua,decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spaf