Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bbn!bbn.com!denbeste From: denbeste@bbn.com (Steven Den Beste) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: New Fish Disks Summary: The REAL explanation for slow access Message-ID: <40251@bbn.COM> Date: 21 May 89 16:23:08 GMT References: <15678@louie.udel.EDU> Sender: news@bbn.COM Lines: 65 Several people have complained here about extraordinarily slow FTP response when accessing the Fish disk archives at UIUC. I've been in contact with some of the system gods at UIUC, and it was explained to me this way: This is a side effect of the Arpanet phaseout. The node that UIUC used to connect to was one of the first to be turned off. So they reconnected through a gateway (level 4, that is, an IP gateway) in (I think they said) Michigan. When you FTP to uihub or uxe what you are REALLY doing, as far as the Arpanet is concerned, is calling the IP gateway. It operates at the same network level as IP on your system (so it is a "peer"). It then opens a new connection down to UIUC through some other non-Arpanet medium. When you get any of the "peer" messages, especially "connection reset by peer", what you are being told is that the IP gateway broke the connection for some reason. (I conjecture that it does this in self-defense when it is overloaded, likely preserving connections by its owners and killing others like you and me first.) Now some interesting questions and their answers: 1. Is it going to get better? Probably not. 2. Is it going to get worse? It is likely that as the Arpanet is further phased out, other things like this will happen to other sites, and UIUC might get worse or lose connection entirely. 3. Why is the Arpanet being phased out? Because Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (who pays for it) doesn't think that the Arpanet is either advanced, or research, or a project anymore and doesn't want to shell out all the money it costs. The NSFnet is supposed to pick up the traffic as the Arpanet phases out, but the NSFnet will be charging its users for their traffic, so don't expect the same kind of free and easy access you have now. (All the UUCP and BITNET users are now entitled to one (1) each snicker.) 4. When I get one of these messages, is there anything I can do to fix the problem? No. 5. If I try it again immediately will I have better success? It is hard to say for sure, but it isn't likely. 6. Is there anything UIUC can do about this? Not really. There isn't really any chance of them getting another direct connection to the Arpanet - that's what the phase-out is about. Any answer for them is going to be extremely expensive. 7. How can I get a clean transfer, then? You might try calling at 4:00 AM on a Sunday when the traffic level is low at the gateway... Sorry to paint such a bleak picture. I now have a question of my own, which I'd sure appreciate an answer to: I seem vaguely to remember that there was some other site which had a duplicate of uxe's Fish disk directory, but I'll be damned if I remember where it was. Am I imagining it, and if not, could someone mail me the name or address of that site? Steven C. Den Beste, BBN Communications Corp., Cambridge MA denbeste@bbn.com(ARPA/CSNET/UUCP) harvard!bbn.com!denbeste(UUCP)