Re: ITP: axel -- short description
On Mon, 18 Jun 2001, Arthur Korn wrote:
> Hi
>
> Wilmer van der Gaast schrieb:
> > I have been working on a simple download accelerator-like program which
> > downloads files through multiple connection, something which can make the
> > downloading process a lot/a bit/not at all faster.
>
> But it will certainly hit the server. I run an http fileserver
> with throttling because my bandwith is limited, and would
> instantly block anybody who hits me with such a thing. Think
> before you use it, and don't be fooled by the word "accelerator"
> ... in many cases it won't even work, particularily if your
> connection is the bottleneck.
It works. Especially if your connection is the bottleneck.
If you have a 56k modem, try to find some application that can show
statistics about data that goes over the connection (KPPP can -- or at
least could -- do so), open a single FTP-connection, and have a look at
the gaps that appear in your statistics. Then open multiple connections,
and do notice that your bandwith is completely filled up, all the time.
If you're in a country where having a modemconnection is expensive (I live
in Belgium, where a telephone connection costs about $1 per hour for a
*local* call, making it one of the most expensive telephone countries in
the world), this really matters.
I'm not speaking about broadband connections. Using a download accelerator
over such a connection qualifies as "abuse" and should be handled that
way.
> (Hmm, multiple connections for the same transfer seem a bad
> thing from TCP window scaling standpoint.)
Not really.
--
wouter dot verhelst at advalvas in belgium
Try does not exist. Believe that you will do it, else you will fail.
-- Luke Skywalker,
in the trilogy "The Jedi Academy", Kevin J. Anderson
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